red wedding

English

Etymology

The first sense derives from red as an adjective meaning "associated with or supportive of communism." The second sense derives from The Red Wedding scene in A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin.

Noun

red wedding (plural red weddings)

1. (dated, communism) A wedding ceremony in the Soviet Union in which the couple pledged loyalty to the state or communism in addition to reciting marriage vows.
   • 1942 October, Albert Rhys Williams, “Religion in the USSR”, in Soviet Russia Today, page 15:

     As the church sought to make these events significant with its ceremonies, so did the Communists with their “Red weddings,” “Red funerals” and “Red christenings.”

   • 1994, Woodford McClellan, Russia: The Soviet Period and After, page 77:

     They celebrated “red weddings” at factories, bride and groom standing before a piece of machinery and pledging their loyalty first to the communist state, then to each other.

   • 1998, Ronald Grigor Suny, The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States, page 186:

     Soon "Red weddings" replaced church weddings for dedicated Communists.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:red wedding.
2. (often figuratively) A situation involving carnage, bloodshed, or chaos; a massacre; a mass culling.
   • 2019 May 16, Lynn Elber, “Haddish, stability mark ABC schedule”, in Stars and Stripes, page 18:

     Although ABC’s cancellation slate is far from a Red Wedding, these seven shows got the axe: “Whiskey Cavalier,” “For the People,” “Dancing with the Stars: Juniors,” “Child Support,” “The Alec Baldwin Show,” “The Kids Are Alright” and “Splitting Up Together.”

   • 2019 July 29, Alison Griswold, “Uber is laying off one-third of its global marketing team”, in Quartz‎^[1]:

     A source familiar with the matter told Quartz that Uber employees are referring to the layoffs as the "marketing red wedding," a reference to a massacre that takes place in Game of Thrones.

   • 2022 November 3, Kate Conger, Ryan Mac, “Elon Musk Begins Layoffs at Twitter”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     "Has the red wedding started?" one employee wrote on Slack, a reference to a massacre scene in "Game of Thrones."

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:red wedding.