Four Weddings

To not be confused with Four Weddings and a Funeral, Four Weddings (Australia).

Four Weddings
Genre	Reality, Lifestyle
Format	Game show
Narrated by	Steve 'Sparky' Parker
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	3
Production company(s)	ITV Studios
Broadcast
Original channel	Sky Living
Picture format	16:9 576i
Original run	6 July 2009 (2009-07-06) – present

Four Weddings is a programme shown on the UK channel, Sky Living. The first series was aired in 2009 with a second series in 2010 and a third in 2011.

Format

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

• Dress (out of 25)
• Venue (out of 25)
• Food (out of 25)
• Experience (out of 25)

At the end of the show they 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. The format is identical to the British version, except that it involves brides only (with the groom of the winning bride presenting the prize), and the maximum number of points in each category is 30, with a special "originality" category used for a tiebreaker if two or more brides tie in all categories. There are usually two seasons a year; the current season, season three, debuted on 7 January 2011.

• 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 of 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.

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.