Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

[Dee Sa]

I am watching this series with mixed feelings,obviously they need to keep their culture alive but oh those awful wedding dresses have to be seen to be believed ! Dare I ask where all the money comes from ?

[dotty.]

the homes they lived in were mobile as opposed to caravans and will no doubt , as in Doc's link, have had a postcode and been a fixed abode I would surmise. The woman driving the car may even have had registration documents for it attached to her home and an MOT and even, though this is far fetched I know, valid insuramce.

[mccfluff]

oh cool, bet it doesnt address homosexuality though.

[pastafreak]

I have to agree with a lot of the comments here. I too think that IF they do uphold morals,and the girls really don't sleep around-then more power to them. But to see those little 6 year olds-who haven't a clue what they are doing...and the grannies just keep encouraging them. What a contrast to what they say.
I won't make any kind of comments about what they are like as a group,as I've never had any contact with travellers...or not that I know of. I would also like to have seen a slightly less sensationalist approach. But that's what drags us in to watch.
As for not showing the men...is it a matriarchal society,where the women rule the roost?...or are the male tax dodgers just avoiding the camera? ...or a bit of both?

[LoftyLottie]

Yep, loads of expensive cars on the sites around here too Doc. I know just how they get their money and if I tried it I would soon be locked up!! They certainly aren't the ones that work on the land round here. Most of those are Eastern European and they work very hard for their money and are treated shabbily. True they are often involved in crime but you get to hear about it more.

[ladybird49]

Wonder what they do with the dresses afterwards ? take a lot of room for storage ... : )

[dotty.]

they probably cut them up and make 500 post communion party outfits out of them, and the bits they don;t need they flog on ebay

[dotty.]

I just read this comment on the Daily Express link:

This group is Irish Traveller NOT Romany Gypsy - big difference in many ways. Romany Gypsies do not go to Holy Communion etc. This is about My Big Fat Irish Traveller wedding. She says that she is not a Gypsy because she is not - she is Irish Traveller. They are separate ethnic groups on the Census for a reason - because they are separate - language and culture are different. Yes, some Gypsies travel and so do some Irish Travellers. Dale Farm is for the most part Irish Traveller.

which is interesting. I didn't know there was such clasification

[pastafreak]

Romany gypsies all originate in eastern Europe-they are a very separate ethnic group.

[dotty.]

I think this is what is grating on me, my kids great great grandmother was from the Epping Forest gypsies and part of the Lee/Boswell family. They lived in camps and the men were always either in prison or being bound over, (this is in the late 1800s) but they were poor and lived a very simple hand to mouth life and stole to feed their people. Not an excuse for crime at all, and they did serve their time. But the people shown in modern traveller culture are spending thousands and thousands on fancy wedding dresses and daft wedding transport, it's not survival is it? Dianah Lee was 14 when she married (in Hammersmith St Pauls) but her age is given as 'full'.

[pastafreak]

In the past it would have been considered a more acceptable way of life than it is now. Travellers would earn money doing odd bits here and there,and lived by their wits. Any group like todays travellers who seem not to be short of cash,are clever indeed....it's just a shame they do not seem to give anything back.

[LoftyLottie]

Very clever to make sure that t here are absolutely no records of any financial transactions whatsoever. Lots of money under the beds!!

[LoftyLottie]

Interesting

http://uk.tv.yahoo.co...itics-up-in-arms.html

[Dee Sa]

well thanks to everyone who replied to my post, never expected so many replies !
this week the non gypsy mother of the bride had to be seen to be believed, she looked like a dance hall girl from the Klondyke era and had she gone to a non gypsy wedding dressed like that I am sure she would have been asked to leave ! or laughed out the church ! Also that the dad looked a bit sheepish getting into the Jordan type carriage to get to the wedding. I expected David Walliams & Matt Lucas to turn up anyminute ! what a farce !
Dee

[smudge]

Back again - B.F.G.W., didn't appear on the 'on demand' listings until this morning, so have literally just watched it.

After what I'd read on here, I couldn't wait to see the bride's mother - & what a dog she looked! I felt so sorry for the bride's little sister, as she appeared such a sweet little girl. I only hope some of the gypsy family's way of life don't impress her too much...

As for the very young gypsy girl's dancing techniques - well, they didn't leave much to the imagination did they?!