The four houses of Hogwarts may have been thought up to bring unity and school spirit among young wizards in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, but they have continued to bring drama among fans of the Wizarding World community. So when a couple of superfans decided to split their wedding party based off their family and friends’ houses, their guests took a Snape-y attitude about the whole thing.
Weddings could be the best day in a couple’s life, but they can also create sticky situations. All of your family is packed in one spot for an overall emotional day. Open bars might be involved. So when one couple decided to handpick where each of their guests would be in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin, a lot of them were not happy.
In a story disclosed on Reddit, the Ravenclaw bride and Hufflepuff groom were having a Harry Potter-themed wedding, and they decided to sort their small party of 65 into their respective houses for the dinner. They did separate couples who were assigned to different houses, but none of the kids were placed in houses. Her family is still mad at their choices two months after the wedding. In her words on the now-deleted Reddit thread (via Twitter):
Shockingly though the adults were...offended? Nearly every Slytherin was mad because their asses just think it means ‘bad guys’ and forget to realize that Lenin was a Slytherin, it’s for sure NOT an insult! Even the people who read Harry Potter wanted to argue over how they should have been Gryffindor.
Due to the Harry Potter books and movies centering on Harry, Ron and Hermoine being in Gryffindor, and villainous characters such as Draco and Voldemort being sorted in Slytherin, there’s a huge bias that has fans thinking Gryffindor is for the “good” and Slytherin is for the “bad.” It’s an understandable characterization for casual fans to draw, but as the bride explains, that’s not why she sorted them there.
According to Pottermore (home to the official Hogwarts sorting quiz), those sorted into Slytherin are motivated by success, ambition and determination. These are all positive traits if the Harry Potter series wasn’t so skewed from a Gryffindor’s perspective. Though it’s true that the house has the worst reputation among the four. The bride commented that she would not have sorted them if she knew the reaction her party would have.
This could be a word to the wise for those planning Harry Potter-themed weddings: don’t sort your guests! Fans of the series can enroll in Hogwarts classes online and listen to a new audiobook version of J.K. Rowlings’ collection of short stories The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Fantastic Beasts 3 is set to arrive in November 2021.
