It can be one of the happiest days in a person’s life, but weddings certainly aren’t for everyone – or not in the traditional sense, at least.
In fact, there’s a growing trend of people sharing their non-traditional wedding ideas using hashtags like #altwedding on TikTok and user Lark – username @knaakwell – is one of them.
Lark explained why she is planning to elope rather than plan a traditional wedding day in a video which has racked up nearly half a million views since being posted earlier this week.
Explaining her thought process, Lark said: “One of the biggest reasons for me is because I am a very anxious person. I simply cannot imagine standing up there on the altar and having the most intimate moment of my life with my partner while all these eyes are on us, watching us. That is the most uncomfortable, anxiety-provoking thought to me. Like, that actually makes me ill to think about. I’m not even like being dramatic.”
@knaakwell Why I’m not having a wedding.. #unpopularopinion #weddingtiktok #weddingtok #weddingopinions #engagement #elopment #weddingculture
Lark went on to make the point that she finds normal wedding ceremonies give her anxiety and make her feel uncomfortable, saying: “Anytime that I have attended a wedding, when it comes to the part where they, like, exchange vows and kiss, to me, it feels like when you’re watching a movie with your parents, and a sex scene comes on. Like, it feels so uncomfortable you want to look away.”
She also made the point that the sheer expense of the planning process puts a lot of people off organising a traditional wedding.
“My fiance and I want to buy a house. So that’s my priority over having some big extravagant wedding. In today’s world, you just simply can’t afford that unless you have parents that are just throwing money at you, which, in my case, is not the reality. So it would be coming out of my pocket, and I would prefer not to go into debt.”
The video sparked a lot of reaction, with one viewer commenting: “I’ve always felt like walking down the aisle will be the most embarrassing moment of my life.”
“Yessss it just feels like a performance for everyone else,” another one said, agreeing with Lark.
“We’re having a tiny wedding of only 14 guests, in an airbnb we rented for the week in Scotland, and doing private vows! I cannot with trad weddings,” another user commented.
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