I have always wondered why people cry at weddings.
When I was a child, I would watch movies and observe that when the bride starts walking down the aisle, every woman would start tearing up and the famous Kleenex gets passed around. As I grew older and was given more opportunities to attend and be part of weddings of friends and family members, I, too, started tearing up when I saw the bride walking down the aisle of what I now refer to as her “final destination.”
Women are emotional beings. When a bride cries at her own wedding, it may mainly be because she is overjoyed that she is getting married to the love of her life. She may be thinking of other things that make her emotional and that’s why she cries. That, I can totally understand.
But what about the other women who are just watching her walk toward that man who is going to take her as his wife? I must admit that I shed some tears at most weddings I attended and shed some tears at some wedding scenes I watched from a movie. Happy tears. That’s what I call them.
Being the curious girl that I am, I started asking about why women cry at weddings. Here’s what I have:
“I’m just so happy for them,” a friend once told me as she dabbed her eyes with her hanky. I guess being happy when everything works out just the way everyone wants it to work out brings tears of joy to women.
“Cuz everyone’s crying.” This may not make sense at all, but being the emotional kind of people that we are, we react to almost everything we see, regardless of our involvement in the situation. 
“They’re too young for this kind of relationship, but this is what they want, so I just support them.” That’s the mother of the bride (my cousin) telling me about how she felt when she saw her daughter walking down the aisle. Supportive-but-sad tears, I guess?
“She’s married and I’m the only one left single.” Apparently, some women think about themselves and this is one reason why women cry at weddings. Happy-for-you-but-super-sad-for-me kind of tears.
“I hope she’s really happy”. A typical reaction of a friend who has witnessed the couple’s roller coaster ride and has never been fully convinced that the bride made the right decision. She is shedding hopeful tears.
In all honesty, I don’t mind why people cry at weddings. We see weddings as an ending to a certain chapter of our lives and a beginning to something we are uncertain about.
Why do you cry at weddings? Let us know in the comments below!
If you want, you can sign up here.
It's completely free and I've learned soooo much from it!
Before you go, we'd love to hear from you in the comments below. I'm working hard to build a community here and a big part of that are your contributions!
If you have experiences to share, questions, comments, suggestions, or anything else, please leave a comment.
I'm the Chief Editor here at Independent Femme and would love to hear from you.
