My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding - All episodes *SPOILERS*

Just watching it now. I can understand most of them a lot better than Brad Pitt in Snatch.

We had Irish Travelers living in one of our apartments for a bit, and then, one day, they left.

I've watched the episodes that were on the "preview" last weekend. Still working on getting cable up in our new house.

But these shows kinda make me mad. I mean, we all know how they get their money.

Still can't look away, though.

YCantAngieRead said:

But these shows kinda make me mad. I mean ... Still can't look away, though.

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I know! It's like a car accident and I can't help, but to look. I feel bad for the girls.

And for the love of Mike, stop dressing your little, little girls like hookers.

YCantAngieRead said:

And for the love of Mike, stop dressing your little, little girls like hookers.

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At one point we were wondering if we were watching "Toddlers and Tiaras."

Oh, and if you need to carry a fire extinguisher "just in case," your wedding dress probably needs to be rethought.

verdugan said:

At one point we were wondering if we were watching "Toddlers and Tiaras."

Oh, and if you need to carry a fire extinguisher "just in case," your wedding dress probably needs to be rethought.

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Here's something funny...my wedding dress DID catch fire! We had sparklers for our church exit, and one of them set the hem of the dress on fire.

So that comment made me seriously LOL. I actually think it's awesomely funny that that happened to me, but I'm guessing that girl wouldn't have been as amused.

YCantAngieRead said:

Here's something funny...my wedding dress DID catch fire! We had sparklers for our church exit, and one of them set the hem of the dress on fire.

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Sorry about the dress catching on fire and even more sorry that it didn't have awesome lights (j/k)

Instead of having a prom, they have a wedding. These are rather obviously children. Not adults. The girl couldn't even say her vows without giggling like crazy. She was 16 years old getting married and left school at 11. I remember seeing some crazy dress on the internet with the girl's boobs hanging out. Now I know she was a gypsy.

Is this thing worth watching? I haven't watched the first episode yet.

It's a different way of life. And a strange one from our viewpoint. The girls get married at an average age of 17. They get engaged at an average age of 14. They quit school early (one girl at age 11) to help take care of their siblings. Women do "women's work" and men work outside the home and make the money to buy the trailer they live in. The girls dress like hookers and wear huge dresses to weddings and communions. But they don't have sex before marriage.

So I guess it just depends if you find it interesting. It's like a trainwreck that you can't help watching. They must be planning an American version (these are British Gypsys and Travelers) because they put a bug on the screen asking if you are an American gypsy.

Do they live by odd jobs or do they rip people off?

They don't discuss that, so far. They profiled one guy on the first show and he owns a trailer park. So that is legit (and probably why he talked about it). He went with his wife furniture shopping and he wouldn't let them film the negotiations saying that gypsies don't like even other gypsies to know how much they paid for something.

sieglinde said:

Do they live by odd jobs or do they rip people off?

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Rip people off. I'm sorry, but a "tree doctor" doesn't make that much money.

It's worth watching for the OMG factor, but be prepared not to understand about half of it. The accents are very heavy.

Except for some of the eccentricities and the bad taste, I kind of like the separate lifestyle, and focus on family. They keep pushing that the women are "relegated" to women's work as that is what is so shocking for television. But, they don't seem to mind and they all get along and enjoy that lifestyle. As the father of three girls, I don't think that the girls having chaperones is all that crazy of a lifestyle choice.

But it is okay to marry at 16 and rip people off?

The ripping people off thing is definitely not OK. They are not showing that on the show, so I am only commenting on what I see.

But, the marrying at 16 I don't see as bad, in context of that society. If they all do it, and years later, they are still married and everybody is fine with it, it seems to work for them.

Compare that to here in Los Angeles, where everyone at 16 is having sex with multiple partners and at 40 is THEN thinking about getting married. They find a man who already has kids and is divorced and spend a lot of money on fertility treatments and all sorts of other problems come with those decisions.

So, a case could be made for either culture, but THEY seem to be happy with their lifestyle.

If a woman marries at 16 and does not complete high school and then go to college or vocational school, she becomes totally dependent on her husband. After observing that my mother was able to enter the work force almost immediately after my father's death because she had job skills, I advocate that all women get some sort of job skills. (of course all men need to also but even women who plan on being stay at home moms need to consider that the husband may not be able to support them.) I hope the family takes care of women who have lost their husbands since they are almost unemployable with no skills and they need to take care of their kids.

I think cultures where the women consider "home making" their job skill also have women living at home with parents and even grandparents as a big family unit. They don't typically go out on their own from that unit without being married.

I have friends here in the Philippine culture and they don't live alone before (or in the case of divorce/death, after) marriage.