Weddings are generally celebrated while following different traditions and superstitions. From the white dress to rain on your wedding day, there is a meaning for just about everything involved in a wedding. Strange traditions have carried over for centuries and many people don’t know the reasons behind them.
Different countries have superstitions about wedding days. Certain items can have symbolic meaning like purity, love, and eternity. Even the wedding cake has a meaning behind it. Weddings are about uniting two families, but the traditions go deeper than just that.
Weddings nowadays follow many of these traditions, but many have also been created through close family or trendy ideas. No matter what wedding day traditions you intend to add to your special day, you will want to make sure you have everything perfectly planned out. Timeless Bridal Accessories offers the best accessories for your big day, offering the perfect accessories to complete your wedding day look.
One of our accessories that falls into the traditional wear is the garter. We offer many different garter sets, allowing you to choose the one that matches your wedding look and your personality the best. Still need “something blue”? Many of our garter sets come with blue to help you complete the “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue” tradition. In this blog, we will cover many of the common and well known wedding day traditions and superstitions, as well as some that you may have never heard of! Read on to learn more about the traditions behind the wedding ceremony.
The Meaning Behind Something Old, Something New…
First, let’s start with a classic. The tradition comes from the Old English rhyme: Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in your shoe. Besides being a fun rhyme that tells what a bride should wear on her wedding day, this saying has meaning behind it.
Something old stands for continuity. Something new symbolizes optimism for the future. Something borrowed is meant to represent borrowed happiness. And something blue stands for purity, love, and fidelity. A sixpence is more difficult to find unless your are getting married in Britain, but this is meant to represent good fortune and prosperity.
These items are generally given to you by family members but can be provided by yourself. Something old can be a family heirloom—a piece of jewelry, a meaningful item that can be pinned in the skirt, or even a photograph hidden in a locket or your dress can work. Something new can be anything, brides often get their own something new—a new necklace or even their wedding dress can count. Borrow an item from a close family member or friend. This could be anything, you could even borrow your a veil, sash, or other bridal accessory that a family member has kept. A garter is generally used as the something blue, you can also wear blue shoes, blue jewelry, or anything else you love that is blue.
Wedding Luck
There are many different superstitions that claim to be good luck or bad luck on a wedding day. Many of these superstitions are a bit outrageous, but when it comes to wedding, every bit of good luck counts!
The Good Luck
Of course the majority of us have heard the superstition that rain on a wedding day is good luck. In some cultures, rain represents cleansing and fertility, so a downpour on your wedding day should be viewed as a happy occasion rather than a day ruiner! Another good omen, although many may disagree, is finding a spider on your wedding dress. In Egypt, women would pinch the bride for good luck on their wedding day. And in Holland, a pine tree was planted in front of the newlyweds house to representing fertility and luck. Crying on your wedding day is also meant to be good luck—showing that the bride has cried all her tears and will have none left during the marriage.
There are even thought to be lucky times to get married. Pig internal organs were studied by Ancient Romans to determine the luckiest time to get married. Surely there was some meaning behind this madness. Have you ever wondered why June was a popular month for weddings? Juno, the Roman goddess, rules over marriages, among other things, making June a popular time for weddings.
The Bad Luck
While there are a lot of weird beliefs about good luck at a wedding, there are just as many superstitions about bad luck. While it may not be technically considered bad luck, the bride and groom seeing each other before the wedding was viewed as bad because it was believed it gave them a chance to change their mind. As for the wedding gift, knives are bad luck. Knives represent a broken relationship and should not be given as a gift.
While it is easy to assume that seeing a nun or a monk would be a good thing, it is believed that if the bride sees one of the two on the way to her wedding she is cursed. So avoid areas where nuns and monks are known to wonder about! Also avoid getting married on a Saturday, it is viewed as the unluckiest day for a wedding, but ironically it is also the most popular day to get married.
A pearl engagement ring is also viewed as bad luck. This is because of the tear shape look they often have. Speaking of which, let’s move on to some facts about the engagement rings!
The Ring
The engagement ring started with a tradition by ancient Egyptians. According to Reader’s Digest, they believed that circles symbolized eternity. The rings were worn on the on the left hand ring finger because apparently it had a vein that was connected to the heart. These early engagement rings were made out of braided reeds. Betrothal rings started by the ancient Romans. They started this because they believed it was important to give the bride something valuable. However, it symbolized ownership rather than love.
The first diamond engagement ring was used in 1477, when the Archduke Maximilian proposed with a ring that was adorn in flat pieces of diamonds in the shape of an “M”. On of the earliest engagement rings was given to Princess Mary, Henry VIII’s daughter, when she was only two years old.
While diamonds are among the most popular engagement ring jewel, a sapphire symbolizes marital happiness. An aquamarine jewel was meant to represent marital harmony and a long, happy marriage. In Victorian England, a snake ring with ruby eyes were popular and represented eternity.
Many of these traditions and superstitions about weddings, the accessories worn, and the events that take place leading up to the big day may not be known, and many of them are no longer followed. There are the popular superstitions but even those many people don’t truly understand the meaning behind. The facts and history behind wedding traditions is extensive, in future blogs we will cover more interesting facts about weddings!
If you are trying to keep wedding traditions alive, start with the easiest tradition: something old, new, borrowed, and blue. Whether you need something new or blue, Timeless Bridal Accessories can help you out. Find a new accessory or a blue garter to add to your wedding day look! Shop now to complete your bridal look!