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The “Tours and Tournaments” expansion forCrusader Kings 3adds to the many activities rulers can engage in. Grand Tours, Grand Tournaments, and Grand Weddings are all available for players to explore. The last new activity is especially useful sincea big part of medieval politics was marriage alliances.
However, players can’t plan a Grand Wedding whenever they like. First they need a couple who are ready to marry, which makes the activity less common than the others. That may be why Grand Weddings can be some of the most expensive activities available inCrusader Kings 3. But when a couple is ready to wed, here’s what players must do.
Arranging the Wedding
To arrange a Grand Wedding, players must first arrange a regular wedding. The interactions and interface all work the same as usual, but with"Tours and Tournaments" activea new button will appear on the “Arrange Marriage” menu.
There are a few restrictions on when a Grand Wedding can take place. First, the only side who can propose a Grand Wedding is the dominant family. That’sthe family of the man in a regular marriage, or the family of the woman in a matrilineal marriage. Next, a ruler can only propose a Grand Wedding if the person being married is the ruler or a close family member. Player rulers can marry off distant relatives and courtiers, but never with a Grand Wedding involved.
One big advantage of a Grand Wedding is that players can use them during alliance negotiations.Promising a Grand Wedding is worth +40,making it a strong (though expensive) way to convince a reluctant or powerful ally to commit. Also,if a character’s Faith or Culture allow them to have multiple spouses, any or all of them can be married during Grand Weddings. However, rulers can only marry one spouse at a time.
After promising a Grand Wedding, the two future spouses will become betrothed rather than married instantly, and players get 3 years to find enough money to plan the event. If they wait too long, the other family will cancel the betrothal and gain a -50 Opinion modifier. If one or both fiancés are too young, this waiting period will start once both of them are old enough to marry.
Planning the Wedding
Once players have met the conditions to start a Grand Wedding, they can begin planning it from the Activities menu. Its icon is the gold goblet on the right side of the screen.Much like a regular feast, players can only host a Grand Wedding in a holding that their ruler owns directly.
There are a few buildings that offer bonuses and penalties to Grand Weddings, including the ruler’s capital. The best option is a barony withthe Pleasure Palaces duchy building.This building offers a 50% discount on the wedding price, since it’s already the perfect venue.
Like a feast, players can choose their character’s Intent, plan a guest list, and decide how much to spend on activities. The Intents includeRecreation(stress reduction),Murder, Seduce(which can include the betrothed),Diplomacy, andMatchmaking(close family members only). As for the guest list, players can’t choose guests individually, but they can choose guest categories like “Close Family,” “Vassals,” and “Neighboring Rulers.”
The activity categories areEntertainment, Food and Drinks, and Wedding Venue. Unlike normal feasts, where paying more money is always better and paying less is worse,players will need to keep their vassals' stances in mindfor weddings. Parochial and Zealot vassals are happier with a more modest, religious wedding. Glory Hounds and Courtly vassals love it when their liege goes all-out. Each category also provides other benefits when paying extra, such as a bigger Health boost to every guest when serving better food and a better personal modifier for the host with a better wedding venue.
There’s one other way Grand Weddings are similar to feasts, and that’s the option to turn it into a deadly trap. If player rulers get the Accomplished Forger perk from the Diplomat tree of the Diplomacy Lifestyle, they can choose a Bloody Weddingwhere the real goal is to murder the other family, betrothed and all. A Bloody Wedding has a decent chance of failing, especially if the target is the player ruler’s liege or head of religion, but it’s a spectacular way to sidestep the usual pitfalls of a murder scheme.
The Main Event
The Ceremony
A Grand Wedding takes place in three phases. First is the wedding ceremony itself, during which players will interact with other guests and have a chance to lose stress. If the player ruler is one of the betrothed, they’ll have an opportunity to say “I do” or “I don’t!,” the latter of which can really throw a wrench into the event. Canceling a wedding this way will provide a partial refund of the wedding costs, but it also comes with a big Opinion penalty with the other family, -1 Fame level, a Prestige penalty, and even an embarrassing nickname.
The Feast
Whether the player ruler is the host, a spouse, or just a guest, they’ll have a chance to talk with other guests during the feast. Rulers can get 50 to 500 Lifestyle experience based on who they agree with and what education level they have, so pay close attention to the results of each choice. The downside is that the person players disagree with gets a -15 Opinion towards the ruler. These decisions also have a third option thatprovides Prestige and lowers Stress.
The wedding feast can also trigger regular feast events, and there’s always an event where the player ruler has to deal with a longwinded guest. Also, these events are on top of the minor events taking place in the background that include Opinion boosts, Weak Hooks given out,Cultural Acceptance gains, and so on.
Wedding Night
The third and final phase is the wedding night, which is very different for the spouses compared to everyone else. There’s a relatively good chance that the spouses will become Soulmates during the wedding ceremony, but outside of that, the wedding night events can have a big impact on how the rest of the marriage will go between the newlywed couple. Meanwhile, a guest of the wedding will only have one or two more events that involve chatting with the other guests and wondering about whether the marriage will be good or bad.
When the Grand Wedding ends, all the guests will get a final set of Opinion boosts for the spouses and the host along with modifiersbased on how much Gold was spent, such as “Lavish Feast” and “Celebrated a Magnificent Wedding.” And if the wedding night went well, the first child of the new union will appear nine months later.
Crusader Kings 3is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Crusader Kings 3
WHERE TO PLAY
Your legacy awaits. Choose your noble house and lead your dynasty to greatness in a Middle Ages epic that spans generations. War is but one of many tools to establish your reign, as real strategy requires expert diplomatic skill, mastery of your realm, and truecunning.Crusader Kings IIIcontinues the popular series made by Paradox Development Studio, featuring the widely acclaimed marriage of immersive grand strategy and deep, dramatic medieval roleplaying.Take command of your house and expand your dynasty through a meticulously researched Middle Ages. Begin in 867 or 1066 and claim lands, titles, and vassals to secure a realm worthy of your royal blood. Your death is only a footnote as your lineage continues with new playable heirs, either planned… or not.Discover a sprawling simulated world teeming with peasants and knights, courtiers, spies, knaves and jesters, and secret love affairs. An extensive cast of historical characters can be romanced, betrayed, executed, or subtly influenced.Explore a vast medieval map stretching from the snowswept Nordic lands to the Horn of Africa, and the British Isles in the west to the exotic riches of Burma in the east. Claim, conquer, and rule thousands of unique counties, duchies, kingdoms, and empires.
