Guest Goes Viral for Showing Almost Empty Wedding Venue Nearly 2 Hours After Start Time: 'An Unspoken Rule' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Nearly empty wedding venue.Photo:@sarah_linus

@sarah_linus

Social media users were shocked to see how some weddings differ in punctuality norms.

“My German husband wanted to be punctual to the Egyptian wedding 😂😂,” Sarah titled her video before showing zero other wedding guests in frame “1.5 hours after the official start.”

“Hahaha I tried to warn him that no one will be punctual 😂😂,” she added in the caption.

She clarified to PEOPLE that there actually were a few other guests at the venue at the time, including the bride and groom’s families. But most attendees, including the bride and groom, were very fashionably late.

“The invitation stated that the wedding would begin at 5 p.m., but the venue didn’t start filling up until around 6:30 p.m,” Sarah tells PEOPLE. “The bride and groom arrived at 7 p.m.”

In some cultures, a wedding not starting at its designated time may come off as rude or inconsiderate of people’s schedules. Sarah notes that this especially “depends on the type of wedding.” In this case, her friends' wedding celebration didn’t have a formal ceremony, so it was “more common” for guests to arrive well past the stated start time.

“Since there was no formal ceremony, it was normal for the event to start later,” Sarah says. “If there had been a church or mosque ceremony beforehand, people would have been punctual.”

She continues: “For party-only weddings, though, it’s more common for people to arrive later — still arriving before the bride and groom, but it is common for them also to arrive later. It’s not considered disrespectful; it’s just part of the culture.”

Sarah and Linus, who met seven years ago, say they didn’t mind waiting. It “wasn’t boring at all” because they got to know other guests as they slowly trickled in, and had fun taking pictures in a photo booth.

“Arriving late wasn’t considered rude,” she says. “It gave us time to socialize with family, meet new people and enjoy the atmosphere. Everyone danced and celebrated into the night, making it a fun and memorable experience.”

Sarah shares a look at the empty wedding venue.@sarah_linus

By the time the bride and groom got there, all of their guests had arrived.

“It was almost an unspoken rule — people knew to arrive at just the right moment, ensuring the bride wasn’t kept waiting,” Sarah says.

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“Yes, punctuality can be seen as a sign of respect, and I agree with that,” she says. “But in situations where everyone understands the social norms — like the timing of the bride’s arrival here — it’s not perceived as disrespectful.”

source: people.com