The wedding ceremony is a celebratory event romanticized by couples nationwide for its ability to combine creativity and tradition in one affordable package. Just look at the plethora of wedding trends, from the extravagant alternatives to the rigorously orthodox, to understand how important it is to represent individuality among contemporary couples. In retrospect, much of the symbolism attributed to these trends comes from centuries of applied social meaning; couples see the most value in a wedding celebration that allows them to flaunt their unique qualities as individuals and simultaneously model long-standing customs of previous marriages. In the 2002 film, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, director Joel Zwick illustrates the colorful combination of culture and marriage, highlighting the prevalence of rituals within a wedding ceremony, the importance of this connection with the respective spouses, and the consumption social symbolism as a whole. By analyzing the various themes of religion, family and emotions in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, we will evaluate the true prevalence of cultural inclusion in relation to the wedding ceremony. Wedding celebrations, for all their glitz and glamour, are sentimental occasions filled with subdued connotations. Commercial industries recognize the hip potential of culture, which freely applies meaning to often foreign but distinctive practices, and are ready to promote it as a tasteful commodity that requires very little convincing to popularize. In fact, people gravitate towards more culturally based marriages when the related customs relate to their intimate and internal values. To clarify the reasons behind this social attitude, Otnes and Pleck state in...... half of the paper ...... that they are no stranger to the allure of individualism, especially as it relates to wedding ceremonies. The most popular and romantic form of marriage holds deep symbolism that allows the bride and groom to define themselves in a way they will rarely ever be able to again. Cultural weddings are a phenomenon of our time that may not have the same meanings they once had. , but they certainly retain a figurative importance for the participants in the ceremony. They are deeply rooted in our social desire for tradition and vehicles through which we can define ourselves as individuals. Works Cited My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Director Joel Zwick. Perf. Nia Vardalos and John Corbett. IFC Films, 2002. Film.Otnes, Cele C. and Elizabeth H. Pleck. Cinderella dreams: the charm of the sumptuous wedding. Berkeley: University of California, 2003. Print.