It is amazing for us to learn all of the fun wedding facts that we are discovering as we research information for our blogs. For instance, there are certain colors that different cultures will not (or should not) wear at a wedding.
Here is another list of some fun, or disturbing, wedding facts/traditions that we think you will get a kick out of.
Bedouin girls will often begin to sew their wedding dresses when they turn nine years old and so that they will finish their gown before they marry at the age of fourteen or fifteen.
All over the world, there is a long tradition of mock battles to keep the groom away from the bride on their wedding day. For example, in Thailand, a groom often will find the entrance of the bride’s house roped off until he offers money to get through. In some nomadic tribes in Central Asia, a groom and his party would pursue his bride on horseback—as she was riding away carrying a newly slaughtered lamb.
Puritans banned wedding rings because they thought they were “frivolous” jewelry or relics of Popery.
Photo By Swensen Photography
In many countries, a yellow wedding dress has traditionally been seen as a sign of a wife’s intention to cheat on her husband or of jealousy.
Much like the modern tradition of feeding wedding cake to one’s spouse, in ancient Rome, couples pledged their unity by sharing food. Today a Japanese bride and groom drink sake together, Jewish couples drink from the same cup of consecrated wine, and Muslim couples eat from the same piece of candy.
Greek brides believed that tucking a lump of sugar into the wedding gown would bring sweetness throughout married life.
To ensure fertility, the Irish would take a hen that was about to lay an egg and tie it to the wedding bed.
Because ducks mate for life, a Korean groom will ask a happily married friend to make him two small wooden ducks for his new household.
Oriental wedding dresses often display embroidered cranes, which are symbols of life-long fidelity. At Japanese weddings, the presence of 1001 white paper origami cranes is considered good luck.
In Egypt, women will pinch the bride to bring good luck to those who pinched her.
In India, it is considered a form of protection and luck to be symbolically married to a tree.
In present-day Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan, a girl who loses her virginity before marriage may be punished or murdered along with her lover by the males of her own family.
In Europe during the Middle Ages, the lord of the manor had a legal right to spend the first night with any non-noble bride on his land (“le droit du seigneur” or “right of the lord”).
An average wedding in the United States has 175 guests.
After a Jewish wedding, the groom stomps on a glass which is wrapped in a cloth while people clap and shout congratulations (“Mazel tov!”). The broken glass symbolizes the frailty of human happiness or perhaps the destruction of the Israelite temple in A.D. 70. Some Jewish husbands argue that it means they will have the authority in the house.
In Jewish weddings, if the bride is the last marriageable daughter in her family, her mother is crowned with a wreath of leaves (a krenzel) and family and friends dance around her.
In Siberia, it is believed that it is a sin to remain single and that the soul of a bachelor becomes a dzheretinnik (heretic) that remains on the earth to scare the living.
In Ethiopia, women from certain tribes place plates in their lower lip in order to entice a rich groom. The larger the protruding lip, the more a groom will pay.
In many societies, families save money to cover wedding expenses the same way Americans save money to cover a child’s college education. Many parents start saving money as soon as a daughter is born.
Some scholars claim the word “honeymoon” comes from the Teutonic custom when newlyweds would hide out and drink hydromel (a fermented honey and water mixture) for 30 days until the moon waned.
Green is typically not worn at Scottish weddings because it is the color of fairies and an omen of revenge. It is considered unlucky to even eat green vegetables at a wedding.
The busiest wedding days in the United States, in order of popularity, are Saturday afternoon, Saturday morning, Friday evening, and Sunday afternoon. A late afternoon or early evening wedding is generally more expensive than an earlier wedding.
In the U.S., Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company offers wedding insurance, which can cover any retaking of photographs, wedding attire or wedding gift replacements, and public liability.
Information Provided By RandomHistory.com
