Italian wedding traditions are extremely detailed and are an essential part of Italian culture. A great deal of wedding traditions we use today stem from Italy.
Tradition states that the day of the wedding, the bride isn’t allowed to wear any gold until after the wedding ring has been presented to her. Wearing gold during or before the wedding is said to bring bad luck.
In Northern Italy, tradition says that the groom is in charge of bringing the bride’s flower bouquet to the wedding. The color and style of the bouquet is meant to be a surprise for the bride and it also signifies a present from the groom’s family to the bride. Additionally, while the groom waits for the bride outside the church, he should stand there, bouquet in hand.
A superstition leads the Italian groom to carry a piece of iron in his pocket to ward off the evil eye, while the bride wears her bridal veil to hide her from evil spirits.
Instead of tossing rice or confetti, the Italians tossed candy-covered almonds. This is based on a tradition meant to protect the couple from childlessness. After the ceremony, a more modern tradition calls for the releasing of a pair of doves to symbolize the couple’s love and happiness.
Instead of a wedding cake, often the bride and groom fill ornamental bags or boxes with the candied almonds and given to the guests to signify their matrimony — the “union of bitter and sweet.” The number of these almonds was, and still is, very important — it should be an odd number, preferably 5 or 7 as these are good-luck numbers.
An Italian reception is a glorious celebration for the couple and the guests who attend it. One tradition has the best man greet the guests with a tray of liquor. These will be used for a toast for the bride and groom. Such a toast could include “Per cent’anni” (for a hundred years). At the reception, all the men are allowed to kiss the bride for good luck, which also is supposed to make the groom jealous.
An essential part of the reception is the dancing of the Tarantella. A traditional wedding circle dance, everyone is called to dance along with the bride and groom.
The “dollar dance” stems from an Italian tradition that has the bride carrying a satin bag, called “la borsa.” In this bag, guests placed envelopes of money, used to help with the wedding finances. In some weddings, the bride holds the bag and the men who dance with her, put money into it.
One helpful custom calls for the best man to cut the groom’s tie into little pieces. The pieces are then put on a tray and auctioned off to the guests. The proceeds from the pieces are given to the couple to pay for the band. However, instead of using his actual tie, obviously, a groom should bring a cheap one to substitute.
Foods at the reception that symbolize good luck include twists of fried dough, powdered with sugar, called bow tiesand Italian wedding candy. If wedding cake is served, it is customary to serve cups of coffee, espresso, or some other beverage along with it.
During all the wedding reception festivities, the friends of the groom often sneak away to play tricks on the new couple, including putting itching powder on the bed or blocking the door to the couple’s new home. Before the bride and groom retire for the evening, it is customary that they break a vase or a glass. The number of pieces it breaks into will symbolize the number of happy years of marriage for the couple.
Finally, when the couple goes to their escape car, instead of paint and streamers, they will find it decorated with fresh flowers, symbolizing their new and happy life together.
No matter what they do or do not choose, a modern day bride and groom should have no problem making their Italian heritage a part of the wedding.
Faith Harper, Italian Wedding Traditions, Lifeinitaly.com
Italian Wedding Customs and Traditions, Virtualitalia.com
Italian Wedding Traditions, WorldWeddingTraditions.com
