Wedding Traditions – what do they mean ?

We’ve all been to weddings, some are more traditional then others, but why do we call them a traditional wedding? What are the traditions, and how did they come about, and what makes them traditional ? Confused ? So are we.
So once again we went delving into the traditions at a wedding to see what we could find.

The Lucky Horseshoe

Our favorite one, the bride looks delightful, the wedding is splendid, what shall we do…. let’s hang a horse shoe from her arm.
According to legend, the lucky horseshoe is said to represent fertility. The horseshoe would be presented to the bride and groom, and would often be placed on top of the cake. Let’s hope they’d cleaned it first. In order to ensure you receive the good luck empowered within the horseshoe, you were told to display it upside down with the ends pointing upwards otherwise all of the luck would fall out. So next time you’re at a wedding and present your lucky horseshoe on a nice ribbon, careful you don’t spill any luck from it first.
Wonder how Clinton’s get the luck into their plastic ones….?

The Grey Horse

History states that should a bride see a grey horse on her way to the church it would bring her good luck. For even more luck she could ride in a horse drawn carriage pulled along by a grey horse.
For the biggest slice of luck she could step in the grey horse’s droppings when stepping out of the carriage. (We may of added that last bit ourselves)

The Wooden Spoon

Are you suggesting that the bride should be given the booby-prize as a gift on her wedding day ? No, apparently not, the wooden spoon is traditionally given to a lady by her admirer. This tradition seems to have it’s roots set in Wales, not because they had a large amount of wooden spoons to give away, but allegedly this shows a lady how much the man loves her, and also tells her father his intentions. (What?) Maybe his intentions are to make her do a lot of baking in the kitchen ? No, the spoon would of been carved by the man to show that he was good with his hands and was capable of working the fields and providing for his intended wife. If the lady decided to keep the spoon then it was an indication that her heart belonged to the man.
So next time you’re stirring your pasta sauce – consider this please.

Lucky Chimney Sweep

Great tradition this one. Let’s get the dirtiest man imaginable to stand next to the bride in her white dress on her wedding day. Along with the grey horse, it was considered lucky for a bride to see a chimney sweep on her way to the wedding. By ensuring the heart of your home (the fireplace) was maintained in perfect working order to keep the family warm and the cooking ongoing, the chimney sweep became a lucky omen. In modern times, it has become lucky to even see one, as there are so few around anymore. Although we do know the tradition is kept alive, and there are still lucky chimney sweeps in Essex.

Confetti

The term confetti originates from Italy and referred to sweets. The Italians used to shower the bride and groom in nuts and grain covered in sugar. However, the original idea of tossing stuff all over the happy couple however dates back to Pagan times, where they would shower the newlyweds in seed and grain after the wedding ceremony. The Pagan people believed that this would increase the bride and groom’s chance of fertility.

The Groom’s Button Hole

The knights of medieval times declared their love for a woman by wearing her colours. These days instead of turning up to your wedding dressed in a chain mail suit, it became far easier for the groom to wear a single flower of the same style and colour from the bridal wedding bouquet.
In Scotland, grooms wear a thistle and white heather as their buttonhole. This is more of a national pride and has nothing to do with a prickly lady.

The Wedding Cake

Around 1900 years ago the Romans began baking wheat and salt into a small wedding cake. During the wedding ceremony the groom would eat part of it and then would break the rest over his bride’s head – imagine this today! This was considered as a sign of good fortune and a blessing for a long life and children. It of course meant the bride would sit there covered in crumbs.
Later came stories involving stacking small buns in a pile in front of the bride and groom. These buns were stacked as high as possible between the bride and groom to make it as difficult for the newlyweds to kiss one another over the top of them. If they were able to kiss over the stack of buns, it was thought to symbolize a lifetime of prosperity. This idea slowly transformed into the idea of stacking the buns neatly and frosting them together as an easier option, hence the iced tiered cakes we see at weddings today.
It’s still deemed customary for the bride and grooms to cut the wedding cake together as their first role played together as man and wife. The top tier if often reserved for either their first wedding anniversary or the Christening of their first baby.

Wedding Favours

They were referred to as ‘Bomboniere’ and the tradition originated from the Italians. The bride would present her female wedding guests with a small pouch containing five sugar coated almonds. These five almonds represented health, happiness, long-life and fertility. Read our wedding favours article regarding this, can anyone tell us why they are now referred to as favours ….?

So when you’re planning your wedding consider all of these traditions and see how many you can cram into your special day to help bring you good luck and much joy !

Happy Wedding Planning !

Tweet This Post