white weddings

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Recommended: Sociology of weddings

Weddings, specifically “white weddings,” are a staple of American imagery. White weddings, as the dominant wedding form, penetrate both the culture and the industry. Specifically, the stereotypical white wedding is a spectacle featuring a bride in a formal white wedding gown, combined with some combination of attendants and witnesses, religious ceremony, wedding reception, and honeymoon (pg.3). Ingraham's main argument on the wedding industry is that images of white weddings permeate our culture. From movies to sitcoms, commercials, advertisements, magazines, and talk shows(television), one cannot simply avoid the glorified presence of weddings in our society. These images and associated rituals are so common and expected that they seem “natural,” and have even remained virtually unnoticed. Ingraham is not critiquing weddings itself, but instead focuses on how heterosexuality is highly organized by society and by culture. Ingraham defends his argument by stating how women did not enter this world knowing they wanted to wear a prom dress, practice something called “dating,” and buy a white wedding gown. Likewise, men did not exit the womb knowing they would one day have to buy a date or spend two months’ income to buy an engagement ring (pg.3). After reading the first chapter of Ingraham's book, her thesis clearly states that weddings are one of the major events that signal readiness and prepare heterosexuals for membership in marriage as an organizing practice for the institution of heterosexuality. Ingraham’s argument is not the first to center the theme that the white wedding is a too expensive and lavish celebration, resulting in a sense of vanity. Ingraham constantly shares her important idea on how Anglo-American white weddings are performances and how they serve the purpose of “putting on a show” for others. For those of the past and present who have

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