US bride defends wedding after 'emotional' photos spark outcry

Megan Livingston went viral after posting several videos of her crying "tears of joy" at her wedding last year. Photo / TikTok, @megan_livingston

A US bride's decision to share her "emotional" wedding photos has bizarrely backfired – with the woman now forced to dispel rumours she was being "forced" into marriage.

Megan Livingston tied the knot last year, aged 21 and has posted several videos of her wedding on TikTok.

Many of the videos show her crying – like, really sobbing – with Livingston saying in one TikTok caption that people needed to "normalise girls crying down the aisle at their wedding".

"Who else cried walking down the aisle?" Livingston asked, adding that they were "tears of joy" from an "emotional bride".

The videos saw her accused of having an "arranged marriage". Photo / TikTok,@megan_livingston

While the videos prompted comments from women saying they had reacted in a similar way as "tears at weddings are normal", some expressed (unfounded) concern for Megan.

"She looks hella sad lol, not tears of joy," one person wrote.

"Was this an arranged marriage?" another asked.

Livingston said she was hit with comments from people claiming she was posting about her wedding tears "too much" and "it looks like a forced marriage".

Some even cruelly claimed she had "ruined" her wedding photos by crying so much in them.

"Yes I cried down the aisle but I was happy," she explained in a follow-up video. "I did not have a forced or arranged marriage."

People have since come out in force to defend Livingston, especially after she shared other photos of her smiling and embracing her husband happily in one video.

Megan Livingston has since had to come out several times and reassure people she wasn't "forced" into marriage. Photo / Supplied

"This will be me too! Ignore the hate," one person wrote.

"No shame in expressing tears of joy," one viewer also commented.

"Do people forget that people have emotions and can happy cry?" another said.

"I would absolutely bawl my eyes out if I got married to the person I love," one person commented.

"This is so sweet."