Wedding Customs

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Everywhere around the world, weddings are celebrated with some kind of ceremony. These ceremonies are different from culture to culture, but many of the customs associated with wedding ceremonies, such as the wedding ring, the wedding dress, the wedding cake, and throwing confetti, come from common beliefs and similar ancient traditions.

Wedding Ring

The idea of the wedding ring started with the ancient Hindus. It was not considered to be a symbol of love in the beginning. It was, in fact, a sign that a down payment had been given for the woman and that she was no longer available. The ancient Greeks and Romans took the idea of wedding rings from the Hindus and kept the ring as a sign that a young lady was “sold.” It was Christian society that gave the ring a different meaning. They adopted the ring around the year 1000 as a sign of fidelity. The ring, a circle with no beginning and no end, also came to symbolize eternity. In some countries such as Brazil, couples wear rings that have their names inside: the bride has the groom’s name on her ring, and vice versa.

The ancient Greeks and Romans wore the ring on the fourth finger of the left hand because they believed that a vein ran directly to the heart from that finger. However, wedding rings are not worn on the left hand in every country. In Chile and Germany, couples exchange rings when they get engaged, wear their rings on their left hand until they are married, and then switch them to their right hand. In Russia, there is no special finger for a wedding ring, but people usually wear a ring on the right hand to indicate they have a partner.

Bridal Dress

Today, in many countries, brides marry in a white dress, which symbolizes purity. This tradition started in the 1500s. Before that time, brides wore their best dress, and the color did not matter. Today, in the United States and Britain, brides wear white dresses and follow the tradition of wearing “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” Each “something” stands for past happiness, good fortune, friendship, and purity respectively.

In Japan, white was always the color for a bride even before it became popular in Western cultures. A Japanese bride may sometimes change her dress two or three times on her wedding day, starting with a traditional kimono and ending with a Western style white dress. In Finland, brides wear white dresses and golden crowns.

After the wedding ceremony, guests cover the bride’s eyes, and the unmarried women dance around her as she puts the crown on one of their heads. It is believed that whomever she crowns will be the next bride.

White is not the color worn by brides everywhere. In China and Pakistan, brides wear red, which symbolizes happiness. In Samoa, brides wear a dress made of material from the bark of a tree, along with fresh flowers and a crown of mother-of-pearl. In the past, it was common practice in many cultures for the bride and the bridesmaids to wear the same color as a way of confusing evil spirits that might hurt the bride. Today, this tradition is still present in the Philippines.

Wedding Cake and Confetti

The idea of a wedding cake is common throughout the world. Many countries have their own traditional cakes: fruitcake in Ireland, wedding bread in Ukraine, and almond cake decorated with sugar work in Denmark are a few examples. Originally, the wedding cake was not eaten by the bride: it was thrown at her! People thought that throwing cake at a bride would bring her fertility. It started with throwing wheat, which came to take the form of little cakes. Later, the cakes were piled on top of each other, a higher pile meaning more prosperity for the couple. Finally, a French chef thought of the multilayered cake that is common in Western cultures today.

Throwing things at the couple to wish them fertility or prosperity is also common throughout different cultures. People throw peas in the Czech Republic, and it’s sweets and nuts in Romania. Americans traditionally threw rice at couples as they left the wedding place. As they learned that the rice was making birds sick, however, they began throwing birdseed, which unfortunately injured some brides and grooms.  Therefore, Americans today often blow bubbles or throw confetti, a mix of small pieces of colored paper. The word confetti comes from an Italian word meaning “sweetmeats,” which refers to the mixed nuts, dried fruit, and honeyed almonds Italians throw at the newlyweds to symbolize the sweet and bitter parts of life.

Even in our modern traditions, we still use ancient symbols to show our wishes for marriage unions to be happy and fruitful. Most of these wedding customs from around the world have things in common and come from shared human values. Though many customs are based on ancient traditions that we may not be aware of today, they have the same purpose: they all celebrate marriage and wish the new couple well.