Lavish Irish “Traveller” Wedding Between Teenage Cousins
June 19, 2009Below are a few pictures from photographer Neelakshi Vidyalankara’s online portfolio of an Irish Gypsy Wedding between two 16 year-old third cousins. The rest of her photos in the gallery are fabulous, Ms. Vidyalankara is a very talented photojournalist!
From the intro:
“Mary Connors, one of five siblings, marries her third cousin Patrick Connors – both are 16 years old. There is an estimated 19,000 Irish Travellers in the UK, the majority of whom are devout Catholics. A highly marginalised and insular community, there is often much social antipathy towards them. Irish Traveller girls don’t work, most are illiterate and they remain teetotal virgins until they marry – which is usually very young. The more wealthy families have weddings that are often lavish ostentatious affairs of expensive cars and designer clothes (25-tier cakes, wedding dresses encrusted with Austrian Crystals costing thousands of pounds and huge diamante tiaras). The weddings are highly charged with exuberant emotion, free flowing alcohol and an innate love of life.”
Oh. Em. Gee.
I just stumbled upon your website while trying to find something to distract me from the stress of wedding plans– and boy oh boy did your site ever do the trick! I can’t BELIEVE some of the nonsense here!
Keep up the great work. Browsing your site has been the most fun I’ve had all week!
Thanks so much Louise, that’s great praise. I started this blog when I was planning my own wedding last year and finding tons of funny stuff and it just keeps coming!
i just love this site, every time i visit, i laugh so much.
tackyweddings is great
To be fair, she doesnt look THAT bad. The tiara is a bit extreme, but i happen to think the dress is quite nice. Compared to some of the travelling folks wedding pics i have seen this is rather tame!
Pretty nice post. I just came by your blog and wanted to say
that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
more pictures! i wanna see more pictures!
Why are you plastering your site’s name on work from someone’s portfolio? That’s their livelihood, not to mention their art.
I put the url of this site on the pictures because the photographer had not marked them. I did this so people would be able to redirected to the photographers website if anyone pulled them from the site. I highly praised the photographer’s art, she is incredibly talented and I am now a big fan.
There is an Irish traveler community in South Carolina, not too far from Augusta, Georgia. They, too, are ostentatious and marry their girls off REALLLLY young.
So… Have you noticed how many of the weddings on this site are from non-Americans and non-white ethnicities?
Don’t you think it’s a little racist to make fun of Irish Gypsies for not meeting an American standard of what a proper wedding should look like?
I think it’s a LOT racist to be throwing around the word “gypsy” like that. It would be like saying “check out this nigger wedding!” No, no, no. There’s a reason why the caption above referred to them as “travellers.” or Romani. Look it up.
Once again, if you just click on the photographer’s website, she used the term gypsy to describe her photoset, that is exactly the title she used. These are HER photos, and she must have had a good reason to use that word. I’ve changed the title, but for the record, for you to equate the N word to the word gypsy I think is pretty offensive and totally incorrect. Gypsy may be a derogatory term, but it is not even CLOSE to me saying “check out this N***” wedding, come on. And Irish Travellers and Romani are not the same group of people, Irish Travellers have adopted the Romani way of life but they are an entirely different ethnic group. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Travellers
That’s totally ridiculous, most of the weddings that appear on this site have been in the US and are white, not that it matters!!
Yeah, I’m a racist for thinking that wedding, with the giant yellow pouffy bridesmaids and the crazy headpiece, was over the top. Total racism there.
I just wanted to say that while I really enjoy your blog, and Traveler weddings can be spectacles to behold, the word “gypsy” is a pejorative term and I wish you wouldn’t use it. Its not used in the actual post, so there’s no need for it in the title.
If you click on the photographer’s website, the title she uses for her photoset is VERBATIM, “Irish Gypsy Wedding”. That was not my word choice at all. Since these are her photos and she is a highly accomplished photographer, I can only assume she had her reasons for using that word. I felt it was only fair that I use her title, but I’ll go ahead and change it.
I just wanted to say that while I really enjoy your blog, and Traveller weddings can be spectacles to behold, the word “gypsy” is a pejorative term and I wish you wouldn’t use it. Its not used in the actual post, so there’s no need for it in the title.
Just wanted to let you know, I love this blog. I also want to let you know, my family is of french and irish ‘gypsy’ back ground. I assure you, NONE of us take OFFENSE to the term ‘gypsy’. It is what we are and always have been. The photoghaper and your copying the title, isn’t all that big of deal.
Thanks so much Saffron! I’m glad to hear that you’re not offended by the G word, I know that some Romani groups actually use it in their organizational names so I don’t think its that bad. I mean, I understand the stigma surrounding it, esp in England/Ireland where its thrown around like a slur but I don’t think the photographer was using the term in a derogatory way.
the Big Pikey wedding in Ireland are Great To attend Plenty of money, drink women and above all in laws fighting
Isn’t it interesting how the Word Police are everywhere teaching everyone today’s “right words.” I guess it gives them a little thrill to correct people.
