topic Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me) in Community Chat

Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

JeanLouiseFinch — Wed, 07 May 2025 00:05:21 GMT

We attended a wedding on Sunday. It was May 4th and the couple is kinda geeky so they chose a Star Wars theme. It was awesome. She wore a beautiful sparkling gown instead of a traditional bridal gown. The music was fantastic. Food was very good. We sat with nice people. All in all, a truly great time.

The one usual thing that happened is that the groom took the bride's last name. I've never heard of that before.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

Bonkers1 — Wed, 07 May 2025 00:07:24 GMT

Interesting.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

september — Wed, 07 May 2025 00:07:58 GMT

Another newer thing to me, is that sometimes each partner takes on a new name that is a blend of each of their names. I like that.

I won't use the words bride and groom, because the first couple I knew that did this....both were brides.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

PA Mom-mom — Wed, 07 May 2025 00:31:16 GMT

New to me too. It's going to drive the genealogists crazy! Hahaha!

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

Citrine1 — Wed, 07 May 2025 00:47:29 GMT

Oh boy, Star Wars theme, groom taking the brides last name - - sorry, but I don't get it. I like tradition.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

Sage04 — Wed, 07 May 2025 02:34:30 GMT

When my son' friends got married the husband took the wife's last name because he didn't like his. They were 23 and 27.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

beach-mom — Wed, 07 May 2025 02:44:49 GMT

@Sage04 wrote:
When my son' friends got married the husband took the wife's last name because he didn't like his. They were 23 and 27.

Similar situation - we went to a wedding where they both took the groom's MIDDLE name as their last name. His real last name would be a hard one to live with, but his parents did. Now she uses her maiden name as her professional name, but together they still use his middle name. First time we'd ever seen this done.

Sadly it cost them their relationship with his paternal grandparents, who would not attend the wedding.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

Zoe — Wed, 07 May 2025 04:33:30 GMT

A co-worker, David, took his wife's name 25 years ago. His rationale: his wife had 2 sisters and no brothers. He did it as a gesture to his new FIL to carry on their family name since the FIL had no sons to carry on the name. A truly loving gesture. He also thought his wife's last name was unique, whereas his was more common.

His parents got over it, eventually...though when the grandkids arrived, his parents kept buying stock and bonds in the kids' names -- but with David's last name before he took his wife's name. It was a mess to correct all of that. By the oldest kid's 10th birthday, they finally gave all of that up and embraced their grandchildren's proper last name.

Taking a spouse's name isn't for me, but to each their own. Everyone should do what makes them feel most comfortable.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

wagirl — Wed, 07 May 2025 13:40:36 GMT

First off--what a fun wedding theme!! I am kind of a mild Star Wars geek myself and love that !! It's kind of nice to out of the box with weddings---and never heard of taking the brides last name--wonder if there is a story to it like the one mention here---

May the force be with you--

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

geezerette — Wed, 07 May 2025 14:25:53 GMT

@Zoe wrote:
A co-worker, David, took his wife's name 25 years ago. His rationale: his wife had 2 sisters and no brothers. He did it as a gesture to his new FIL to carry on their family name since the FIL had no sons to carry on the name. A truly loving gesture. He also thought his wife's last name was unique, whereas his was more common.

His parents got over it, eventually...though when the grandkids arrived, his parents kept buying stock and bonds in the kids' names -- but with David's last name before he took his wife's name. It was a mess to correct all of that. By the oldest kid's 10th birthday, they finally gave all of that up and embraced their grandchildren's proper last name.

Taking a spouse's name isn't for me, but to each their own. Everyone should do what makes them feel most comfortable.

Didn't that often happen in "olden days" when there were no male relatives to carry on a (usually prominent) family name?

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

beckyb1012 — Wed, 07 May 2025 14:42:50 GMT

Blake Lively's father did that when he married Blake's mother. His last name is Brown and is why she uses the name Brown for her haircare line. Not sure why he made the decision to become Lively when they married years ago..

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

deepwaterdotter — Wed, 07 May 2025 15:16:10 GMT

The minister at my church took his wife's last name when they married.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

shoptilyadropagain — Wed, 07 May 2025 16:50:53 GMT

Taking on a different last name from the groom is a new one on me but I like the idea....for various reasons.

A co-worker's son had a Star Wars theme when he got married several years ago. I have no idea how far they went with it because I didn't attend the wedding and Star Wars isn't my thing so didn't ask about it either.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

Love my grandkids — Wed, 07 May 2025 20:33:35 GMT

@JeanLouiseFinch I've heard of it and actually worked with a man years ago who hated his weird last name and took his wife's. I thought it was way cool.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

chrystaltree — Thu, 08 May 2025 01:48:28 GMT

It sounds like a fun wedding and I enjoy fun weddings. I haven't been to a theme wedding like that.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

JeanLouiseFinch — Thu, 08 May 2025 02:14:59 GMT

@wagirl wrote:
First off--what a fun wedding theme!! I am kind of a mild Star Wars geek myself and love that !! It's kind of nice to out of the box with weddings---and never heard of taking the brides last name--wonder if there is a story to it like the one mention here---

May the force be with you--

@wagirl - One of the favors the guests received was a collapsible toy lightsaber. It actually lights up too! Our grandkids should have some fun with ours.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

sunshine45 — Thu, 08 May 2025 03:31:45 GMT

a friend of mine is greek.

her parents didnt like that she was marrying someone who was not greek and someone who was not of their faith.

her future husband had a german last name.

they were high school sweethearts.

he took greek language classes, he changed his religion, AND he changed his last name to a greek name (not hers, but one they chose together) so that their children would have greek names.

Re: Another New Wedding Thing (To Me)

Zoe — Thu, 08 May 2025 04:47:43 GMT

@geezerette wrote:
@Zoe wrote:
A co-worker, David, took his wife's name 25 years ago. His rationale: his wife had 2 sisters and no brothers. He did it as a gesture to his new FIL to carry on their family name since the FIL had no sons to carry on the name. A truly loving gesture. He also thought his wife's last name was unique, whereas his was more common.

His parents got over it, eventually...though when the grandkids arrived, his parents kept buying stock and bonds in the kids' names -- but with David's last name before he took his wife's name. It was a mess to correct all of that. By the oldest kid's 10th birthday, they finally gave all of that up and embraced their grandchildren's proper last name.

Taking a spouse's name isn't for me, but to each their own. Everyone should do what makes them feel most comfortable.

Didn't that often happen in "olden days" when there were no male relatives to carry on a (usually prominent) family name?

Can't speak to "olden days." This was a very young man at the time, probably about 25-28 years old in the late 1990s.