Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

Ancient traditions meet modern fashions in an ostentatious culture clash in the world of 21st-century gypsy and traveller weddings. Gaining rare access to this fascinating and often misunderstood community, Cutting Edge uses the prism of the weddings to reveal a culture where brides compete to have the biggest dress but having children out of wedlock is still taboo and divorce is unheard of. Considered 'on the shelf' at 20, many girls in Gypsy and Traveller communities get married soon after their 16th birthday with the support of their family. The weddings are visual spectacles: girls parade into church in enormous dresses that sometimes weigh more than the bride herself. Although the women look sexually provocative there is a tradition of premarital chastity that is increasingly unusual in Britain today. This is a community that lives alongside but detached from mainstream society. It is a community of contrasts, living by centuries-old religious and cultural traditions but at the same time embracing the gaudier extremes of the celebrity- and fashion-obsessed times in which we live.

If you thought all the wedding excitement of 2011 is focused on Westminster Abbey, think again. Channel 4 viewers will have front row seats to celebrate THE wedding of the year: a Big Fat Gypsy one. Some people may live in palaces and some in caravans, but regardless of wealth or title everyone wants their own wedding day to be absolutely perfect. In this one-off special from the makers of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings cameras follow behind the scenes as a team of wedding planners are tasked with orchestrating the biggest, fattest wedding of the year.

This one-off Valentine's special explores love and courtship in the Traveller community, following Ina and Danielle as they prepare to wed their first loves. In the Traveller world it is still common to get hitched young. Both the brides in this episode are 16-year-olds marrying their first loves. Ina Casey is marrying her first boyfriend. After having got together in secret, the couple were 'outed' by Ina's uncle - who 'squealed' - and they were quickly engaged. Now she prepares for her wedding day with a dress made from glitter fabric, material more commonly used in wallpaper. The show also catches up with Travellers Danielle and her 21-year-old fiancé Brendan as the groom-to-be celebrates his stag do, Traveller-style, and the young couple prepare for their wedding day. Danielle's wedding is scheduled to take place just a day after her 16th birthday. But despite her youth, Danielle is convinced she has made the right choice. Can the dream of a white wedding live up to the reality?

Ever since the first Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, millions of viewers have watched the extravagant weddings and asked the same question: where does the money come from? It has been one of the Travelling community's most closely guarded secrets. Until now... Gypsies and Travellers form some of the richest and the poorest elements of society, from Alfie Best, a Romany Gypsy worth a reported £100 million, to down-on-his-luck Romany Gypsy George. This programme lifts the lid on a community with its own unique customs, traditions and attitudes to money. Meanwhile, Irish Traveller Larry is planning an amazing wedding for his eldest daughter Margaret. Eight bridesmaids, 300 guests and a huge white dress don't come cheap, and Larry has been saving all his life. But as he later reveals, some Travellers have a secret way of financing their breath-taking weddings...

Dressmaker Thelma Madine reveals the secrets behind her most outrageous creations, from design and production through to the unique excitement of a Traveller or Gypsy wedding day. Thelma relives the mayhem and magic that went into creating the most incredible outfits, recalling everything from glow- in-the-dark wedding dresses to her famous pineapple and palm tree costumes.

This episode follows one travelling clan over the course of a tumultuous year, witnessing the clan's constant game of cat and mouse with the councils, the daring 'land grabs' in the dead of night, the battles with the local residents, the hardships of long winters in freezing caravans, and the joys of being free spirits and testing the limits of the law. The film also finds the family putting their troubles to one side as they have a spectacular summer Traveller wedding. Should Travellers have the right to roam and park up their caravans wherever they see fit, or will the local councils and residents stop them? Could this be the end of the traditional travelling way of life?

This special episode follows Irish Travellers on both sides of the Irish Sea, with spectacular weddings, christenings, and that very special date: St Patrick's Day. The communities of Irish Travellers in the UK and Ireland share a special bond, but their values don't always match. However, it becomes apparent over the course of the film that, despite their differences, they remain united by an in-built desire to celebrate life, whatever it throws at them.

Ladies' Day at the races is a big date in the Gypsy calendar. This one-off special explores the unique bond between the Travelling community and their horses. While the splendour of Ladies' Day at the races is traditionally seen as the preserve of the British aristocracy, across the racetrack, on the other side of the fence, thousands of Travellers and Gypsies gather for one of the biggest dates in the Gypsy calendar. From the unique spectacle of a horse fair to the excitement of a controversial road race in the dead of night, the races may mean many things to Traveller men, but to many Traveller women it's a place to stand out from the crowd, and, more importantly, to find love.

This special episode explores the Traveller and Gypsy community's unique approach toward birth and death, revealing a world with its own strict rules of conduct. Gypsies and Travellers celebrate communions and weddings with their own traditions and spectacular style,but these are not the only events in the life cycle that are marked and celebrated. This programme explores attitudes concerning birth and death, revealing a world in which pregnancy comes with its own strict rules of conduct, where breastfeeding is considered shameful by some, and where a funeral is an event planned with as much energy as the very biggest weddings, drawing crowds of hundreds.

In Queensferry, Paddy Doherty is gearing up for his favourite time of the year - Christmas. He is, in his own words, always “like a child at Christmas” and this year will be no different. We catch up with him as he decks his trailer in lights and purchases a life-sized neon Penguin to help give the place an extra sparkle. He is also out Christmas shopping – generously mending his broken wedding ring as a gift for his wife, Roseanne. But this time of year has always been difficult for the couple. Roseanne has lost 5 of her 10 children including her eldest son Patrick in a car accident. Christmas brings all the emotions to the fore again and despite his best laid plans, things begin to fall apart for Paddy on the day itself… In Belfast, 17 year old Thomasina is also preparing for the festive season. The whole family is planning to go to the Christmas hotspot of Tenerife, including mum Anne Marie and her younger sister Rebecca. But first there will be another very special event – her 18th birthday party. Things don’t exactly go off without a hitch – the venue cancel at the last minute and luxury limousine fails to turn up – but nothing dampens her spirits and once the dancing starts the celebrations begin in earnest. For Thomasina it is “the best party [she] has ever been to”. Her boyfriend is also in attendance but there appear to be no plans for a wedding – she wants to but is adamant “not just yet”. Three weeks later and the situation has changed completely. Thomasina and her boyfriend have run away together. Mum, Anne Marie asked them to come home immediately and marry. The wedding took place 2 days later. Now the planned family holiday has taken on an altogether different meaning – doubling as a honeymoon. In Tenerife we catch up with the newly married Thomasina as she cruises the local hotspots, see her sister Rebecca enjoying her own birthday and speak to Anne Marie, still coming to terms with the idea of having a newly married

Although many Gypsies and Travellers are spending less time on the road, they continue to be people with travel and adventure in the blood. This special episode follows gypsies and Irish Travellers as they prepare for the most amazing trip of their lives. From the bride-to-be planning to go away to Mexico for her honeymoon - her first ever trip abroad - to an eight-year-old girl planning a religious pilgrimage to Bosnia, and the Romany gypsy brothers on a lads trip in Tenerife, the show reveals that for members of travelling communities getting away is about far more than just sun, sea and sequins.

This festive special, packed with weddings, fun and festive spirit, shows that nobody does Christmas bling like Gypsies and Travellers

To celebrate the Grand National Festival, this one-off special follows Gypsies and Travellers as they descend on the biggest event in the horse-racing calendar