No. Hate them. Female. The goal always seems to be to invite everyone the couple knows to grab as many presents as possible. It’s cold and impersonal. Furthermore, the couple always skimps on things that matter to guests (like food, drinks, and cake), so that the reception ends up being like torture. Plus, relatives and friends are always fighting over petty matters in the year-long run-up to the “festivities,” which makes the receptions like a social minefield. I’ve heard there are exceptions to this, but I’ve never seen one.
Depends.
Is there an open bar and are the people attending a bunch of alcoholics like I am? Hell, yeah, I’m gonna have fun.
But if they are a bunch of old stuffy bible thumpers; not so much.
Originally, I hated weddings and their receptions. Then I discovered besides the free booze and free food, it was a great place for picking up women.
Seriously, I am not talking about the Wedding Crashers here. I am talking for real. It had usually slightly tippsy women, who were in a relatively positive frame of mind towards guys (as opposed to the “wall’s up, I don’t trust you,” mode you find at many bars or clubs), and who are looking for someone to talk to. In addition, you have a built in topic of conversation (the wedding or the bride and groom) and they might well be on a break of a sort from their regular guy (since he chose not to come to the wedding). The interaction with the opposite sex could be at any number of levels - from the one-night stand to the long term relationship. It all depended on how well one hit it off with the other person. I am a tolerable dancer so I had that going for me too.
I came to really look forward to going to them. I really sound rotten, don’t I? Sorry.
I used to enjoy them sometimes. Look at my MPSIMS thread to see how much I care for them after this week.
ETA: Male
NONE of the weddings I have been to been anything like that.
Male, early 30s, single.
I love weddings. I always have. What’s not to like about a big giant party with your friends and/or family featuring music, dancing, a caterer and a free bar where everybody shows up with an intent to have a good time?!?
Male, 39. Overall I enjoy weddings of friends and family, esp. the reception part of the wedding: free food, (hopefully) open bar, and catching up with friends and family. I wouldn’t mind skipping the actual wedding part, though, to be honest.
No, not really. If you’re not lying or misrepresenting yourself, good for you (and your partners) for having a good time. 
If bar = open, wedding = fun.
Hate them, not even looking foward to mine.
Lucky you. You must know classier people than I do.
On further reflection, I see that the people who enjoy weddings clearly have friends who provide food and drinks for the guests. Every wedding I’ve attended has skimped heavily on the food, not provided drinks, and more than one has failed to have enough cake for everyone to get a piece. One had a cash bar, but the drinks were tiny and expensive. I was out of money far too early in the evening.
I think it may be partly due to the (local?) tradition of inviting every single person the bride, groom, and their parents ever knew.
What we did for our wedding was rent a large venue and had a social hour before the wedding; drinks, hors d’oeuvres, etc. An hour for the guests to mingle and visit, relax.
Then the music starts, we held a fairly traditional wedding, and then right after we are announced as man & wife the real reception started. Dinner, drinks, dancing.
We receive a lot of compliments on the idea of the social hour preceding the ceremony.
male, early 30s. Been to a lot of weddings. Some of them were a total drag, with stuffy relatives, but most have been a total blast. A massive party and celebration for someone i know and care about? Oh yeah.
I adore them when they’re done right and the other guests I’m close to. I’m in my early 20’s and I’ve been to three weddings in the past 2 years.
One was very traditional, and there was only beer, and like others complain, they didn’t put much thought into the food or cake. I didn’t have a date and didn’t know many people, so the reception wasn’t great. I was also pretty hungover, enough to bake my phone in the oven overnight (don’t ask).
The second one was fantastic; we all flew into Chicago and the bachelor party was boys and girls and we drank all day at the best man’s lake house. The best man invited his ex boyfriend in an attempt to have a one night stand, and I had to explain to the drunkenly high groom why he wasn’t going to be sharing the only bed with the groom that night. We slept four to a Motel 6 room and the saving grace was me bringing two 6 plug surge protectors so everyone could charge their cell phones. The ceremony was religious (shiver) and there was no booze, tasteless sandwiches were served, but it was my best friend from college and we had a hilarious time dancing in front of all his Indiana born-and-bred relatives. These people were STRAIGHT out of Flashdance. I loved it. We’ll talk about it for decades to come.
The third was at a modern art gallery in the city, the only local one for me, held on July 4th. It was a pain to miss the holiday with my family, which is more important than Christmas. I went with the SO, so that was a first, and very nice to have someone to snicker with during the vows “We promise to have a christian and righteous life” (despite the fact we’ve lived together for 3 years while not engaged and the guy was somewhat pressured/ultimatumed into the situation). The food was pretty good, but there was no set dance floor. The SO’s best friend’s ex girlfriend was there and has cankles. Her now boyfriend broke an exhibit and lied about it. We got to watch fireworks on the fire escapes as one of our good friends, a handsome GQish looking guy talked an employee into letting us.
Weddings are as good as the people who throw them, and how close you are to the people.
I’m female and I hate weddings. The ceremony is boring. Waiting for the bride and groom to have their pictures taken is boring. The receiving line is boring. Waiting in line for a piece of bland cake is boring.
The only good thing about weddings is sneaking in huge bags of rice, and sharing. The bride and groom’s faces when they are hit with monumental amounts of rice is priceless.
Weddings are the best excuse my wife and I have to go dancing, so we do indeed love going (though at this point, we know very few unmarrieds left).
Are you me? This is exactly what I would’ve said down to the traveling a few hours for my cousin’s wedding with the whole family and having a blast.
I haven’t been to a wedding in a couple of years. I was meant to be at my cousin’s reception this past Saturday but wasn’t physically up to it and I’m sorry I missed it as it sounds like it was a really good time. (And the cake, which I got a slice of, was marvelous.)
The day after a wedding, I’m usually sad, I’m sore from dancing (I shouldn’t do it but I can’t resist the lure of good dance music) and reminded that I’m terminally single, but the wedding itself is always a good thing.
I enjoy them.
I’ve never failed to enjoy a wedding, which would probably surprise you if knew me. I don’t dance, I mostly hate big social situations, etc. My streak may be severely tested this weekend, though. I’m going to the wedding of a friend of my father’s who I’ve met twice; I agreed to go mostly to keep Dad company. I also got roped into going to this guy’s bachelor party (???).