The history behind our wedding traditions

If there’s one thing that is usually at the heart of most wedding ceremonies, it’s tradition and like or not, there’s definitely a role for it to play.

We are all for incorporating your own unique ideas into your big day but some traditions are worth keeping. Our wedding traditions have now become ingrained in our collective wedding psyche and, as a result, it’s easy to misinterpret their meanings.

Take the bouquet of flowers for examples, when was the last time you actually wondered why brides carry them? And did you really think that bridesmaids were there to only help the bride?

In this blog post, we are going to be taking a deep dive into the world of Healthy marriage traditions, answering the above questions as more, as we attempt to establish exactly what they mean.

Bridesmaids //

During the early part of the Victoria era, weddings would be purely white and often times the bridesmaid would wear matching white dresses and veils. It was said that this was done in order to confuse any evil spirits and to prevent them from being able to intercept and harm the bride.

It was for the same purpose that they would also carry bunches of herbs and garlics, as this was believed to scare any bad spirits away.

These days, the bridesmaids have a much symbolic role and you’d never, ever catch them in the same dress as the bride.

Being given away //

In years gone by, the majority of weddings would have been of the organised kind and traditionally, there has therefore been a contract involved. In these cases, the father of the bride usually negotiated a contract with the groom – or his family. When the wedding day came, it was the father’s job to oversee the ‘transaction’ and he therefore chose to ‘give away’ his daughter.

Whilst arranged marriages are much less common these days and weddings are now rarely seen as a transaction; we’ve chosen to keep the idea of being given away. It’s become an iconic aspect of modern wedding ceremonies.

Invitations //

Before the printing press was invented, it was the job of the town crier to announce the wedding and he would do so by standing in the middle of the town square. Can you imagine that happening now?

You’d end up with every Tom, Dick and Harry attending your wedding and you’d close control of it before you could even say ‘I do’. However, back then, when technology was but a glint in someone’s eye and most people were illiterate, so this did the job perfectly.

It was around the 18th century, following cast advancements in printing technology, that invitations really began to take off. Nowadays, wedding invitations are a key and momentous aspect of your wedding day.

Bouquet //

Before the invention of the domestic shower, it’s safe to say that our ancestors smelt a whole lot worse than us. And, as silly as it sounds, this was partly the reason for the bridal bouquet. A bride was able to carry the freshly cut flowers down the aisle and it would go some way to masking any other, unwanted, scents.

The best man //

Historians believe that the ‘best man’ tradition originates from around the 16th century and has come from the German Goths. The ‘best man’ was essentially the man who was able to steal the bride from her community or the disapproving family. Considering it was the 16th century and he was assumedly fighting for the woman; it seems likely that he was also the best swordsman.

This was an added bonus, as often times the bride’s family would attempt to steal her back from the clutches of her new groom and it was the best man’s job to protect her. Or prevent her from escaping.

We don’t know about you but personally, we’re glad that the part of the sword seems to have fallen by the wayside.

Weddings can be messy at the best of times, with some swords being throw into the mix.