I don't know about wedding "rules", but I haven't been at a wedding ever where they had a seating arrangement like that. I think nowadays it's not so restricted and people can pretty much sit whereever they want. I would assume that would also be true for a modern times wedding like Mary's and John's. I find the framing the important part, not the seating arrangement, although it's nice of course ;-)
At the weddings I've been people sat at different tables. At one, the bride and groom shared a table with the parents, and the bridemaid and best man and the rest of the lot had their own table. At another, all best friends of the couple where at their table, while family had to back of to the second table :D At a wedding of my friend where I knew nobody else, I sat right next to her without being bridesmaid, simply she was the only one I knew.
I mean, it's about people enjoying their time, and Sherlock would feel most comfortable next to John, so that's where he is seated. I would arrange it just the same.
Is it really still important where people sit in "proper" big weddings? Or is it a british thing?
Also I don't think everybody was wearing a suit... or an evening dress. Maybe I simply don't know very traditional people :D


Did a bit of research on the internet. Found this:
"The best man is the leader of the groom’s men. He is the right hand of the groom and the date for the maid of honor. His outfit should complement the groom’s without matching exactly and without overwhelming the groom’s."
I think Sherlock a) wears exactly the same and b) he looks kind of overwhelming..........

Also this:
"Think of it like this. The best man’s suit or tuxedo is one step removed from the groom. If the groom is wearing a white dinner jacket, the best man should wear black. If the groom is wearing a double breasted coat, the best man should wear a single breasted. If the groom wears a red rose, the best man should wear a white one." (http://blog.knotstandard.com/best-man-wear/)
I cannot see Sherlock and John follow that rule either.

Last edited by Whisky (April 11, 2015 1:47 pm)

I think the creators made every effort to put Sherlock and John in the centre of the whole wedding episode: the seating arrangements, the way it was filmed (we have discussed this extensively), the choice of dress, Sherlock's entry and video on John's blog, the fact that Sherlock throws his boutonniere which IMO reflects the tradition of the bride throwing her bouquet, the fact that Janine who catches the boutonniere is indeed the next to get a proposal (even if it is fake), etc. 
Individually, all these things might be random or coincidental, but not in total. 

Ordeal - truer words never haven been spoken. 

Ah-chie wrote:

But as it has already been mentioned it isn't unusual today that people don't follow all the conventions of past wedding customs, so people can arrange it anyway they want and it isn't something that would cause anyone to give it consideration.  

This is not a real-life wedding where people simply don't follow traditions any longer. This is the wedding of one of the main characters of a show that choses every camera angle,every prop and every single note of the sound track with extreme care. The seating arrangement is nothing that just happened, it was surely very carefully planned by the creators.

Ah-chie wrote:

And of course since this is a film and not real life, the writers probably just wanted the most important characters to be "in frame" in order of story importance (first and formost Sherlock and John, then Mary close by and then everyone else.). 

Somehow, with a show like "Sherlock", I would never say that the creators "JUST" wanted to frame something in a special way. They wanted to frame John and Sherlock in a way almost all other TV shows and movies frame bride and groom.

I wonder why.

As I said before, they use lots of traditional elements (the proposal, the seating, the throwing of the bouquet, the anticipated wedding dance in 221B) and apply them to Sherlock and John. IMO this goes far beyond stressing that they are the most important characters, something which does not expressly has to be pointed out. It has been known since ACD wrote the stories. 

Who carries an entire wedding if not bride and groom?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Well, it is a prop to declaration of love from Sherlock to John. That is more or less stated word for word from Moftiss, isn't it?

Absolutely.
And the thing is, you don't really need this declaration of love to take place during the wedding of John and Mary, there certainly are lots of other possibilities. Unless of course you want to make a statement. And for me the statement is "This is a wedding, but it's not John's and Mary's".

Someone on tumblr just discovered something really interesting. But before posting the link let me say this: We mentioned the fact that the wedding party seems like a random assembly, many people without any obvious connection to Mary and John (and it has been stated that she does not many people to invite because of her "being an orphan"). To me some of the men look like nightclub bouncers or thugs, tbh. 

SO even if you do not share the assumptions about phallic objects and bi-colored flags, please have a look at this, especially the first part:

http://cupidford.tumblr.com/post/116805153170/in-a-show-where-every-detail-counts

Her name is Georgie Leonard and she lists both episodes on her website:

http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/actor/profile/georgie-leonard




 

Last edited by SusiGo (April 19, 2015 11:06 am)