White Wedding: Basic Vocabulary
| This is an entry in the “White Wedding” series. You can find more information at the series’ main page.
This entry is available as a Adobe Acrobat file for printing or use in a class. This entry includes a listening exercises. You can dowload the MP3 or play it using the button below. (MP3) |
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There is a lot of vocabulary associated with weddings. Fortunately, a lot of it is pretty ‘normal’ English: ‘invitation,’ ‘planning,’ ‘cake,’ or ‘ceremony.’ Those are all words that you learned as part of ‘general English.’ But, there are some specific vocabulary words that we use just for weddings. Today, I’m going to help you learn those words.
Before You Listen
Before you press the play button, think about the people at the wedding. Do any of the people at the wedding have a specific title in your own language? If you’re married, how much of your own wedding can you describe in English? Think about your own wedding, and then get ready to learn four new piece of vocabulary.
Now, press the play button to start the recording.
After You’ve Listened to the Recording
Did you learn anything new? Is it typical in your culture to have a reception after the ceremony?
A difference between Germany and the U.S. is who is invited to what part of the wedding. Because many U.S. weddings are held in churches, there is a lot of room for people during the ceremony, and it’s normal to invite everyone you know to the ceremony. But, because the reception is more expensive the more guests you invite, only your family and closest friends are invited to the reception.
In Germany, though, it’s the exact opposite: there isn’t much room at the ceremony and only your family and closest friends are invited. But it’s normal to invite more people to the reception afterwards.
What’s the tradition in your country?
In the U.S., the tradition is for the bride’s family to pay for the wedding. (Now, though, the bride and groom often split the cost.) What’s the tradition in your culture?
Vocabulary
Bride: In a wedding, the woman who is about to be married (you can recognize her because she’s normally wearing a fancy white dress) is called the ‘bride.’
Groom: At a wedding, the bride’s husband—or future husband—is called the ‘groom.’ He’s usually the one wearing a nice black suit and looking very nervous.
Reception: A wedding normally has two parts—in the U.S., and Germany, anyway. The first part is the actual ceremony in which the bride and groom are married. The second part is the ‘party’ after the ceremony, the reception. The reception is normally where the food is at a wedding.
