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Wedding Traditions

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Weddings are one of the greatest events of our lives and historically have acquired much tradition, superstitition and hearsay through the ages. Here are just a few interesting facts and stories relating to the subject of marriage:

In ancient Greece, women did not start counting their age until they were married. They believed that their life truly started with this event. Today the average age of a first-time bride is about 27 years old.

White wedding dresses were made popular by Queen Victoria who broke the tradition of Royals marrying in silver.

Civil registration of marriages started on 1 July 1837 in England and Wales.

According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, June and October are the luckiest months in which to be married. They are still very popular today.

On the night before her wedding day, the Roman bride-to-be was obliged to give her toys away to her family. The most important part of her wedding dress was a belt, tied around her waist in the "knot of Hercules". (Hercules was the guardian of wedded life.) Only the husband could untie this knot. Over her tunic wedding dress, the bride worn a flame colored veil that was allegedly used to confuse bad spirits and ensure good luck. The veil was topped with a wreath of flowers, which the bride had to gather herself.

° The traditional verse of

Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something blue
And a silver sixpence in your shoe

originated in Victorian times although some of customs referred in it are much older. The "something old" represents the family acquaintances who will hopefully remain close during the marriage. Traditionally this was old garter which given to the bride by a happily married woman in the hope that her happiness in marriage would be passed on to the new bride.

"Something new" symbolises the newlyweds' happy and prosperous future. The "something borrowed" is often lent by the bride's family and is an item much valued by the family. The bride must return the item to ensure good luck. The custom of the bride wearing "something blue" originated in ancient Israel where the bride wore a blue ribbon in her hair to represent fidelity.

The placing of a silver sixpence in the bride's shoe was to ensure wealth in the couples married life. Today some brides substitute a penny in their shoe during the ceremony as silver sixpences are less common.

More often today, old, new and blue tokens such as coins, artefacts or clothing are substituted to symbolise local history, culture and traditions.

° The double happiness graph (pronounced "shuang-hsi" in Mandarin) is a special Chinese character used only for marital happiness that is not used in regular Chinese writing or printing.

Double Happiness: Each half of the symbol is the standard character for happiness, written "hsi" or "xi," and pronounced something like "she" in Mandarin . Therefore, two "hsi" graphs together represents the wish for the two young newlyweds to have happiness together.

° Handfasting is a symbol used in Celtic and other cultures to express marriage. It is non-religion-specific, meaning it is not pagan or Christian. The symbol can be used by anybody, since it expresses part of the reality of matrimony and can therefore be used in a religious or civil wedding ceremony. The handfasting lasts only for a few seconds while the couple exchange their vows and is where the hand of the bride is taken from her father and given to the groom and the priest or minister wraps the clasped hands in the end of his stole to symbolize the trinity of marriage; man and woman joined by God. This symbolic binding together in marriage evolved into the practice of wrapping the clasped hands with a cord or an embroidered cloth, usually made especially for that purpose.

° Traditionally the groom will choose a flower for his buttonhole that matches those used as part of the floral arrangement for the bride's wedding bouquet. This was seen as the representation of age old chivalry when a Knight would wear his Lady's colours to display his love.