
Wedding etiquette is constantly changing—and one woman wants to bring back an old tradition.
In a viral TikTok video, a woman shared her controversial wedding guest “hot take,” sparking discussion about wedding etiquette and the tradition of saying goodbye to the bride and groom. Since the video was posted, it has received over 445,000 views and over 56,000 likes.
“I think that when you are a guest at a wedding, you should ‘Irish exit’ from the wedding,” the woman said. “I see this happen at every wedding, where it’s like, 10:00-ish…the bride and groom have just hit their stride…they’re having fun, life’s good, and then they spend like, the next hour and a half saying bye to everyone individually.”

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In her video, she suggests that guests should “Irish exit” from weddings—a term for leaving without saying goodbye—and skip the lengthy farewell process that often disrupts the couple’s celebration.
“I just feel like it pulls the bride and groom from this, like, key part of their night,” she added.
Viewers in the comments definitely had thoughts. Many of them agreed, and even said they had done something similar for their weddings.
“We did this for our wedding back in August!” one person wrote in the comments. “Put it in our wedding newspapers and also emailed all guests before with details (including the Irish goodbye) worked a treat—danced uninterrupted.”
“I haven’t thought about this but makes me think to make a point to let people know it is okay to leave. Something I do hope to do when I get married is to host some sort of brunch the next morning for all the family and friends that flew in to help celebrate,” another suggested. “Get a little extra time with them and feed them before their travels back home.”
Some also weighed in about cultural traditions that might prevent the Irish exit from being received well.
“That’s crazy. Not at Polish wedding!” one user wrote. “EVERY SINGLE GUEST should come to a newly married couple and say goodbye. We give them little gift, tell them to stay longer and walk them to the car or door.”
How did an Irish exit come to be?
An “Irish exit,” also known as an “Irish goodbye” refers to the act of leaving a social event without informing others, usually to avoid the awkwardness of farewells.
Some trace the term’s origins to the 19th-century Potato Famine, when there was a large exodus of Irish people to the U.S. Others say it sprung from an Irish cultural value of not wanting to disturb or impose on others. Today, it has become a widely recognized term used to describe any social exit that doesn’t involve a formal send-off.
While wedding etiquette continues to evolve, one thing is clear: the TikTok video has added to the conversation about the norms and expectations surrounding weddings, and it’s unlikely to be the last “hot take” to gain ground.
Newsweek reached out to @kelseyraebo for comment via TikTok.