I welcome you back to the class with the above question. For clarity’s sake, we restructure it thus:
The couple got wed on Saturday.
The couple got wedded on Saturday.
Now, which is correct — or wrong?
Although the latter (wedded) seems to be more popularly used, both are correct as the past and participle forms of ‘wed’. This indicates that the verb is an irregular one, the type that exhibits an unpredictable trait when it changes from the present tense to the past and participle.
The topic came from a question sent to me by a reader who wants to know which is correct between ‘got wed’ and ‘got wedded’. In establishing that both are correct, Cambridge Dictionary notes: “If two people wed, or one person weds another, they get married, used especially in newspapers.” Here are the two examples it gives:
The couple eventually wed after an 18-year engagement.
Raised in Chicago, she wed her college sweetheart in 1949.
So, one can get wed or get wedded.
Newlywed vs newlywedded
Despite the fact that both ‘wed’ and ‘wedded’ are correct as the past tense/participle forms of ‘wed’, ‘newlywed’ is the appropriate term as a noun. Referring to a person who has just got married, its plural form is newlyweds, while it usually comes as newly-wed when used as an adjective:
The newlywed (noun) attended the University of Ibadan.
The newlyweds (noun) will have their honeymoon in Miami.
The newly-wed couple (adjective) met at the University of Ibadan.
Wedding ceremony?
This could also be a good opportunity to remind us about some other errors associated with weddings/marriages. Firstly, it is tautological to use ‘ceremony’ with ‘wedding’:
I attended Temi’s wedding ceremony. (Wrong)
I attended Temi’s wedding. (Correct)
Also, ‘couple’ refers to the pair, the duo getting married, not one person:
Lizzy was a couple at the wedding. (Wrong. Maybe she was the bride. She and her man were the couple.)
I met a couple from India at the wedding. (The husband and wife.)
Fit, fitted
Still considering irregular verbs with dual past tense/participle variants, ‘fit’ also comes to mind. Fit and fitted are correct:
I told him the dress he wore at the wedding fit him. (Correct)
I told him the dress he wore at the wedding fitted him. (Correct)
Broadcasted?
The more common, more acceptable and British English version is ‘broadcast’. Although there is ‘broadcasted’ in American English, it is better to stick to the first:
Channels Television broadcast the news last week.
Was it also broadcast on AIT?
