Wedding Photos American Culture American Wedding
In this American English Pronunciation video,
you’re going to look at photos from our
wedding!
A few months ago, David and I made a video
where we announced our engagement to you guys.
And you guys were so wonderful!
I think at least a thousand people said congratulations
to us, it was really neat.
Thank you guys for that.
I also had fun making a couple of videos leading
up to the wedding from our wedding venue,
where we studied real life American English.
So it was fun to have you guys be a part of
the process.
And, I want to share my wedding photos with
you in this video, and just, sort of, talk
through the day, and talk about what happened.
Um, David, what would you say, what stands
out to you the most?
About the day?
A favorite memory, maybe?
I think what stands out the most is just
being there with so many people that are important
to us.
Mm-hmm.
And being able to look out and see everybody’s
faces as we were standing up front.
One thing that we did that was a little
bit different is, we did something called
self-uniting, which means that there wasn’t
someone there to perform the ceremony.
It was just us.
And one of the things that was really cool
about that is that we, we got to stand up
and look out at everybody.
Usually in weddings, the couple stands in
front and they face forward, and the person
who is performing the wedding is looking out
at everybody.
And, I didn’t even think about that, but
it was so moving and so powerful…
Mm-hmm.
…to be up there and just look at this
sea of people that love you and support you.
It was awesome.
But, let’s get to the most exciting part
of this video, which is the wedding photos
which our wonderful photographer took, so
here it is: our wedding.
When it came time for our pictures, it was
raining.
That didn’t stop us from having a good time,
though.
We went to a coffee shop where we got a few
shots indoors.
Then there was a little break in the rain,
so we went outside and got some photos in
an interesting alley next to the coffee shop.
Then we went over to the Delaware River, where
there’s a pier under the Ben Franklin bridge,
that’s been turned into a park.
And we took some photos out there.
This was about an hour or so before sunset.
Then we headed to the wedding venue.
The wedding venue was in an old chocolate
factory that’s been converted into a photography
studio, so it was just a big space.
And we hung a lot of lanterns.
David’s sister and I and some friends made
the flower arrangements.
The tables were set up so there were five
really long tables, each that sat 24 people.
These are Wilburbuds, the chocolate that used
to be made in this chocolate factory.
So we took some family photos.
This is my family, and this is David’s family.
Very different in size.
We had a cocktail hour before the ceremony
so we had a chance to catch up with old friends.
Of course Tom and his wife Julie were there.
Then it was time to start gathering people
in for the ceremony, so all of our friends
and family packed in.
It was short, so we didn’t have chairs,
we wanted everybody to be very close and tight.
So we exchanged our vows and rings.
As is tradition in the US, we had our first
kiss after officially becoming married.
And then we decided to celebrate by singing
some hymns.
So we passed out hymn sheets, and I led the
group in singing.
My brother actually got some video of that,
so here it is.
[singing]
Then the ceremony was over and there were
lots of hugs.
And we signed the marriage license with our
mothers as witnesses.
And it was time for dinner and toasts.
All four of our parents gave toasts before
dinner.
It was really sweet to hear what they had
to say.
So we all raised a glass and started in on
dinner.
After dinner, two more people gave speeches,
David’s friend Mike, and my friend Sara,
who has been in several Rachel’s English
videos.
They were wonderful speeches that made us
laugh.
Then we pointed out our friend Laura who had
been the first person to set us up.
And everybody toasted her.
Then it was time for the first dance.
And we quickly called our friends out to the
dance floor to join us.
And then the party really began.
Everybody came out to dance.
Our aunts, our uncles, our parents.
David’s family even did a flash mob, where
they did a dance that they had been working
on for months.
At first we were a little confused about what
was going on.
But once we understood, we thought it was
pretty great!
We danced with our parents, and then it was
time to cut the cake.
Typically at a wedding, the bride and groom
each feed each other a little bit of cake.
Every once in a while, it gets a little out
of hand.
Don’t worry, I forgave him.
The rest of the night was really just about
being with friends and family.
And of course, lots more dancing.
And we got to see our parents party as we’d
never seen them before.
We had so much fun.
What are weddings like in your country?
What did you learn about American culture
from looking at these wedding photos?
Let me know in the comments below.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.