{"id":27433,"date":"2018-06-08T03:17:03","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T17:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/uk\/articles\/wedding-traditions\/"},"modified":"2021-11-11T18:52:57","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T07:52:57","slug":"wedding-traditions","status":"publish","type":"uk-article","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/articles\/wedding-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"10 wedding traditions and where they came from"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you all know, weddings come with many traditions attached to them, but we don\u2019t really know where a lot of them came from. So if you\u2019re questioning these traditions or just want to know more, then get ready because we\u2019re about to take you through the history of 10 common wedding traditions.<\/p>\n

Wearing \u2018something old\u2019<\/h2>\n

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The rhyme, \u2018something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue\u2019 is commonly recited all over the world when brides are prepping for their big day. This rhyme is about having four things to bring luck on your wedding day. The \u2018something old\u2019 part of this rhyme though, dates even further back. Traditionally, brides would wear old shoes to bring them luck.<\/p>\n

So you could go with tradition and pick up a pair of vintage heels, or just use the rhyme in a more modern setting.<\/p>\n

Rain on your wedding day<\/h2>\n

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Every mother or grandmother who has had a child get married in the UK, has likely said that rain on the wedding day is good luck. If you\u2019ve been on the other end of this, you would be thinking that your mum is totally mad and she\u2019s just saying that to make you feel better about it raining on your big day.<\/p>\n

But your mum may actually be onto something. According to Hindu tradition, rain on your wedding day is actually considered lucky. In addition to this, the classic wedding phrase \u2018tying the knot\u2019 is again linked to Hindu tradition where a couple\u2019s hands are tied together with string, so they\u2019re literally \u2018tying the knot\u2019. And this then links back to the lucky rain: in this tradition rain is lucky because it\u2019s harder to untie a wet knot, which symbolises a strong marriage.<\/p>\n

Having a summer wedding<\/h2>\n

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These days many couples get married in summer. But this little tradition didn\u2019t start purely because the weather was better. During the 1500s, most people would take yearly baths. And this would often happen in May. So, by the time summer rolled around in June, people were still relatively fresh from their bath.<\/p>\n

Carrying a bouquet<\/h2>\n

\"wedding<\/p>\n

While we don\u2019t thing bouquets will ever go out of fashion, there are multiple traditions surrounding them that are a bit strange.<\/p>\n

The first relates to the yearly bath that we just mentioned. Even though you\u2019ve only had your bath a month prior, it was still pretty easy to start to smell on the ripe side by summer. So, brides carried flowers to mask the smell.<\/p>\n

The second bouquet tradition is about warding off evil. Back in the Roman times, Brides would gather herbs such as rosemary and garlic to carry with them under their veil. This was thought to ward off evil spirits as well as symbolise fidelity.<\/p>\n

The ring finger<\/h2>\n

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As well all know, the traditional ring finger is the neighbour to your pinky finger on your left hand. This is the finger that most people tend to wear their engagement and wedding rings on. The reason for this finger out of a possible ten choices, was because back in Egyptian times, it was believed that this finger had a vein called the vena amoris that was connected directly to your heart. This sadly isn\u2019t true, but the idea behind it is lovely and we don\u2019t expect people to give up this tradition anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Wearing a veil<\/h2>\n

\"wedding<\/p>\n

Veils have two traditions surrounding them. The first is that brides wore veils to protect them against evil spirits, just like the herby bouquets.<\/p>\n

The second reason for the veil is to retain the purity of the bride. The idea was that she wasn\u2019t supposed to be seen by another man on her wedding day, until she was wed to her husband.<\/p>\n

Dancing barefoot at the reception<\/h2>\n

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While many of us who get married these days, will naturally kick off our shoes and start dancing, this is actually an old tradition. Back in the day, if the younger sister was married before her older sister, then the older sister had to dance barefoot at the reception. This was so she wouldn\u2019t risk never finding a husband. It\u2019s a bit of a mad idea, but hey, who doesn\u2019t love an excuse to dance with no shoes on?<\/p>\n

Brides standing to the left of the groom<\/h2>\n

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Before today, I personally had never realised that the bride and groom always stand on the same side (mind = blown). If you had noticed this, then you may want to know why this is a thing.<\/p>\n

This is a Christian tradition. The idea was that the bride stood to the left of the groom so he could keep his right hand free in case he needed to quickly pull out his sword. This was so he could potentially fight off other suitors. Yet, you were obviously in quite a bit of strife if you were left-handed during this time. Firstly, how do you grab your sword without elbowing the missus? And secondly, being left-handed was a sign of witchcraft and the devil.<\/p>\n

Getting married in the middle of the week<\/h2>\n

\"wedding<\/p>\n

These days most couples get married on Saturdays. It\u2019s a good solid day to get married where none of your pals will be at work. In English tradition it was actually believed that Wednesday was the \u2018best day of all\u2019 to get married. Monday was good for wealth and Tuesday was for health, yet Saturday didn\u2019t have any luck at all.<\/p>\n

The groom carrying his bride over the threshold<\/h2>\n

\"wedding<\/p>\n

Traditionally it was believed that newlywed couples were more susceptible to evil spirits. This meant that the groom had to carry his wife over the threshold to protect her from said evil spirits.<\/p>\n

This tradition also sparked a follow on tradition. When petals are thrown on the aisle at the wedding, the same idea of protecting the newlyweds applies. It\u2019s all a little kooky and odd, but kinda cute still.<\/p>\n

Do you need your perfect bouquet to ward off evil spirits- I mean to look pretty in your wedding photos? Click here for florists near you.<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":27439,"parent":0,"template":"","uk_article_category":[6803],"uk_article_tag":[6298,4636,2262],"class_list":["post-27433","uk-article","type-uk-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","uk_article_category-general","uk_article_tag-old-traditions","uk_article_tag-traditions","uk_article_tag-wedding-traditions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uk-article\/27433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uk-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/uk-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uk-article\/27433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"uk_article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uk_article_category?post=27433"},{"taxonomy":"uk_article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/uk_article_tag?post=27433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}