Talking about weddings

Introduction Georgie and Neil have a real conversation in easy English about weddings – the ceremonies and parties we organise when people get married. Learn the difference between a stag party and a hen party, and find out what Neil's wedding was like! Vocabulary bridesmaid position at a wedding given to close friends and family of the bride maid of honour most important bridesmaid best man a close friend or relative of the groom, who has certain responsibilities, like making a speech hen party celebration before the wedding for the bride and her friends and family stag party celebration before the wedding for the groom and his friends and family traditional what most people would expect, based on thier culture, relatives and social groups low key quiet, without too many people Transcript   Georgie Hi Neil. How are you?   Neil I'm fine, thank you. I've got a question for you, Georgie. When was the last time you went to a wedding?   Georgie The last wedding I went to was in June, but I've actually got one coming up very soon in Scotland.   Neil Ah! That sounds exciting. We're talking about weddings in this episode, but people need to remember something, don't they?   Georgie They do. They can find a free worksheet and transcript to practise what they've learned at bbclearningenglish.com.   Neil Well, Georgie, you have a wedding coming up and you've already been to one recently. Do you like weddings?   Georgie Yes, I really do enjoy weddings, actually. I really enjoy social events. I enjoy meeting new people. You often meet lots of new people. It's nice to see a celebration of love – two families coming together as well. I like to watch those dynamics. There's often a lot of nice food. What about you? Do you like weddings?   Neil I do. I do like... I do like a wedding, yes, but I haven't been to one for ages. A few years ago, I seemed to go to a wedding every week of my life, and they became... it became a bit samey – like the same thing again and again. But I haven't been for ages now, so I would like to go to a wedding.   Georgie Yes. I won't reveal my age, but you could say I am in the wedding era, so there's lots of weddings in the calendar! And you're right – it can get a bit exhausting. But in general, I really... I just enjoy a party.      Neil Is there anything that you don't like about weddings?   Georgie Yes, there is. There are often quite a few hidden costs because, especially if you have a role in the wedding – for example, bridesmaid, maid of honour – there are responsibilities before the wedding even starts. So, in the UK we do... often do things called hen parties or stag parties, and at the moment it seems a lot of people are going away for a weekend. It can be expensive and then at the wedding itself you often have to – I mean, maybe not, but sometimes you buy a new outfit. It can be expensive to get there. Sometimes people do weddings abroad as well and you have to buy flights, so it can get pretty expensive.   Neil It sounds like you really don't like weddings.   Georgie Neil, I just told you all the things that I do like about weddings! There's loads of things.   Neil It's true though. Weddings can be stressful if you... especially if you have a role. I was a best man once at a wedding, and that meant that I had to organise lots of things, and I had to make a speech in front of lots of people – lots of people of different generations, so it's quite difficult to say something that's interesting and appealing for everyone.   Georgie Yeah, speeches are another thing that I like about weddings, actually, because you can hear what the people closest to the bride and groom, what they... how they feel about them. But there's a downside. Sometimes they can be too long and too boring. I hope yours wasn't too boring.   Neil Thanks...!   Georgie I'm sure it wasn't.   Neil It went down quite well.   Georgie So, Neil, you are married. Can you tell us a bit about what your wedding was like?   Neil Well, my wedding was very, very low key and untraditional. So, it wasn't like a typical British wedding. We just went to a registry office to get married, and then we went for a meal, and then we went to a karaoke bar.   Georgie Oh, wow!   Neil And everybody dressed up in costumes and sang and danced.   Georgie That sounds like so much fun. I wish I was there.   Neil So, what's your ideal kind of wedding? Traditional, or low key like mine?   Georgie Maybe not traditional or low key. I think I would just... my priority would be to just have as many people that I know in one place, and maybe I'd like to have some live music. I just want everyone that I know to be dancing together and meeting each other. That's my... that's what I imagine. Let's recap some of the vocabulary we learnt during this conversation. We heard about some roles during a wedding. So, traditionally a woman or bride will choose their closest friends and family to be bridesmaids.   Neil And the main bridesmaid is called the maid of honour. For the man, or groom, I mentioned that there is a best man and the best man is a close friend, sometimes the brother of the groom, and the best man has certain responsibilities – making a speech, organising certain things.   Georgie Yes. I mentioned hen parties and stag parties, and these are often organised by the best man and the maid of honour. They're celebrations that happen before the wedding.   Neil We used the word traditional. Now, a traditional wedding is the kind of wedding that most people in a particular culture expect when you mention the word 'wedding'.   Georgie And you, Neil, didn't have a traditional wedding. You described your wedding as low key, which means that it was quieter, fewer people, and you even did karaoke, which I guess is not traditional.   Neil That's it for this episode of Real Easy English, but don't forget to sign up for our newsletter so you can find out about all the great programmes that we make at BBC Learning English. You can find it on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.   Georgie And we'll be back next week with another conversation in easy English. See you then. Now try this... Watch The London Letter Challenge. Download a free worksheet. Discover more programmes for your level.  Find all our latest programmes.