Category — Traditions

Photo by Angela Sevin

There is no limit to the wedding traditions and rituals you can include in your ceremony.  This couple blended Buddhist, Chinese and Native American traditions into their non traditional ceremony on the beach.

Looking for wedding traditions to make your ceremony unique?  This UK based website has a six part series of articles on wedding tradition and superstition alone.

The history of wedding traditions and meanings you may not be familiar with…

The Silver Sixpence - Placed in the bride’s left shoe to guarantee her a lifetime of wealth.

Lucky Horseshoe - Must be hung upside down to keep the good luck in; placed over a doorway it wards off the devil.  Often used as cake toppers.  (I’m hoping not an actual horse shoe.  That’s kind of…icky.)

Bride On the Left, Groom On the Right - This tradition started because the groom would draw his sword with his right hand, allowing him to protect his lady love.  (So she’s out of luck if he’s left handed?)

Throwing Confetti - The custom of throwing confetti or more often sugar coated grain on the newlywed couple dates back to pagan traditions and is supposed to assure fertility.  Personally, I think people love any excuse to throw stuff.

Flower In the Groom’s Button Hole - In Medieval times, a knight would declare his love for his lady by wearing her colors.  Today, the groom wears the primary flower in his bride’s bouquet for this same purpose.  Awww.

Bridesmaids - The bride’s best friends would dress the same as the bride to fool any “evil spirits” out to prevent the wedding.  And you thought your girls were just there for the party!

Carrying the Bride Over the Threshold - The Romans started this one, and no one seems to agree about the meaning.  Some say carrying the bride inside prevents the unwilling virgin from escaping the consummation of her marriage.  Others say the groom steps inside first to show that he rules the household.  (As if!)  Still others say it’s to prevent bad luck to the bride if she should trip.

Are you including any unusual traditions or superstitions in your wedding day?  Leave a comment.

“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.)