British Weddings > American Weddings

I grew up in Texas.  Therefore, I was invited to 10+ weddings my first year out of college.  At age 29, I'm now on my second run of weddings (i.e., my post-college friends) and my first run of baby announcements.  Note: I'm now a sucker for Instagram videos of babies.  They get all my hearts.

So, although not married myself, I know what makes a "good" wedding (at least from a guest's perspective).

A few weeks ago, Alan and I made our way to Cambridge, England for my good friend Emily's wedding.  I can now say that Americans have it wrong.  We should rekindle are roots and bring back the wedding traditions of the long rejected British Empire.

Why you might ask?

1. They have beautiful locations  

Let's face it -- Britain is a lot older than the United States, and therefore, has its share of beautiful, historic locations to host weddings.  Emily's father is the president of the oldest college at Cambridge, Peterhouse, so we were especially privileged.  It was founded in 1284, which means Emily's wedding was one of many historical moments to happen on those grounds (but, obviously the most important ;)  

2. They start early and end late

We arrived at the chapel around noon and left 12 hours later.  Cocktail toasts started at 1:30 PM, and the wine and beer flowed freely from there on.  We ate a fancy lunch.  We took a break at a local pub for even more beer (others went punting).  We danced.  We laughed.  We played wedding pub trivia.  We took photos.  We danced even more with props.  We even "marry-oked" (see video below) and ate "late-night" pizza delivered to Peterhouse.

It was an awesome time.  All weddings deserve an entire day celebrating the new couple.

3. I love being surrounded by British accents.

Americans will never sound as good.