Sunday July 8th, 2010 Wedding Rituals

This morning I received my third wedding invitation for this year. So with weddings now on my mind, I started to do some searching in the library catalogue and found tons of books on weddings. But the books on growing your own bouquets and making your own wedding dress didn’t really interest me. Instead, I enjoyed reading the books about the history of weddings. Here are a few interesting stories behind today’s wedding rituals.

So the guy gets down on one knee, pops the question, the girl says yes, and he slides a rock the size of a golf ball onto her finger. But did you stop to think why the wedding ring goes on the left hand? The Egyptians believed that a vein ran directly from the left ring finger to the heart according to the book Something Old, Something New: What You Didn’t Know about Wedding Ceremonies, Celebrations and Customs. However, Roman women would wear the ring on their thumb and, prior to the seventeenth century English women wore the ring on their right hand.

Now the search begins for the perfect dress, fit for a Queen. Actually it was Queen Victoria who began the tradition of wearing white after she rejected the traditional royal silver wedding dress. In Medieval England, blue was the traditional color of wedding dresses because blue represented purity. If a bride could not afford a new blue dress, she usually included a hint of blue somewhere. You can find this information and more interesting facts in Bride’s Book of Traditions, Trivia & Curiosities, by Rachel Conard and Lisa Wojna.

After months of planning, the big day has finally arrived. But according to the author of Happy is the Bride the Sun Shines On: Wedding Beliefs, Customs, and Traditions, there are many wedding day superstitions. For example, it is actually considered good luck to cut your toenails on the day of the wedding, but bad luck to cut your fingernails. And if you receive salt and pepper shakers or wine glasses as a wedding gift, they are considered good luck too.

“You may now kiss the bride” has always been considered an important part of the ceremony, especially when it was believed that the kiss meant the exchange of spirits between the bride and groom. Look for more wedding ideas in Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette: Cherished Traditions and Contemporary Ideas for the Joyous Celebration.



As you are leaving the church, most couples are welcomed by a face full of confetti. If you thought that was bad, The London Ritz Book of Weddings, by Jennie Reekie writes that Roman brides and grooms had wheat thrown at them while in Ancient Greece the couple was showered with fruit and nuts.

Finally the honeymoon comes, but did you know why it is called a honeymoon? According to early accounts from the book Timeless Tradition: A Couple’s Guide to Wedding Customs around the World, grooms would hide out with his bride for the time of one ‘moon’ or month in order to avoid vengeance of the bride’s family. During this time of seclusion, the couple would drink a brew made from fermented honey.


But for all the brides-to-be looking for ideas on wedding crafts, cakes, dresses, photography, etc., the library also has tons of books that can help you out. Enjoy! And congratulations!

Lindsey Long, Reference Librarian