Why Does Everyone Want To Look Like A Runaway Bride? Even Charli XCX

A widget pops up in my Google search when researching wedding themes, because well, that's all I can think of, all thanks to Charli XCX and George Daniel's low-key wedding ceremony. Elopement vs wedding: what's right for you? says the textbox—seducing poised, yet equally unnerved, brides-to-be into taming their wedding wishlist at the behest of the World Wide Web. Nuptials are now a playground for bringing your best aesthetic chops to life — exorbitant themes, gowns secretly nicknamed 'impractical,' and mythically priced, scripted entries take the cake. But that's not everyone's style, believe it or not. 

Some want to Marie Kondo this sh*t—no frills, no fuss, no extended trains sweeping the bemusing expanse of the venue (booked seven years in advance, of course). And no snooty relatives, okay? Circle that one—hard. Fetch your red marker.

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Truth be told, women have been enduring the ordeal of appeasing the extended family for quite some time now. What started as demanding a rightful say in trimming the guestlist trickled down to ditching traditional reds for ivories, pastel pinks, and whatever else. (Shout-out to the female pundits, too.) The traction of this transformative, feminist shift quickly became a narrative everyone wanted to tell. Even the braggarts. So inevitably, the runaway bride aesthetic became mainstream—more aesthetically fuelled, and somewhat pointlessly authored, if I may.

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Look, I'm no authority in dictating what your wedding should look like—I personally can't wait to NOT blow the roof off my parents' expectations when I decide to get hitched on my terms. But the performative arc of this whole wedding shebang—with hemlines getting shorter, and hair forgoing the usual seven litres of heat protectant—is simply fascinating to me. 

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Hitched at the now-seemingly illustrious Hackney Town Hall in London, Charli XCX's get-up prioritised comfort (so BRAT) while being culturally relevant and sartorially compliant. A £3,300 Vivienne Westwood minidress with a veil made the cut, along with her signature black sunglasses—much to the adoration of those with Von Dutch on both last year's and this year's Spotify Wrapped. Convention was eschewed, zero f*cks given. Enjoyed. And before her were many, who did it equally well too, if not more. I'll never get over Sarah Jessica Parker just inviting 100 guests for a 'casual party' and bamboozling them by proceeding to get married at that very party. That too, in a black dress. Simply iconic. Even couples like Chrissy Teigen and John Legend opted for a court wedding, alongside Atonement star Keira Knightley, with her now-husband James Righton. Soothingly simple with intent taking centre stage.

While these individuals have the privilege of choosing to go low-key, for some, it's a compulsory resort—weddings cost a kidney and a half these days. An arm, too, maybe. Financial standing has long dictated the scale of celebration, and deserves an empathetic lens, because for many, existence isn't just unattainable, it's unthinkable. Enter the countless unions that unfold in chaos, because they aren't on board, religion complicates matters, and bonds are severed. I’m just glad people have managed to get their heads out of their rear ends and embraced the full spectrum of marital celebration, where both budget and intention are treated with equal respect.

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