Wedding Traditions explained
We found ourselves at a beautiful wedding recently that included several traditions as key staples to the day. This couple jumped over a broom before exiting the ceremony, the bride had a sixpence coin in her shoe, and more! So what is it about the history of wedding traditions and what makes those traditions stay true today? We know some couples are pro-tradition and some couples have dared to be different by shying away from traditions as a whole. Maybe digging into the origins will sway your mind the opposite way!
Below we highlight a few traditions that caught our eye, and we think may catch yours as well ;)
#1. Silver sixpence in the shoe of the bride, was said to attract good fortune and good luck into the future. It was found to be most effective when the father of the bride placed it in the bride’s left shoe over anyone else.
#2. Wedding Cake. Sounds simple right? Well turns out the origin of having a wedding cake was actually due to the cake being a symbol of fertility and was broken over a bride’s head at the wedding. Since then, people have adapted to stacking layers of cake as high as they can go. The idea is that if the bride and groom could successfully kiss over the tall cake without knocking it over, the couple would have a lifetime of good fortune!
#3. Matching dresses + bridal bouquets + evil spirits oh my!
Since there seems to be quite a few traditions involving fending off evil spirits, we decided to group them together. Dating back to Ancient Rome, it was standard for bridesmaids to wear the same dress as the bride so the evil spirits wouldn’t know who the bride is. The bridal bouquet used to be composed of potent herbs and spices such as dill and garlic again to ward off spirits, but also cover up the bride’s body odor! Lastly, it has been said that evil spirits tempted the newly married couple at the threshold of their home or place of dwelling the night of the wedding. To ward off the evil spirits, the groom had adopted carrying his bride over the threshold to prevent evil spirits from traveling into the bride through her feet and lessen her fertility!
#4. Broom Jumpin’- In our last tradition, which was the bride and groom jumping over a broom prior to walking back down the aisle, they were allowed to jump over the broom into the “land of matrimony.” This tradition started with enslaved people who were not allowed to legally wed so couples would jump over a readily available broom as a symbol of unity without the formality of the church or law. Although the history of this tradition stems from such stories, a more contemporary symbol is that of sweeping away the old, past and starting fresh as a couple, together.