You found the partner of your Dreams; the question has been you said the inevitable – YES! Going through the preparations is tough enough! Lucky enough, you don’t need to think about making your own ceremony as we have wedding traditions, which has been passed down from generations to generations, that you can follow to have a hassle-free wedding!
Wedding Traditions
Stag Parties for Men and Hen Dos for women
Ever heard of bachelor or bachelorette parties? Well it is not popular in the Great Britain. Instead of that, the Bride’s friends celebrate the “Hen dos” while the Groom’s friends celebrate through “Stag parties”. This is done days or month away from the big wedding day. It usually involves travelling to a different country within Europe and involves a lot of alcohol, games and terrible fancy dress for women.
The White Dress
Wearing a white dress during a wedding has become a must all-over the world. It was not like this previously until the world saw what Queen Victoria wore to marry Prince Albert: An Ivory white gown. This instantly became a fashion statement for brides and has ever since became a symbol of love in weddings.
Giving Away the Bride
Giving away the bride in the most respectful way. The groom will ask for the bride’s hand in marriage prior to the wedding while during the ceremony, the father will finally let go of their daughter and allow her to be one with the groom. This can be considered as the most heartwarming, beautiful moment in any wedding. Although the reason behind this is not quite good to know. Daughters, before, were like properties of their fathers and is literally sold to the groom. It is fortunate that the meaning of this gesture changed and became a wonderful moment between the bride, the groom and their father.
Hats
Have you watched the wedding of Kate Middleton with Prince William? Did you notice how all of the guests wore such sophisticated hats during the wedding? Old-school wedding in the Great Britain involves wearing of hats during such occasions this has since then continued until now. They usually put a small headpiece pinned on the hat or on the head to make it more beautiful.
“Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue”
This tradition or superstition came from an old rhyme by an English poet: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe.” It was said on the superstition that the bride should have four things on her as a person for good luck and prosperous marriage: something old refers to something passed down like a family heirloom while something new refers to an item recently bought. Something borrowed refers to an item not purchased and something blue is anything that has a blue color in it.
The Wedding Rings
What is a wedding without the wedding rings? The use of wedding rings was from the Egyptians, where circular shape symbolizes eternity. Since then, it was used in weddings. The couple wears the wedding rings on the left finger of the left hand. It is on the left hand that they believe that the “vein of love” is located which leads to the heart.
Throwing Rice
This tradition came from the ancient Rome where throwing of grains of wheat or oat at the newlyweds were believed to bring them fertility and wealth. Currently, some people still throw rice while some modified it to flowers or even confetti as it is more colorful and does not hurt unlike rice.
Wedding Ceremonies
Weddings in the UK often start around midday or one o’clock in the afternoon. Meghan and Harry’s wedding started at 12 noon. The British people are not used to having a wedding late in the afternoon and believes that the earlier the wedding the better.
The Groom can’t look back at the Bride while walking down the aisle
In other countries, the groom patiently waits for the bride while walking in the aisle to reach the altar. It is in this moment that the groom feels an overwhelming emotion that some of them even cry while looking at their beautiful bride. In Britain, the groom is not allowed to take even a peek at his bride who’s walking down the aisle. He should only keep his eyes at all times on the altar and the best man will be giving him encouraging words.
The First Dance
If you watched any British traditional movie then I think you are familiar with this. The first dance is normally the opening number that kicked off the party. It is a must that the host, usually the bride’s father, dances with her first, then followed by the groom.
The Bouquet Toss
This tradition may be one of the popular especially for the bride’s team. This tradition came from the 15th Century Britain, where guests would have to try and tear bits of the bride’s dress as a sign of good luck on them. Nowadays, it is no longer practiced. In order to keep the tradition going, brides now toss her flowers to the group of women who will run just to get it!
The Conga Line
It is a common scene in weddings or even parties in the UK. When a conga line starts forming, no matter how old or young you are, you are socially obliged to follow and get in the line. Note: You will never stop walking around in a line until the first person stops!
The Wedding Breakfast
After the ceremony, the guests will accompany the newly-weds to a wedding breakfast which include 2 kinds of cake. The 1st cake is like a fruitcake and is given in place of a traditional wedding cake. While the 2nd cake or the groom’s cake is usually chocolate flavored.