http://www.redditlog.com/snapshots/703681

The two weddings I attended couldn't have been more different. Wedding one was pretty much your stereotypical Midwestern wedding. Church ceremony, limo ride to the reception hall, big dinner, and a dance. I can't even count the number of times I heard that it was the bride's special day, and that we need to make sure she's happy. I was a groomsman in this wedding and when I asked the groom why we had to wear bow ties he told me because the bride said so. It felt like the groom had very little say in things. Even at the reception when people were giving speeches there were constant jokes at the groom's expense. If you didn't know people were joking you'd think he was entering a life of indentured servitude from the way they were talking.

Wedding number two was much different in it's presentation, but there were similar undertones. It was a much smaller wedding. It felt more personal and you could tell that the groom did get to have some say in how things were done. However people still made the same jokes and comments about how his life was over and the wife was the boss.

The OP never said where he's from, but presumably he comes from some culture outside the Western world, and was accordingly startled to find what a firm grip feminism has on the balls of the average man.

My experience with weddings has been more or less the same. The bride is this object of celebration held up high on the pedestal for all to worship, and the groom is the disposable grunt lucky enough to have the honor of having her "lifetime" (50% chance of failure) commitment.

Pre-RP, I never questioned this. It just felt like the natural way things should be. Such was my cultural programming.

Post-RP, it's funny seeing how our culture of the archetypal Princess Snowflake is rampantly out of hand, and having this outsider's perspective sheds some light on the extent of how much that is the case.

I always kind of got a vibe from the groom at any given wedding that his masculinity was leaking out of him. Like, even though we were at this grand, expensive ceremony and everyone seemed so happy, this was the end of his good days.

At any rate, I'm certainly glad that "that guy" will never be me.