The full rhyme ended with the line: “and a silver sixpence in your shoe”, but this has become lost over time.
Something old refers to an item that represents a link with the bride’s ‘old’ life. Often this will be a piece of family jewellery or a dress worn by a mother or grandmother.
Something new is said to bring good luck, happiness and success. This could be the wedding dress, if bought new.
Something borrowed, normally something that has been worn by another bride at a happy wedding, ensures good luck, this could be a trinket, hankie, or item of clothing.
The something blue dates from ancient Israel, where the bride wore a blue ribbon to symbolise fidelity. Nowadays a bride will often wear a blue-trimmed garter.
There are a wealth of old wives’ tales and superstitions associated with weddings.
It used to be considered unlucky for a woman to marry a man whose surname began with the same letter as hers, as set out in the rhyme: “To change the name and not the letter, is to change for the worst and not the better.”
It is thought unlucky for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony and it is also unlucky for the bride to make her own wedding dress.
The bride should not wear her entire outfit before the wedding day. Some brides leave a final stitch on the dress undone until it is time to leave for the ceremony so as not to jinx the wedding.
When the bride is ready to leave for the wedding, a final look in the mirror is said to bring good luck. However returning to the mirror once the journey has begun, will result in bad luck.
Seeing a chimney sweep on the way to a wedding is thought to bring good luck and many couples still hire one to attend marriage ceremonies. Other good luck omens when seen on the way to a wedding include lambs, toads, spiders, black cats and rainbows.
Several wedding traditions involve shoes. The best known, which is still carried out today, is to tie shoes to the back of the married couple’s car. This has evolved from a Tudor custom where guests would throw shoes at the newlywed couple. It was considered lucky if they or their carriage were hit.
Another lesser-known tradition is for the father of the bride to give the groom a pair of the bride’s shoes to symbolise the passing of responsibility for the daughter to her new husband. A variation of the custom is for the groom to tap the bride on the forehead with one of the shoes to assert his dominance.
The custom of the bride throwing her bouquet over her shoulder originally involved her throwing one of her shoes. // My Wedding Planner
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