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Brides of March against the commercialisation of marriage

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Brides of MarchHeather Kennedy
WVoN co-editor

Ever felt nauseated by the myth that all woman of child bearing age are would-be bridezillas, itching to get down the aisle and squandering the GDP of a small African nation in the process?

Brides of March gathered last week, fully kitted out in bridal garb, in a yearly event to protest against the commercialisation of marriage.

The founder of the movement, Michele Michele says she got the idea in a San Franciscan thrift shop:

“I saw a rack of used wedding dresses and realised how often the dreams of an ideal marriage had failed and how so much of this dream had been fabricated in order to fuel the ever increasing consumption of new products.”

Men and women take to the streets en masse for the march, dressed in elaborate wedding garb, to mock the sugary extravagance that has become entwined with western ideas of marriage.

The movement has gone trans-global and this year, revellers brought Brides of March events to London, Japan, Seattle, Austin and Reno. The only rule is that your wedding dress must be bought second hand.

Online instructions on how to adapt your second hand dress read:

Whaddya mean you’re not a size two?! After all, we have not spent the last year or two dieting and worrying ourselves into a skeletal condition by arguing with our future mother-in laws, shrieking at the photographer and obsessing that the napkins are not exactly the same colour as our eyes.

It is a truth (supposedly) universally acknowledged that all women spend their childhood prancing, tea towel on head, rehearsing for their future nuptials.

For those of us who feel alienated by this so-called truism, the sight of a six foot transvestite bride with a moustache and home-customized frothy gown, is a refreshing one.

As the 2012 Budget in the UK spells another year of rising unemployment, homelessness and welfare cuts, it seems an opportune moment to question the reckless opulence which has become the status quo as far as marriage celebrations go.

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