Wedding Tradition and Customs
SOMETHING OLD, NEW, BORROWED AND BLUE
The full wording of this popular bridal attire rhyme, which dates back to the Victorian times is ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in your shoe’.
Something old refers to wearing something that represents a link with the bride’s family and her old life. Usually, the bride wears a piece of family jewelry or maybe her mother’s or grandmother’s wedding dress.
Wearing something new represents good fortune and success in the bride’s new life. The bride’s wedding dress is usually chosen, if purchased new, but it can be any other new item of the bride’s wedding attire.
Wearing something borrowed, which has already been worn by a happy bride at her wedding, is meant to bring good luck to the marriage. Something borrowed could be an item of bridal clothing, a handkerchief or an item of jewelry.
Wearing something blue dates back to biblical times when the color blue was considered to represent purity and fidelity. Over time this has evolved from wearing a blue clothing to wearing a blue band around the bottom of the bride’s dress and to modern times where the bride wears a blue or blue trimmed garter.
In England placing a silver sixpence in the bride’s shoe is a symbol of wealth. This is not just to bring the bride financial wealth but also a wealth of happiness and joy throughout her married life.
FATHER GIVING THE BRIDE AWAY
This custom originally had it’s roots in arranged marriages where the bride was considered property. Later, this custom persisted as a symbol with two meanings:
1.An endorsement by the father to all witnessing the ceremony that the groom is the best choice for his daughter.
2.And an offering to the groom: "I am presenting to you my daughter."
WHY THE BRIDE STANDS ON THE LEFT
During the marriage ceremony, the bride stands on the left and the groom on the right. The origin of this goes back to the days when a groom would capture his bride by kidnapping her. If the groom had to fight off other men who also wanted her as their bride, he would hold his bride-to-be with his left hand allowing his right hand to be free to use his sword.
TAKING OF EACH OTHER’S RIGHT HAND
The open right hand is a symbol of strength, resource and purpose. The coming together of both right hands is a symbol that both the bride and the groom can depend on each other and the resources that each brings to the marriage. It also represents the merger of their lives together into one.
GROOM GIVES FIRST VOWS
Because he is the initiator, he is the first to state his vow for marriage. As the initiator of the covenant, the groom is to assume the greatest responsibility in the marriage.
UNITY CANDLE
The unity candle is a symbol of family unity. Usually a single candle (representing the newly married couple) is lit with two individual candles, each representing the bride’s and groom’s families.
Unity Candle:
Probably the most familiar religious wedding traditions to Americans are the Roman Catholic and Protestant ones. The lighting of the unity candle—where two symbolic flames become one—is a particularly familiar image. This is a really nice tradition. But I can say from experience that it is stressful bending over an open flame when you're wearing a veil.
FIRST ON THE DANCE FLOOR
At the evening celebrations, the bride and groom traditionally dance first on their own to a waltz. However, as ballroom dancing is not so popular these days, the newlyweds usually dance to a favorite romantic song. During the playing of this song, it is traditional for the couple to dance the complete song alone. After the first dance, the bride and her father or brother dance followed by the groom and his mother.
SIGNING OF THE GUEST BOOK
The signing of the marriage certificate documents a public record of the marriage. The guest book was a record of all people who witnessed the wedding. For that reason, the guest book is supposed to be signed following the official wedding ceremony.
========================
When to mail
The rules regarding wedding invitation etiquette dictate that invitations aren’t sent out too far in advance, but they shouldn’t come at the last minute either. You want your guests to have enough time to plan for the wedding and make any necessary travel arrangements. You don’t want to send the wedding invitations out too far ahead of time, either. Invitations can be sent out as early as eight weeks and as late as one month. Any later than that would be considered very bad etiquette. Six weeks is about enough time to mail the invitations and receive responses
RSVP
The last item on the invitation should be the RSVP date. The initials RSVP are short for the French “Repondez S’il Vous Plait” or simply, "please respond". When these initials appear on the invitation it means the hosts are asking the guests to let them know of their intentions on or before the indicated date – usually two to four weeks before the wedding.
Wedding Invitation Etiquette for Envelopes
Proper wedding invitation etiquette dictates the envelopes be written out by hand, using ink. While it may be quicker and easier to zip off a couple of hundred labels on the laser printer, this is considered a major faux pas. Even if you have several hundred guests attending, the invitations are to be hand written
The full wording of this popular bridal attire rhyme, which dates back to the Victorian times is ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in your shoe’.
