The Reluctant Bride TikTok Trend

About

The Reluctant Bride TikTok Trend refers to the use of an 1866 classical art painting by French painter Auguste Toulmouche titled, "La Fiancée Hésitante." In November 2023, the painting came to be used as an image macro meme on TikTok, typically by women writing messages on the painting to express agitation or annoyance for various things.

Origin

The earliest known TikToker to post a video using the Toulmouche painting, which is sometimes translated to "The Hesitant Fiancée" or "The Reluctant Bride," is a November 5th, 2023, post by TikToker^[1] @adownif3rta, which gathered over 6 million views and 1 million likes in 10 days (seen below). The slideshow was set to the operatic song Verdi's Requiem.^[2]

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Spread

The trend began to pick up en masse after November 10th, 2023, with TikToker^[3] @gaady_22 posting a slideshow with Spanish text written on the painting. The text translates to "You are just like your dad," followed by, "Want to see how I act just like him too?" The post gathered over 4 million plays and 800,000 likes in four days (seen below).

On November 11th, TikToker^[4] @lauren.pascucci posted the image with text that read, "Has ____ been starting to get on your nerves too?" followed by, "Me who's been annoyed w them for weeks but won't say anything till someone else brings it up first." The post gathered over 3 million plays and 700,000 likes in three days (seen below).

Also on November 11th, TikToker^[5] @mads.mehta posted a slideshow participating in the trend as well, gathering over 4 million plays and 600,000 likes in three days (seen below).

Various Examples

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Search Interest

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External References