Im of Gypsy heritage. We own our house (yes, moved to a house now) and my three children are well behaved, doing extremely well at school, and have manners. Not like some non-Gypsy children I see. Dont tar us all with the same brush. I stayed at school til I was 18, and worked until I married at 21. We do not have criminal records and are a quiet family, unlike the lager louts who live near us. When my girls marry they will have huge weddings – but we have worked to pay for this, its a symbol of our culture, whats left of it. We marry for life. By the way, we’re of Romany heritage, not Irish tinkers. Not putting them down, but they seem harder than us.
hi i dont understand why all you people are so set against travellers.im a irish traveller and proud not all travellers get married young and dont say that they dont work because you dont know that i work and the best half of travellers work in some way or another.
travellers have big weddings because there parents want to give them a good send off and show them how much they are loved.everyone has there own style and us travellers have our own style.you are very good at commenting on travellers wedding what about buffers (setteld people)wedding???you lot just hear something and assume that everyone is the same but let me tell u that they are not and some travellers do have small wedding and i think its discusting the way you use tacky wedding’s get a life
i agree with charlene, everyone is entitled to whatever kind of wedding they choose and its all culturally relative. personally i think this bride looks really beautiful you can see that she’s naturally pretty and her dress is modest too, its all about personal choice.
Why is no one disgusted by the cousins thing?
Gross!!
who are you where do you live are you a traverller wee are traverller xoxoxo write
who are you where do you live are you a traverller wee are traverller xoxoxo write bk
you dress
we did you get you wedding dress
tbh travlers are the best and there weddings are amazing to say i am atravler my self i love all of the weddings and i really disagree when the news said that missy’s (king) wedding was so tacky.. it wasnt every one has there own style and tbh does the press have to were the dress noo so i think they should stop critising travlers causee we are normal fukin human beings
tbf travlerss are classed as scruffs but we ent at all yeah we might live in trailer’s but so at teh end of the day tehy am our homes and who gives any onje the ringhts to bhum us off …. we onlii get big send offs causee we can have them and our parents love us enough to pay for them and tbh most travlers have more money then RACLEES eny way soo how the fuck can we be scruffs…dordy get your facts right
what cousins thing ?
did you get that
i like your wedding dress
lovly fotos do u hav any more
fair play to the couple god may them a happy posporess long life togather and bless them with lots of children
i think all the girls look lovey im a traler me self and thats how i would love to look on my wedding day if i looked as good as the girls id love it and yh the do get married young but thats our colecha and lest when the do get married they anithad every man in the country
i dont see a thing wrong with them pictures they are amazing im also planning my wedding im 17 and marrying at 20 im not a traveller and they are also free to do as they like surely? i think the bride is stunning
I love this web site, always makes me smile. I was a little taken aback about the discussion of the use of the word “gypsy”. I didn’t realize it is considered racist. In the US we don’t consider it to mean anything other than a colorful, different kind of person who has a real love for life. Obviously in the UK the word gypsy is a derogatory term and one that brings all sorts of bad images. Another example of different cultures, different meanings.
I love this website. Please don’t be offended by the critics….feel sorry for them. I do. They don’t get it. Life is way too short for criticism. Be happy people…
Well Lads Every1s Talkin bout travellers and im a traveller mysef like
and we dnt all get married young and all dat like so i dno wat ur on bout
Lads Ders Nottin Rong Wid Travellers Im A Traveller MySef And Ders Nttin Rong Wid Den Wer D Same As Every1 else Except Some Ov Us Liv In trailres shur so wat and we like ta make a big entrance for our weddins and some of us do go ta skwl and hav jobs so dont say stuff dat ye dont no and most of us travellers hav more money dan ye buffars and we pay big money 4 our dresses so i dno wat yer all sain
heyy at the end of the day people that critise travlers are shitty asses because travlers are the bestt and yes ii am one
……..
I hate it when people critises what we were at ARE OWN wedding at the end of the day is has got nothing to with any one else what we were and yes some travlers are horrible but every one thinks travlers are the same when they aint some are really nice. With this cousion fingg we agree with it maybe not youu people but we do soo deal with it…….
travler wedding are the best noo one can beat aree weddings ii fink people are just jealouse of are weddinds because look at are dresses and look what we have for a wedding……
I disagree withh people opinions on missy quins wedding it was brilliant and what she wore for herr dress was soooo beauitful and all the travlers love it … people are jealouse of herr wedding dress that whyy theyy sed nasty thinggs sooo huu evaa is saiin missy quins wedding was tacky shut your fuckin mouthh and grow up …… huu eva is critising travlers come and say it to are faces and see what youu would get!!! it it gettin annoyinn people talkin about us coz we are not scrufs we are very cleann sooo deall with it and ever think abiout your self we aree all the same except travlers aree a litttle different but soo aree every onee!!!!!!!!!! …
All the dresses there look absoultltyy amazing ad every one did in factt … travlers have aree own style and tbh ii fink the travlers style is beeter thenn ( non travlers ) if missy quins wedding was tacky why was the press there thenn ………. noo herr weddinggg was the bestt everrrr soo deall withh it ……….
and youu have to be jealouse that you aint a travler if youu keepin slaggin us offff……… soo grow up and get a lifee …….
and thankyou to those whoo have sed nice things about travlers because we are bot bad peoplee … And tralers infact have different rules from youu people and atleast we wait till we aree marraid till we have s*x because we have respect for are selfs unlike non travlers wee somee huu sleep around ( SLAGS ) travlers had dignityy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Yes missyy ii want too see more pic of every one there but if not where can youu see themm lol becausee every one was wearinn beauitfull dresses lol :L
:););) xxxxxxxxxxxx
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