By MATTHEW PARRY
Parry@newsroom.byu.edu
Traditional wedding etiquette specifies various responsibilities for the bride and groom's families to follow.
According to Susan Woodger, wedding consultant and owner of I Do ... Weddings, the groom's family responsibilities include buying the tuxedo, the bride's bouquet, the marriage license and the wedding breakfast.
What does the bride's family do?
'They take care of everything else,' Woodger said. 'They buy the dresses for the bride, bridesmaids and mothers. They pay for the flowers, the reception and the invitations, too.'
Some students at BYU follow the traditional etiquette of weddings.
'I guess for the most part, we followed traditions,' said Kyle Bullock, a senior from Las Vegas, majoring in chemical engineering. 'My parents paid for the tux, and we did have a family dinner the night before the wedding.'
Despite doing most things traditionally, Bullock said the families split the cost in sending the invitations because it was easier.
Nine years ago, people gasped at the thought of a couple doing a non-traditional wedding, according to Woodger.
The traditional etiquette of the groom paying for this and the bride paying for that has changed to whoever has the money pays, Woodger said.
Other BYU students disregard traditional etiquette.
'Who made those rules anyway?' said Terence Longhurst, a sophomore from Chihuahua, Mexico, majoring in manufacturing engineering.
He said he didn't follow any traditions, he did what was convenient.
'We were pretty non-traditional,' said Danielle Bradford, a senior from Charleston, Ill., majoring in human development. 'Each family did as much as they could.'
Of all the LDS weddings that Woodger coordinates, she estimated 65 percent went with a traditional wedding with a formal reception line.
'I'd say about 50 percent of non-LDS weddings used traditional etiquette, but don't do a formal line,' Woodger said. 'They go out to have a good time and party.'
Another 5 percent do bizarre things like buy an orange dress for a Halloween wedding or make invitations with frogs saying 'Leap on over to our reception,' Woodger said.
'We've done two 'Star Wars' weddings. It had gurgling punch and 'Star Wars' cardboard cut-outs,' Woodger said.
Most people don't want to break the time-honored tradition of having the reception after the wedding ceremony, said Karen Barkdull, a wedding consultant for I Do ... Weddings.
'On a few occasions, people do have the reception first, but that is really rare,' Barkdull said.
Some students knew people who did the reception before the ceremony.
'My cousin had the reception earlier and they dressed up in the dress and tux like a normal reception,' Longhurst said.
'My best friend did his reception the night before his wedding,' said McKay Bradford, a senior from Smithfield, Cache County, majoring in computer engineering. 'He liked it because it wasn't as hectic the day of his wedding.'
Is the traditional wedding a thing of the past?
'Society is getting more lax, and thus weddings have also gotten lax,' Woodger said.