7 Wedding Traditions and the Interesting Stories Behind Them

A marriage ceremony involves lots of traditions and rituals that are merely echoes of the past. From wedding ring, veil, flower to the best man, there are many old world marriage customs that have been thriving for centuries.

Have you ever thought why these customs are followed? Or, how they were created? For your answers, we have listed the popular wedding traditions and the story behind them.

Wedding Rings:

No marriage is complete without wedding rings which has been the important wedding tradition for many centuries. Have you ever thought why wedding solitaire ring is worn on the ring finger of the left hand? Actually, this tradition was started by Romans who believed that vein in the ring finger of the left is directly connected to your heart. This vein is also termed as “vena amoris”, a Latin translation of the vein of love. However, science busts this myth by saying that all fingers have a similar vein structure. But it can’t be denied that the rings connection to the heart sounds romantic.

The First Marriage Rites

Marriage union between man and a woman is often related with the first two genders in the world—Adam and Eve. Eve was created by the God for Adam to complete the need of companionship.

Wedding Flowers:

In ancient times, brides used to carry aromatic bunch of herbs, garlic and grains to repel evil spirits while advancing to the aisle. Over the centuries, those bunches were replaced with flowers, which were the symbol of fertility and happy love life.

The Best Man:

Needless to say the best mate of the groom plays the best man in the marriage. But centuries ago, the groom used to choose his strongest and robust friend for assistance if he needed to kidnap his would be wife from her disapproving parent. Afterwards, the best stand next to the groom to defend the bride.

Giving Away the Bride:

“Giving away the bride” is an age old tradition dates back to the time when a daughter is considered property, and the groom was required to pay a price to her family to get permission to marry her. But according to some traditions, giving away the bride means the father has passed the ownership of his daughter to the groom.

Veils:

In ancient times, the veil was considered the symbol of the bride’s virginity, modesty and innocence. The tradition of wearing veil dates back to Roman era when it was used to cover the body from the head to the toe, which turned out to be burial shroud later on. However, in Asian and Middle Eastern countries, the veil was worn by the bride to hide her face from the groom. The groom was allowed only to the lift the veil to see his wife’s face after the marriage.

The Bride’s Maids:

Nowadays, bridesmaids are the friends of the bride. But the role of bridesmaids was different than today in Roman times. The bride used to get 10 of her friends dressed in the gowns identical to her. That was done to confuse ex-lovers who might try to kidnap the bride, besides distracting the evil spirits.

So, these are the popular wedding traditions and the interesting fable behind them.