Big Fat Gypsy Wedding
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
What is a Big Fat Gypsy Wedding?
The latest craze to hit our TV’s is “Big Fat Gypsy Weddings“. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this phenomenon – here is a quick glimpse:
Lifestyle You brings this epic extravaganza into our lounge-rooms for us to see just how “the other half” live. Initially your reaction is one of disbelief and shock seeing tiny tots running around resembling cheap hookers and young girls dancing and gyrating similar to that of which you might find in a seedy strip club.
Then there are the dresses. The Big Fat Gypsy Wedding over-the-top dresses that leave Cinderella’s gown resembling a cheap knock-off. These girls endure pain and often scars all in the name of being the most extravagant bride. The more over-the-top the better.
Who cares if you can’t walk in it, or if the bones in the bodice are digging into your skin ultimately leaving vicious scars on your body, or that the sheer weight of the gown makes in unbearable to keep on or that you fear being electrocuted by the copious quantity of fairy lights that have been sewn into the dress to light up for the couple’s first dance.
Although watching Big Fat Gypsy Weddings may have you gasping for air and using language that you didn’t know you had in you – it is almost like a train wreck in that you want to see if there are any survivors.
Did we mention that somehow the bride’s skin resembles that of an over-ripe orange with way too much spray tan and their makeup could be mistaken for that from a drag queen show. Speaking of drag queens – isn’t the mother of the bride suppose to be demure and understated?
Whatever your reaction is to this lifelong tradition – it is certainly entertaining and can become addictive viewing.
Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Traditions Live On
Ancient traditions meet modern fashions in an ostentatious culture clash in the world of 21st century gypsy and traveler weddings. Gaining rare access to this fascinating and often misunderstood community, this series documents gypsy weddings, revealing a culture where brides compete to have the biggest dress, but having children out of wedlock is still taboo and divorce is unheard of.
Considered ‘on the shelf’ by 20, many girls in gypsy and traveler communities get married soon after their sixteenth birthday, with the full support of their family. The weddings are visual spectacles; girls parade into church in enormous dresses that sometimes weigh more than the bride herself. And, although the women appear sexually provocative, there is a tradition of premarital chastity that is increasingly unusual in Britain today.
This is a community that lives alongside but detached from mainstream society. It is a community of contrasts, living by centuries-old religious and cultural traditions, but at the same time embracing the gaudier extremes of the celebrity and fashion-obsessed times in which we live.
Sydney’s Own Big Fat Gypsy Wedding
Not to be outdone by our British counterparts, our very own Jackie O, radio personality from Sydney’s No. 1 Hit Music Station 2DayFM, renewed her wedding vows with the flair of a “Big Fat Gypsy Wedding”
On Friday, 31 August 2012, live on air, Jackie O and her husband, Lee, renewed their vows in front of select family, friends, avid listeners, die-hard fans and crew.
To attempt to describe this momentous occasion would not do the lavish event any justice. So to help you appreciate the beauty that is our Jackie O – the video says what words could not aptly portray:
And the couple live happily ever after…Jackie left for an overseas holiday with her girlfriends on Saturday leaving Lee at home – the perfect honeymoon!
You too may now become addicted to Big Fat Gypsy Weddings!
Sources: Lifestyle You; 2Dayfm Sydney