Profs and Pints Online presents: “Frightful Fairy-Tale Weddings,” featuring death, curses, and iron shoes, with Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, former instructors at The Ohio State University and co-founders of the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.

If you’ve looked at wedding magazines, checked out bridal boutiques, or visited a wedding venue, you know that the term “fairy-tale wedding” is practically everywhere. The heart’s desire of many a bride-to-be, the idea of the fairy-tale wedding—magical, romantic, with a hint of destiny—has an undeniable appeal.

But what do weddings actually look like in the traditional tales?

Such ceremonies are not always about true love, that’s for sure! Weddings in your favorite traditional fairy tales can be quite weird, even horrifying. Cinderella’s stepsisters are attacked and blinded by doves, Snow White’s stepmother dances to death in iron shoes, and “Mr. Fox” ends with the bride telling the wedding guests that her new husband is actually a murderer!

Sara and Brittany will guide you through these strange and fascinating tales and then discuss how the murder and mayhem of the old fairy tales gradually gave way to such tales being seen as the height of romance (hint: it has a lot to do with the Walt Disney Company.)

By the end of this talk, you’ll never hear the phrase “fairy-tale wedding” the same way again, although you might see some participants' behavior as in keeping with what the Grimms had in mind.

Profs & Pints Online: Frightful Fairy-Tale Weddings