Four Weddings

Four Weddings is a British reality television series that premiered on Sky Living, on 6 July 2009.

Format

It follows a similar style to Come Dine with Me and involves four brides/grooms attending each other's weddings and rating them on:

• Dress (out of 10)
• Venue (out of 10)
• Food (out of 10)
• Overall Experience (out of 10)

At the end of the show, they'll discover which of the couples has won a luxury honeymoon. Viewers can also play online in the "Online wedding rater" and rate the weddings as they are shown for comparison with the rest of the public.

Other versions

• An American version of the show, which debuted in early 2010, is broadcast on TLC. There are usually two seasons a year; Season three debuted on 7 January 2011. The format is similar to the British version, except that it involves brides only (with the groom of the winning bride presenting the prize), an experience score, and the highest possible number of points being 120. An "originality" tie-breaker score of 1 to 100 was added after Season 3, Episode 7 - "Four Weddings and a Shark Tank" ended in a tie, with both brides ultimately winning a vacation. The only perfect score (of 10) for experience was given to a bride by rival bride in Season 4, Ep. 3 "Four Weddings and a Bouncy House".
• An Australian version of the show began airing on the Seven Network on 8 September 2010, hosted by Fifi Box. The first season used the American format and ran for only five episodes. The second season, featured eight episodes, using a new scoring system for brides, rating their opponents with only one overall score out of ten.
• A Canadian version of the show started airing in January 2012 on the Slice Network. The format is similar to the other shows in that it pins 4 brides up against one another for the chance to win a dream honeymoon. The same format applies and the brides are judged based on venue, food, dress and the overall experience. It differs slightly from its American counterpart however, in that it tends to follow more of the U.K vibe, with lots of snarky and sarcastic undertones.
• A Finnish version known as Neljät häät (Four Weddings) debuted in early spring 2011. It airs on Nelonen and follows the same format as the British version.
• A German version known as 4 Hochzeiten und eine Traumreise (4 Weddings and one trip of a lifetime) premiered on 3 December 2012. The format is similar to the other version but the German adaption is a daily hour-long format; airing Monday to Friday as part of the Daytime of television network VOX. The four brides have their weddings each in one episode. The fifth show of the week is the finale. As of October 2013, more than 100 episodes have aired.
• A French version under the name 4 Mariages pour 1 Lune de Miel (4 Weddings for 1 Honeymoon) is broadcast on TF1. It is currently in its second series.
• A Romanian version titled 4 nunţi şi o provocare (Four Weddings and a Challenge) was announced to start on ProTV in fall 2013.

Transmissions

Four Weddings

Party Wars

Ratings

Episode Viewing figures from BARB.^[1]

Series 1

Series 2

Party Wars

Series 3

Series 4

Criticism

Some commentators have suggested that this show perpetuates class privilege, in that the highest scores are typically awarded for those weddings that cost the most. An informal study demonstrated that the highest scores correlated with the most expensive weddings. As a consequence, the rich were getting richer. Four Weddings has not commented on the issue. In addition, some have criticized the show for an episode where the bride was a Pakistani American (thus having a wedding that had strong Pakistani themes, for example, Pakistani-style food, traditional Pakistani clothing for the bride and her party, etc.), but was constantly referred to as being "Indian". The obvious differences between the two cultures and the fact that they were being confused took some viewers aback.^[2]

References

External links

• Four Weddings at the Internet Movie Database
• Four Weddings at UKGameshows.com