Tradition has it

While last month was a trip around the world, this month’s issue focuses on our very own wedding traditions. Why does the bride wear white? Why does she wear a veil? And why on earth would the groom carry the bride over the door step?

Pure White

It wasn’t until Queen Victoria wore white at her wedding in 1840 that white wedding dresses became popular. Prior to that brides wore brightly coloured dresses, signifying their joy at getting married.

It was the Christian Church that declared that white was pure, and therefore a good choice for blushing brides.

During the Middle Ages the length of a bride’s train indicated her rank in court. The longer her train, the closer she was to the King and Queen and the greater her influence with them.

Veils were added to the white dress as a symbol of the groom “capturing” their brides and also to ward off evil spirits: the bride’s head was covered to keep her from being recognised!

Be Gone, Evil Spirits! (Or Evil Rival Suitors!)

That wasn’t the only was evil spirits were foiled…

These days the bridesmaids all wear identical dresses. In the past, the bride’s dress would have matched the bridesmaids. This was done to confuse the evil spirits who wanted to destroy her happiness. It also helped to prevent the bride from being kidnapped by a rival suitor!

Women as Property?

A long, long time ago a female was considered her father’s property until she was “transferred” to her husband. This is the literal meaning of being given away!

Ringing in the Changes

Thank goodness for this tradition! Prior to gold and diamonds (and platinum and titanium and rubies and emeralds…) becoming traditional, wedding bands were made of hemp or braided grass.

The longer-lasting metals signify a valuable and strong commitment.

Sealed with a Kiss

Sigh, how romantic... In ancient Rome, the kiss between the bride and groom was considered a legal bond necessary to seal the marriage contract.

And Received with a Lucky Touch!

It’s not just the bride and groom that have physical contact on their wedding day. It was also traditional for the couple to greet each guest as part of a receiving line: it was believed that the bride and groom would bring good luck to anyone that they touched.

Over the Threshold

When a bride could be forced to marry her captor, the groom would have to carry her against her will into her new home.

The Roman reason for this tradition may be a little less caveman-like: they thought it was bad luck for a bride to trip over the threshold. To prevent that, the groom carried her.

After-Wedding Bliss

And we thought the honeymoon was all about…a-hem…relaxing and recovering after the wedding. Not so in ancient Ireland - when a couple married, as a fertility aid the parents would make sure the newlyweds had a supply of a drink made from fermented honey called mead, that would last for a full cycle of the moon. Yes, that is where the term honeymoon came from!

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

The actual rhyme that this comes from is “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence in your shoe”. For some reason the sixpence has been dropped (maybe because we don’t have sixpences anymore!).

The ‘old’ is usually provided by your close family and signifies continuity from generation to generation.

The “new” represents the future.

The “borrowed” should be something that brought happiness to its owner so you are effectually “borrowing happiness”.

The “blue” symbolizes fidelity, love and good fortune.

engaged