Something old refers to wearing something that represents a link with the bride’s family and her old life. Usually, the bride wears a piece of family jewelry or maybe her mother’s or grandmother’s wedding dress.
Wearing something new represents good fortune and success in the bride’s new life. The bride’s wedding dress is usually chosen, if purchased new, but it can be any other new item of the bride’s wedding attire.
Wearing something borrowed, which has already been worn by a happy bride at her wedding, is meant to bring good luck to the marriage. Something borrowed could be an item of bridal clothing, a handkerchief or an item of jewelry.
Wearing something blue dates back to biblical times when the color blue was considered to represent purity and fidelity. Over time this has evolved from wearing a blue clothing to wearing a blue band around the bottom of the bride’s dress and to modern times where the bride wears a blue or blue trimmed garter.
In England placing a silver sixpence in the bride’s shoe is a symbol of wealth. This is not just to bring the bride financial wealth but also a wealth of happiness and joy throughout her married life.
FATHER GIVING THE BRIDE AWAY
This custom originally had it’s roots in arranged marriages where the bride was considered property. Later, this custom persisted as a symbol with two meanings:
1.An endorsement by the father to all witnessing the ceremony that the groom is the best choice for his daughter.
2.And an offering to the groom: "I am presenting to you my daughter."
WHY THE BRIDE STANDS ON THE LEFT
During the marriage ceremony, the bride stands on the left and the groom on the right. The origin of this goes back to the days when a groom would capture his bride by kidnapping her. If the groom had to fight off other men who also wanted her as their bride, he would hold his bride-to-be with his left hand allowing his right hand to be free to use his sword.
TAKING OF EACH OTHER’S RIGHT HAND
The open right hand is a symbol of strength, resource and purpose. The coming together of both right hands is a symbol that both the bride and the groom can depend on each other and the resources that each brings to the marriage. It also represents the merger of their lives together into one.
GROOM GIVES FIRST VOWS
Because he is the initiator, he is the first to state his vow for marriage. As the initiator of the covenant, the groom is to assume the greatest responsibility in the marriage.
UNITY CANDLE
The unity candle is a symbol of family unity. Usually a single candle (representing the newly married couple) is lit with two individual candles, each representing the bride’s and groom’s families.
Unity Candle:
Probably the most familiar religious wedding traditions to Americans are the Roman Catholic and Protestant ones. The lighting of the unity candle—where two symbolic flames become one—is a particularly familiar image. This is a really nice tradition. But I can say from experience that it is stressful bending over an open flame when you're wearing a veil.
FIRST ON THE DANCE FLOOR
At the evening celebrations, the bride and groom traditionally dance first on their own to a waltz. However, as ballroom dancing is not so popular these days, the newlyweds usually dance to a favorite romantic song. During the playing of this song, it is traditional for the couple to dance the complete song alone. After the first dance, the bride and her father or brother dance followed by the groom and his mother.
SIGNING OF THE GUEST BOOK
The signing of the marriage certificate documents a public record of the marriage. The guest book was a record of all people who witnessed the wedding. For that reason, the guest book is supposed to be signed following the official wedding ceremony.
========================
When to mail
The rules regarding wedding invitation etiquette dictate that invitations aren’t sent out too far in advance, but they shouldn’t come at the last minute either. You want your guests to have enough time to plan for the wedding and make any necessary travel arrangements. You don’t want to send the wedding invitations out too far ahead of time, either. Invitations can be sent out as early as eight weeks and as late as one month. Any later than that would be considered very bad etiquette. Six weeks is about enough time to mail the invitations and receive responses
RSVP
The last item on the invitation should be the RSVP date. The initials RSVP are short for the French “Repondez S’il Vous Plait” or simply, "please respond". When these initials appear on the invitation it means the hosts are asking the guests to let them know of their intentions on or before the indicated date – usually two to four weeks before the wedding.
Wedding Invitation Etiquette for Envelopes
Proper wedding invitation etiquette dictates the envelopes be written out by hand, using ink. While it may be quicker and easier to zip off a couple of hundred labels on the laser printer, this is considered a major faux pas. Even if you have several hundred guests attending, the invitations are to be hand written
posted by dE at 11:10 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home