Weird Marriage Tradition

“Something old, something new
Something borrowed and something blue”

Wedding traditions are weird to begin with. The tradition of having a bride wear something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue on her wedding day dates back to Victorian England. “Something old” represents the family and past she is leaving behind; “something new” represents their new future together; “something borrowed” was an object from a happily married woman whose good fortune would rub off on the bride; and the “something blue” represented purity.

But there are far weirder wedding traditions than this one…

Blackening the Bride - In northern Scotland, the bride is “blackened” before her wedding, as demonstrated in this lovely YouTube video. Friends and family dump goo mixed from soup, fish, eggs, cheese, and whatever sticky mess they can come up with over the head of a willing bride. Supposedly it comes from the tradition of washing the feet of brides to make them clean. Of course, it’s more fun if you get them really, really DIRTY first.

Breaking Dishes - Oh, what fun to break dishes before a German wedding! All the effort and trouble the bride and groom will have picking up the pieces is supposed to enrich their marriage. Yep. At least we can hope they had dishes on their registry.

Kidnapping the Bride - I witnessed this Russian tradition myself. When the groom isn’t looking, the guests (usually his trusty groomsmen) “kidnap” the bride. The groom is then required to perform three tasks to get her back. In this case, he had to a) drink three shots of vodka (or have his Best Man drink six, b) publicly proclaim his love for his bride, c) break dance. In our case, the groom, who was already drunk, compromised and drank one shot of vodka, shouted his undying love into the microphone (ouch) and break danced to “Ice Ice Baby.”

More of the World’s Weirdest Wedding Traditions in this entertaining post.

What’s your weirdest wedding experience? Leave me a comment. (Or a confession.)