CFB Fans Engage in Viral Debate over Skipping Weddings to Watch Oct. 12 Schedule

The fall is a popular time for weddings, but those scheduled on Saturdays are clashing with the college football season and creating difficult decisions for fans.

This year, Oct. 12 features a marquee slate of four games between teams ranked in the Preseason Top 25. However, the date is also the most popular choice for weddings this year.

Fans on social media ignited a debate as to whether it would be OK to skip a wedding to watch what might be the best day of college football this year.

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The debate about weddings during college football has raged on for years. In 2015, Brendan Prunty of Sports Illustrated spoke to a Tuscaloosa, Alabama native who said his grandfather wouldn't attend his wedding if it fell on a game day.

"He congratulates us on getting engaged," Chase Barnes recalled. "And then he said, 'Whatever you do, do not get married during football season or I'm not coming to the wedding.'"

In SEC country, it's almost a universal rule to not schedule a wedding during college football season, as doing so could result in an annoying situation where attendees are not paying full attention to the ceremony.

"No one messes with SEC football," Lynda Jungkind, owner and publisher of Premier Bride and a former wedding planner, told Prunty. "Number one, I love SEC football and I'm not going to miss it. Saturday is game day at the Jungkind household."

The SEC will have one of the biggest games of the day on Oct. 12 when new conference members Texas and Oklahoma meet for the Red River Rivalry. It would be wise for future brides and husbands to avoid creating a situation where their guests are forced to choose between the festivities and the big game. Jungkind explained just how disastrous that can be.

"I had a bride, who used to work for me, she got married in the afternoon," Jungkind said. "But the reception was at her parents' home and it was an outdoor wedding and they didn't have any TVs set up. They were Mississippi State fans and the guests designated one person to report the score back from the car radio. And Arkansas was playing Texas A&M that day and my husband kept disappearing and going to our car to check that score. That's just how it is. You just learn to live with it."