DISQUS

Bunker Complex: STFU, Marrieds - “I’ve heard of people specifically asking for...

  • Name · 4 months ago
    If they're asking people to pay specifically to come to their wedding, that's tacky. However, stag and does are really common in my neck of the woods, and generally it's a party with a $5 or $10 admission fee to support the bride and groom.
  • thePinkSuperhero · 4 months ago
    Wedding socials (sometimes called "jack and jills") are very popular in some parts of the country.
  • Name · 4 months ago
    Wedding "socials" are pretty much expected where I'm from too - basically hall parties where people pay $10 to get in and help build up a wedding fund. Ask anyone from Manitoba and they'll say the same. Perhaps it has something to with our communitarian past.
  • jukaswo · 4 months ago
    Their biggest problem is that "alot" is not a word. Maybe they should use the funds to take a remedial grammar course.
  • blake e. · 4 months ago
    I've never heard of this but with "prizes" like a raffle it definitely feels like a money scam.
    It's smart though, I love wedding parties, i'd pay 10$.
    I hope alcohol is covered. Then it's fair. If not, it's a little high.

    Personally, i dont feel like i should have to pay a dime for wedding parties. You chose to get married, that's on you, i'm not paying for it. It's bad enough i went to a reception with a "cash bar". I had to fight the urge to kick the groom in the head.
  • Fraulein N · 4 months ago
    I know. Tickets? Prizes? The hell?

    I hope this is some kind of pre-wedding thing, like commenters are suggesting. Otherwise, it's the absolute height of tackiness.
  • miss_k8 · 4 months ago
    I love socials, and $10 is always the going rate.
    From Wikipedia;

    There is a peculiar use of "social" in some parts of the world. In the Canadian province of Manitoba, a "social" is a fund raising party (for a wedding, non-profit organisation, charity, small town hockey team or some other worthy cause) which is typically held in a Royal Canadian Legion hall or community centre. It is also known as a Manitoba Social. Typically, they will include music (current popular music for the youth and "oldies" music for older adults; 'mony mony' and 'stuck in the middle' are two classic social songs in which everyone enjoys to partake), dancing, food (kubasa, rye bread, cheese squares, dill pickles and nanaimo bars are obligatory offerings), raffles (and other fund raising games). When held in support of a wedding, often they are used as a way to shake down some details of the wedding (e.g., letting the bride try a hair style, practicing dancing, etc.).
  • jukaswo · 4 months ago
    Wedding etiquette dictates that you never, ever ask guests for money. Not before the wedding, not during, not after. If you can't afford a wedding, take a trip downtown and see the Justice of the Peace.
  • Tuesy · 4 months ago
    But it's not the actual wedding guests are being asked to pay for, it's a social, generally held a month or two before the wedding. It doesn't have the same rules as a wedding, because it isn't the wedding. Everyone expects to pay to go to a social, that's the point of it. What the bride and groom do with any money raised is up to them. It could go to wedding costs, a honeymoon, a new fridge and stove, or whatever.

    It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't heard of them, but they're mostly just a fun excuse to drink cheap booze, dance to a DJ all night with your friends, and maybe win a new Shamwow or something as a door prize.
  • Shu · 4 months ago
    Yeh, but Wedding Socials/Shags/Stag and Does are common a lot in small towns, where there often isn't a lot to do. I know here (N Ont) they are $2 a ticket (less than bar cover). Usually there is chips and pretzels out on the tables, a door prize and pizza or hot beef sandwiches at midnight. You buy tickets for cheap beer or basic mixed drinks (usually $2 bucks a drink), again way cheaper than bar prices. The bridesmaids usually wander around selling jello shots and raffle tickets. If done "properly" they are great fun and a lot of people go to them for a night out, even if they don't know the bride and groom... they just want cheap beer and dancing and a chance for a prize.

    It's just like the dollar dance... tacky for some and cultural for others.
  • ncstl · 4 months ago
    Socials seem to be unique to Manitoba. If you live in rural MB and are getting married, it has long been tradition that you have a social at the local town hall, no matter how much/little money you have for the wedding. They are something completely different than an actual wedding or reception and you don’t have to be invited to attend a social.

    Socials give the community a chance to get together, drink, dance and congratulate the couple (although you don’t need to actually know them, you can just come for the party). Apparently socials originated with Ukrainian and other agrarian immigrants who used these gatherings to keep up with the neighbours and get away from the social isolation of their farms. Socials are not seen as cheap, tacky or offensive in any way, unless of course the couple organizing one are themselves cheap, tacky and offensive. They are usually awesome fun and a major source of entertainment in any MB town. I always try to hit up a few when I visit the homeland.
  • Name · 4 months ago
    They're common in rural ontario, too, but are more often called stag and does. May through July is stag and doe season, and my friends and I will go to as many as we can to support the couples and have some great nights!
  • Tuesy · 4 months ago
    This didn't seem odd to me, either. But then I'm from Manitoba, like many of the other people who are commenting here, apparently!
  • Bucky Katt · 4 months ago
    Ok, I'm from Oklahoma and I've never heard of such a thing. Fascinating.