Unique Wedding Ceremony Customs

There are weddings every day around the world, an estimated 2,000,000 weddings per year in the U.S. alone!  Indonesia listed 1,677,00 weddings and China recorded over 9,000,000 weddings in 2005 so can you imagine how many weddings are held in the world each day?

Because of the diverse cultures involved we can find some fun, funky and strange wedding ceremony customs.  Here are some that we found:

• In India, a Hindu wedding includes a host of religious responsibilities and customs. They start off with the couple performing pre-wedding rites and the wedding itself has 7 ceremonies, each representing a blessing that will be bestowed upon the couple. The groom places Sindoor (red vermillion powder) in the parting of the bride’s hair to show respect and honor for her wisdom. This is considered to be one of the most sacred rituals of a Hindu wedding ceremony. He then places a Mangal Sutra (a necklace made of gold and black beads) around her neck to symbolize his enduring commitment to her and their marriage.
• At the end of a wedding ceremony in Denmark, the bride and groom will break a beer mug into pieces and the single women will pick up the pieces.  The one who gets the biggest piece will marry soon.  Brides and grooms traditionally cross-dressed to confuse evil spirits and weddings are often held secretly to do the same thing!
• In Germany there is a custom for the guests at the wedding to break bowls, plates or basins.  This is supposed to help the couple get rid of their troubles and have a happy life.
• Bitter wine: In Russian ceremonies someone cries “How Bitter!”  Later, all the guests echo the same words.  According to their custom the wine is bitter and the newlywed should change it into sweet wine with their kisses.
• Traditional Shinto, a Japanese wedding, has the couple drinking fine rice wine at the end of the ceremony after the priestess prays for the bride and groom.
• In many cul­tures around the world — includ­ing Celtic, Hindu and Egypt­ian wed­dings — the hands of a bride and groom are lit­er­ally tied together to demon­strate the couple’s com­mit­ment to each other and their new bond as a mar­ried cou­ple (giv­ing us the pop­u­lar phrase “tying the knot”).

When planning a wedding many couples don’t think beyond the basics:  venue, flowers, photography, minister.  You can add your own character to your Lake Tahoe wedding, or wherever you have the ceremony.

• The groom car­ries the bride across the thresh­old to bravely pro­tect her from evil spir­its lurk­ing below.
• The Eng­lish believe a spi­der found in a wed­ding dress means good luck. Yikes!
• In Hol­land, a pine tree is planted out­side the new­ly­weds’ home as a sym­bol of fer­til­ity and luck.
• Engage­ment and wed­ding rings are worn on the fourth fin­ger of the left hand because it was once thought that a vein in that fin­ger led directly to the heart.
• Ancient Greeks and Romans thought the veil pro­tected the bride from evil spir­its. Brides have worn veils ever since.
• Brides carry or wear “some­thing old” on their wed­ding day to sym­bol­ize con­ti­nu­ity with the past.
• The “some­thing blue” in a bridal ensem­ble sym­bol­izes purity, fidelity, and love.

At our Lake Tahoe wedding ceremonies we have seen some real fun additions to the traditional ceremony:

• The bride got her groom a “funfetti” cake because he loved boxed cakes.
• Ring bearer walking down the aisle with a sign “Here comes the bride.”
• The bridal party dancing down the aisle with signs the bride made “We Did It!”

No matter what touches you want to add, they will be perfect!  Our Lake Tahoe wedding planners will help you coordinate everything you want in your wedding at any of our wedding venues.  Contact Lake Front Wedding & Events and we’ll help you with your custom wedding!