Reciting your wedding vows at sunrise may sound dreamy and romantic in theory, but let's be real: Sunrise is freakin' EARLY. That's why people on the Internet were rolling their eyes over one bride's wish to throw her entire wedding at 5:30 in the morning. In a recent Reddit post, people have been sounding off about the wild demand, which seems just a tad over the top.
The idea for a sunrise wedding actually came from a tradition the bride-to-be has with her fiancé.
Every year on their anniversary, the couple gets up early to go and watch the sunrise together on the beach.
"The symbolism of watching a new day begin is deeply meaningful for us," she wrote. (Awwww.)
But things got a little tricky when they decided to up the ante on the tradition and make their wedding an early morning affair.
"Our plan is to have our ceremony on the beach and have everyone walk over to a beachfront restaurant for breakfast, bloody Marys, and mimosas," she wrote, adding that they already talked to the restaurant owner about the idea, and claims he's happy to open early for it. "After that, everyone is free for the remainder of the day."
The couple did a little research and found that 5:30 a.m. would be the perfect time to give them a "golden hour" glow.
"There should be plenty of light but the sun itself won't be quite visible yet," the poster explained. She also figured that because most of her friends and family were local, they should be able to get to the beach within an hour — meaning they shouldn't have to get up too early for the affair, right?
Well, not exactly.
"We've been getting a LOT of backlash from our families about this, who say this is way too early and we need to move the ceremony to a more 'normal' time of day," she continued. "But my fiancé and I don't feel like we're asking for anything that unreasonable."
So she put the question to Reddit: Is it an unreasonable request?
People were pretty much unanimous: This was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad wedding idea.
"Dude, looks like you don’t know how to be a good host," one commenter wrote. "No one is saying pander to your guests, but as the host you are expected to be considerate of them. A 5:30 am wedding (when you know most of your guests need to travel around an hour to get to you) is inconsiderate as [expletive]."
Someone else shared that she wouldn't get up that early even for her sisters, who are her "best friends in the world."
"I absolutely want to be there for them on their special day, it means the world to me," the person continued. "But, if either one of them told me they wanted their weddings at sunrise, would I be thrilled to wake up at 4:30 a.m. or whatever ungodly hour to get ready for their wedding? No. Full stop."
"OP wants the ceremony to start at 5:30 am and most people are an hour away," another person pointed out. "Yes they can get a hotel (if there are ones around there) but still OP is expecting people to get up at best 4:00 am to get ready (if they got a hotel) or at worst 3:00 am if they have to drive the hour. That isn’t feasible for some people. I mean if I had to get up that early I probably would have a super hard time going to sleep and an even harder time getting up."
Others sided with the bride, and said she had every right to put her foot down with guests about what she wants on her special day.
"If they aren't 100 percent thrilled to be there, they shouldn't be at a wedding full stop. You don't pander to guests at your wedding," one commenter wrote.
"This is your event and you schedule it as you please," a second person advised. "If you can't be bothered to wake up early than just don't go. No one else is entitled to be part of the scheduling."
A third person was pretty blunt about the situation. "If they don't like it. They don't have to go. Simple as that," the person commented.
But all wasn't lost. One person came up with a plan that seemed like a reasonable way for the bride to get her happily ever after moment.
"A good solution is to have a private ceremony with you and your fiancé at 5:30 and then have a second ceremony at a more reasonable time for the guests," the commenter suggested. "The first one can be just the two of you reciting your vows to each other or the two of you with a willing officiant and a handful of close friends/relatives who are willing to join. If having two ceremonies is too costly and unreasonable then just do the first option with the two of you only, speaking private vows."
That sure seems like the best of both worlds to us — if the bride is willing to compromise.
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