Wedding Trends That Take The Cake

In Wedding Traditions from Around the World, Part 1, we discussed how wedding traditions and customs vary from one country and culture to another, and that each one is special and celebrates the marriage bond of the newlyweds. Here are some other traditions from around the world:

ENGLAND

• Tossing the bouquet is a tradition stemming from England. Women used to try to rip pieces of the bride’s dress and flowers to obtain good luck, so to escape from the crowd, the bride would toss her bouquet and run away.

• Anglo-Saxon Englishmen often had to defend their brides, so the bride would stand to the left of her groom allowing his sword arm to be free.

• The bridal party was originally established to fool evil spirits. The bride’s friends dressed similarly in order to confuse them and to ward off bad luck.

FINLAND

• The bride walks from house to house with a pillowcase to collect her wedding presents while a married man walks beside her with an umbrella, which symbolizes protection and shelter.

• The bride wears a golden crown during the reception and is blindfolded. She’s then spun around, while unmarried girls dance around her. The one she crowns is thought to be the next one who will get married.

FRANCE

• The wedding couple drinks from the traditional two-handled wedding cup called the “coup de marriage” denoting togetherness.

• On the wedding night, pots and pans are banged together as a way of disturbing the newlyweds.  The groom invites the jokesters in for refreshments.

GERMANY

• To make the wedding night as difficult as possible, friends of the couple do lots of funny or sometimes cruel things. They might fill up the room with balloons, take the bed apart or hide lots of alarm clocks in,

• Friends sometimes kidnap the bride, and the groom has to find her.

• The Polterabend is an informal party held the evening before the wedding. Plates and dishes are smashed, and the broken pieces are thought to bring good luck to the bride.

GREECE

• The mother of the bride spends years collecting various household items for her daughter’s dowry. Once the dowry has been presented to the couple, friends volunteer to set up and decorate the newlyweds’ home.

• The bride and groom are honored as queen and king for the day. They wear crowns made of either gold or orange blossoms connected with ribbons, which signify the couple’s union.

• Once the wedding is over, the bride and groom walk around the altar three times symbolizing the trinity.

ITALY

• The bride does not wear any gold. It is considered bad luck.

• Sunday weddings are believed to be the luckiest.

• To ward off envious people, the groom carries a piece of iron.

• At the reception, the men are supposed to kiss the bride for good luck…and to make the groom jealous.

• To start the festivities, strong drinks are served to toast the couple with “Per Cent’anni” which means “for 100 years.”

JAPAN

• Brides wear purple dresses. Purple is considered the color of love.

• The bridal couple takes nine sips of sake. They sit across the table from each other, looking directly into the eyes of the other, taking a sip at the same moment and being very careful to set the cup down on the table at the same time.  It is believed that this will keep one from dying before the other.

KOREA

• The groom’s family welcomes the bride in a private ceremony.

• The bride wears a multicolored silk dress with white sleeves and a black silk crown.

• The bride is made up with red points on her cheeks to scare away bad spirits.

• One important part of the wedding ceremony is the sharing of a special white wine (jung jong), which is poured from cups made from two halves of a gourd made by the bride’s mom.

NORWAY

• Friends and neighbors plant small pine trees on either side of the bride and groom, which symbolize fertility.

• The bride wears a silver crown and silver charms. The music created by the charms is supposed to ward off evil spirits.

• The wedding cake (Brudlaupskling) is made of flour and a mixture of cheese, and cream and syrup are added to it.

PHILIPPINES

• The groom throws a spear onto the front step of his bride’s house to let everyone know about the intended marriage.

• The bride’s gown is often custom made, and it is bad luck for her to try it on before the wedding.

• Pearl jewelry is considered a bad omen.

• The groom presents his bride with 13 gold pieces as a pledge of his dedication to his wife and the welfare of his children.

• Knives and other sharp objects are not given as gifts because it is believed that they will lead to a broken marriage.

• Raindrops are considered lucky because they bring prosperity and happiness. Rice, when thrown after the wedding represents rain.

• It is considered bad luck if the groom does not arrive before the bride.

RUSSIA

• Russian law does not recognize church weddings, so couples wishing to marry must have a civil wedding ceremony.

• After the civil ceremony, the couple takes a tour of the city visiting memorials of those who have died.

• The traditional wedding in Russia lasts two days.

• The bride and groom usually tie a doll to the wedding car if they wish their first child to be a girl and a teddy bear if they want a boy.

SCOTLAND

• Grooms carry a large basket filled with stones (on his back) from one end of the village to the other till the bride comes out and kisses him.

• Bagpipes are played during the parade.

• The groom wears his traditional kilt.

• When the wedding vows are completed, the groom pins a strip of his clan’s tartan color to the bride’s dress…signifying that she has become a member of his tribe.

SWEDEN

• The mother of the bride places a gold coin in the bride’s right shoe, and her father places a silver coin in her left shoe. This ensures that their daughter will never be poor.

• The groom presents his bride with three gold rings…an engagement ring, a wedding ring and a motherhood ring.

• Imaginary trolls were once thought to bring misfortune to the wedding couple, so they were kept away by the bride and her bridesmaids by carrying bouquets of pungent herbs and stinking weeds.

Photo Invitations are a great way to show the world how you and your man feel about each other. They make great keepsakes too!

Lisa Bakewell

Tags: Planning, Unconventional Wedding, Unique Weddings, Wedding Ideas, Wedding Tips

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 2:26 pm and is filed under Wedding Types. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.