Views #682 | Intermediate 5

The Traditional Wedding

Rachel discusses a large, traditional wedding she attended.

Script
Vocab
Quiz


Rachel	Wendi

Rachel: I had a friend who got married. It was a very large wedding, but it was very traditional. She had thirteen bridesmaids and thirteen ushers and then a maid of honor, a best man and a ring bearer and a flower girl. So there were quite a few of us that had to walk down the aisle.

Wendi: This is like an absolute, kind of parade procession.

Rachel: Yeah. It was quite a long playing of "Here comes the bride".

Wendi: Yeah.

Rachel: So, but yeah we all had the traditional one dress picked up by the bride and the ushers all wore the traditional one, well they rented the same suits with the same tie and vest underneath, and yeah, "Here comes the bride", a little service about God and then the wedding vows which they decided to speak and make up their own wedding vows, so it got a little emotional, and yeah, that was pretty much the wedding. The thing for a traditional wedding in the United States, it costs a lot of money to be a bridesmaid or an usher and that's something that maybe in other countries is not the case because the bridesmaid and the ushers all have to pick out the same outfit and get their hair done and their make-up and the shoes and their usually in charge of paying for the bridal shower and the bachelor, the bachelorette party.

Wendi: Yeah, and then there's like your gift to the bride and stuff like that as well and yeah, it's a lot of responsibility I'm sure. Have you ever been asked to be a bridesmaid and turned it down or anything?

Rachel: I've never turned it down, but the first time I was asked as an adult I didn't really realize, I was like, "why are you asking me that?" Of course I would be your bridesmaid. And then as it started getting closer to the wedding, all of the responsibility started coming out, then I started to understand a little bit.

Wendi: Right, yeah.

Rachel: Especially, because the maid of honor was particularly not responsible, so a lot of the bridesmaids had to organize many of the things the maid of honor would normally organize.

Wendi: Yeah, that's wild.

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

bridesmaids and ushers

It's a very large wedding, with thirteen bridesmaids and thirteen ushers.

The 'bridesmaids' are the women who stands next to the bride at the front of the church. They help the bride get ready for the wedding and are supportive of her at the altar. The 'ushers' are the men that lead the people watching the wedding to their seats. Notice the following:

I've never been to a wedding with so many bridesmaids.
The ushers will usually ask if you are related to the bride or the groom.

maid of honor

The maid of honor is supposed to be responsible for organizing many of the things in a wedding.

The 'maid of honor' is usually the best friend or the sister of the bride. She is in charge of adjusting the bride's gown and holding her flowers during the wedding. The maid of honor also usually plans parties before the wedding. Notice the following:

Of course her twin sister will be her maid of honor.
It was very difficult for her to pick only one maid of honor.

ring bearer

We had a maid of honor, a best man, a ring bearer and a flower girl.

A 'ring bearer' is usually a kid who brings the rings to the front of the church for the bride and groom to give each other the rings. Notice the following:

Because the ring bearer was so young they didn't give him the real rings to carry to the altar.
The groom's nephew was the ring bearer.

walk down the aisle

So there were quite a few of us that had to walk down the aisle.

When you 'walk down the aisle,' you walk from the back of a church to the front on a special center walkway. We can also use 'walk down the aisle' informally to mean get married. Notice the following: