The Origins of Modern Wedding Traditions

Much of what we know of a traditional wedding ceremony is believed to have originated in Greece and ancient Europe. Many of the traditions instilled in marriage from ancient times are still around today —we may have just forgotten why.

Marriage proposal began in two forms, one of which being arranged by the families of the bride and groom. The bad luck of a bride and groom seeing each other before the wedding originated from the moment the bride’s father would lift her veil showing her face to her groom for literally the first time.

Another form of marriage was by abduction, where a groom and his men would kidnap the bride from her home, fight off her family and carry her out and away creating the tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold.

Stag parties, or as we know them, bachelor parties, began with Spartan soldiers kidnapping and celebrating their friend to ease any nerves before the big day.

The bride’s bouquets on her wedding day used to be potent, filled with garlic and herbs to ward off evil spirits and mask the scent of unwashed guests, which later changed to flowers for a similar purpose but with the added symbol of love. Each flower means something different in most cultures. Guests believed the bride to be lucky on her wedding day and would often grab at her dress to rip off a good luck charm. To stop this, the bride began throwing the bouquet.

Wedding traditions remain mostly intact today, luckily with just more romantic notions and personality.