Wedding traditions are respected and followed by many. Others choose to create their own traditions and allow some of the old ones to fall by the wayside. As you decide which wedding traditions to follow or ignore, it will help to understand why they exist. Here are twenty of the most popular wedding tradition and the history behind them.
1. Something old: The bride wears something old that represents the bond she has to her family.
2. Something new: The bride wears something new to represent the new life with her husband.
3. Something borrowed: The bride wears something borrowed from a happily married woman as a promise of a happy marriage.
4. Something blue: The bride wears something blue to represent fidelity.
5. White Gown: Queen Victoria was the bride that began the wedding tradition of wearing a white dress to symbol purity and virginity. Before that brides wore their best gowns for the wedding.
6. Engagement ring: The engagement ring represents the marriage purchase where the groom made a partial payment for the bride and represented his honorable intention.
7. Diamond: Diamonds are used in engagement rings as Medieval Italians believe it represented the Flames of Love. The hardness of the stone also stood for enduring love.
8. Wedding ring: The metal circular ring symbolized unending, undying love and has been a wedding tradition since the Early Egyptians. Before that a bride work a ring or hemp or rushes.
9. Ring Finger: Egyptians believed the ‘vein of love’ ran directly from the heart third finger of the left hand.
10. Best man: Warriors who stole their wives needed a warrior to help them fight off the woman’s family and prevent them from finding the couple.
11. Bachelor party: Ancient Spartan soldiers held stag parties, which was a feast with male friends to say goodbye to carefree bachelor days. This wedding tradition will probably never die.
12. Bride on the left: The bride’s family is on the left and the grooms family is on the right during weddings because in warrior days, the groom held the bride in his left hand and fought off her family with his right hand as he stole her away.
13. Honeymoon: When warrior grooms abducted their wives they would stay hidden with them for a month, or through all of the moon’s changes so that when the family found them she would already be pregnant.
14. Giving the bride away: In times more civilized than warriors stealing wives, the father would literally give the bride away for financial gain.
15. Trousseau or Dowry: ‘trousseau’ means bundle in French, and literally meant the brides clothes and belongings would be tied up in a bundle. This wedding tradition later expanded to include money and gifts from the family. Today it means new items needed to start a household.
16. First kiss: The kids seals the couple wedding agreement for a life-long agreement. It is akin to a very personal hand-shake.
17. Bridal Shower: It is believed that the first bridal shower was for a poor couple who were not given a dowry because the groom was a miller. Instead of getting the dowry from the father, the miller’s friends showered the bride with gifts.
18. Carrying bride: The bride is carried across the threshold originally as she was captured by the groom and would not willingly into his home.
19. Unity candles: Unity candles is a relatively new wedding tradition from after the women’s lib movement. Women decided to take a more active role in the wedding of their children and so they began the tradition of lighting a candle for each household. The couple would then take the candles and light a third candle signifying the unity of the households.
20. The African American wedding tradition of jumping the broom has roots in African and symbolizes making a home together. This tradition was popular during slavery times as weddings were not permitted. The couple would jump over a broom together to symbolize that they were married.
