Brides Bugging Out Over May-June Cicada Invasion

Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News

April 21, 2004

You've dreamed forever of the perfect outdoor June wedding. You can see
yourself gliding down a grassy aisle, a gentle breeze wafting the skirts
of the perfect gown, guitars strumming, friends and family gathered
under a gorgeous blue sky, listening raptly as you recite the vows you
and your beloved spent weeks crafting.

Now conjure up an alternate scenario, one that takes into account the fact that this year, billions of cicadas emerge in mid-May.

You're walking down the grassy aisle, being dive-bombed by sex-crazed cicadas looking for mates. Your guests look like human windmills, flailing at the flying insects. Those weeks spent writing special vows? Lost in the cacophony of male cicadas "singing" to attract females.

With populations numbering in the hundreds of thousands in some locales, "it could be loud enough not to be able to hear the preacher," said Gene Kritsky, a biologist and cicada expert at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Timing, of course, is everything. Maybe you plan your outdoor wedding for late June, when most of the cicadas will be dead or dying.

Instead of gliding down the aisle, you crunch down it, tromping on piles of dead bug bodies. And if you're really unlucky or cut the timing too fine, there's the smell of millions of rotting bug carcasses, which, at it's worst, Kritsky said, resembles something akin to bad limburger cheese.

"None of the brides I'm working with have opted to do an outdoor wedding in May or June this year," said Joyce Smith, owner of Weddings Unlimited, Inc., in Cincinnati. "I can't imagine a bride flitting around with all that netting and getting bugs caught in it. And the bugs are gross-looking. I've lived through one of these, and I remember it."

Wedding Plan Alert

The average length of an engagement in the U.S. is 12 months, according to a survey conducted last fall by Bridal Guide, a widely read bimonthly magazine for brides. The average cost of a wedding is around U.S. $20,000, and many venues must be booked nine months to a year in advance.

The Brood X (Brood Ten) cicada population—the one that erupts this year in the eastern U.S.—is particularly far flung; emergences are expected in 15 states. But the Brood X cicadas only come out once every 17 years. Who was thinking cicadas a year ago?

"We never mentioned the 17-year cicada cycle to readers," said Diane Forden, editor-in-chief of Bridal Guide. "I don't think there was enough awareness about it months ago for us to caution them about not planning an outdoor wedding in an area where the cicadas could be swarming. However, it is something to keep in mind 17 years from now."

"The first thing you do if you're planning an outdoor wedding is check your online resources: the Farmer's Almanac and weather.com. Find out what they have to say," said Sharon Naylor, author of 23 wedding books. "You also have to check for when bug season occurs. Destination marriages are popular now, and some of these places have bugs the size of flying mice."

Ault Park Pavilion in Cincinnati—a city likely to see millions of cicadas—is a favorite outdoor wedding spot, and permits to use the site must be acquired a year in advance. Historic Properties Management, the rental agents for the city's park department had the foresight to put together a cicada informed-consent form for couples to sign stating that they knew about the impending cicada explosion. Business is way down this May and June.

"It was only right. As the bride, you would want to know about something like that," said a company spokesperson. "We have all the Saturday evenings booked, but usually we might also have events on a Friday or Saturday morning and Sunday. Instead we're down to four or five events for the month."

Go With Mother Nature

The number of couples who get married outdoors varies regionally and is very climate dependent.

"Not more than 10 percent of my brides get married outdoors," Smith said. "The weather in Cincinnati is too unpredictable, and an outdoor wedding can really run the bill up because there are so many rental items, and things like bathrooms and parking can be issues."

But the trend is definitely on the upswing, "ever since Jennifer Aniston had her wedding outdoors," said Naylor, one of whose books is titled The Complete Outdoor Wedding Planner.

And where many people view swarms of thousands or millions of noisy, crunchy flying insects as disconcerting if not downright disgusting, cicada expert Kritsky sees romance. He has counseled dozens of couples inquiring about cicadas this year.

"There are those who want to have their wedding outdoors but want to avoid the cicadas, and I advise them to set the date before May 15 or after July 1," he said. "Other couples decide to move their weddings indoors."

But nearly half of the couples who have spoken to Kritsky have decided to hold an outdoor wedding and see what the day brings, he said.

"I think people have better lives if you go with what nature gives you and stop wanting to control all this stuff.

"I keep telling people there's nothing more romantic than a cicada wedding," he said. "Nobody celebrates their 17th or 34th wedding anniversaries as a very special occasion. I'm on a campaign. I think Hallmark should have a glass or porcelain cicada for the 17th wedding anniversary, a silver cicada for the 34th, and a gold cicada for the 51st wedding."

Of course, "other than giving reporters a good laugh," his campaign hasn't progressed very far, he comments dryly.

The bottom line, according to Naylor: "It all comes down to your research skills. You can't make too many calls. It's an important investment in every sense of the word, and you have to be your own best advocate."

For more cicada news stories, scroll down.