Post by Graveyardbride on Mar 20, 2014 21:40:39 GMT -5
10 Strange Wedding Traditions
Love is patient, love is kind. And apparently, love requires a diamond engagement ring to seal the deal.
Some of our wedding traditions help bond us to our families and to our culture – maybe we’re borrowing something old from our beloved grandmother, for instance. But be honest: Some of those traditions are straight up strange, don’t you think? Dressing several adult women in the same dress on purpose? And some of our wedding traditions, such as marrying during the month of June, actually add more to the cost of nuptials than if we picked, say, November or May. Diamond rings, wedding dresses, and even the cost of marrying during official “wedding season” all add up – have you ever wondered where and how these traditions started? Let’s begin with when and how a diamond ring became the pivotal part of a marriage proposal.
Diamond Engagement Ring. Today it takes the average would-be groom three months to find the perfect diamond engagement ring – and it’ll probably take him significantly longer to pay it off. The average cost of a diamond engagement ring is $5,200 for American brides (and as many as 12 percent of engaged couples admit they spent more than $8,000 just on the ring). And the most popular type? One with at least 1 carat for the center stone, in round or princess shape, set in a white gold band.
But before the 1900s, a diamond engagement ring was a luxury item; in fact, engagement rings, even those without a diamond setting, were considered extravagant. The Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave one to Mary of Burgundy in 1477, but it was hardly commonplace. It was a diamond company that would change that. In the late 1800s, the diamond market was flooded when big diamond mines were found in South Africa, and that new influx of gems drove the prices down. In 1939, De Beers hired N.W. Ayer & Son as its ad agency to help the company rebound from the slump in sales as a result of the South African mines. And a new wedding tradition was born: Diamond sales rose 55 percent between 1938 and 1941, and by 1948, America was introduced to the “A Diamond Is Forever” ad campaign – and a new engagement tradition swept the U.S.
The Wedding Season. There were more than 2.1 million weddings in the U.S. in 2012, and on average each one cost $25,656, making the business of American weddings a $55 billion industry.
And 17 percent of those couples married in June, at least in the United States, making it the most popular month in which to get hitched. In fact, we have a season for weddings, June through October, (although it varies depending upon the local climate), which is typically when the weather is likely to cooperate with the event. But people often end up paying a premium for those days of good weather – ah, the laws of supply and demand – and tying the knot during peak wedding season may also mean steep prices. In fact, a wedding during peak months can cost as much as 20 to 30 percent more than an off-season ceremony. Even if a couple absolutely must get married in June, the pair should, for example, avoid booking a reception hall for 7 o’clock Saturday evening because it’s notoriously the costliest time to party.
Bridesmaids’ Matching Dresses. While it may feel like cruel and unusual punishment for several women to show up to an event in the same dress – not only in the same color but in the same style and often ugly (see above) – there’s a reason behind the tradition. Or, at least, there’s a superstition that started this whole matching thing.
If you’ve never been able to reuse a bridesmaid’s dress, you’re not alone, but the wedding tradition didn’t take hold to make you look bad (and the bride even better). Really. Instead of blaming the bride, blame the Romans. Because of Roman superstition, Roman law required 10 wedding guests dress similarly to the bride and groom (groomsmen, your matching tuxes also fit here) for good luck – the matching outfits were thought to confuse any evil spirits who might want to curse the couple.
Queen Victoria Started the White Wedding Dress Tradition. When Queen Victoria wore a white wedding gown (above), it was considered stylish but a rather conservative fashion choice. (And when she married her cousin Albert in 1840, it was also a color you’d wear while in mourning.) Trends at the time were toward colorful dresses, or, for many women, wearing their best dress along with all their best accessories. Victoria’s white dress adorned with orange blossoms, however, was an immediate fashion hit, inspiring women to wear white; the color quickly became a symbol of purity, innocence and chastity.
Old, New, Borrowed, Blue. “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue ... and a silver sixpence in your shoe.” It’s a Victorian rhyme listing popular wedding traditions that were thought to bring a bride good luck – and each piece of the rhyme has roots in its own superstition. For instance, something old ties the bride to her family and her past, while something new is supposed to give the new couple a happy future. The bride should borrow something from a happily married wife to bring happiness, health and longevity to the newlyweds. The something blue is supposed to represent love and fidelity. And a silver sixpence in my shoe? Sure, it’s cold hard cash, but superstition suggests fortune will smile upon a bride with some small change in her slipper.
Groom Mustn’t See Bride Before the Wedding. The superstition that it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding dates back to the time when it was more common for marriages to be arranged by families – more business transaction, less love. Because it would be embarrassing for everyone involved if the groom backed out before the ceremony if he didn’t like what he saw, the pair were kept separate. Today couples interpret this tradition in their own way; some honor it, while others prefer to shake off their pre-ceremony nerves together – and it’s a great time to take at least some of your photos because no one (likely) has cried yet.
Trashing the Dress. The average cost of a wedding dress for an American bride is around $1,200, not including designer fashions or alterations, so the trend to deliberately ruin a wedding dress after the deed is done may sound strange. Should a wedding dress be an heirloom, to be worn by your daughter, her daughter and (possibly) so on? Some brides think no; rather, it should be trashed to the point that it can never be worn again. And in the process, you’ll get some great photos. You see, the point of trashing the dress is for the stunning photos; this style of photography, originating in Las Vegas, Nevada, is about the juxtaposition of elegance against an environment where that elegance is out of place (such as an urban playground or an abandoned building) – and may or may not include mud, fire, paint, or any fabric abuse the bride (or photographer) can think up.
Carrying the Bride Across the Threshold. This tradition is thought to come from a few different roots. For example, let’s begin our bride-toting origins tour in medieval Europe. This story goes something like this; during the Middle Ages, it would have been improper for a bride to show any eagerness or desire to consummate her marriage – and therefore she needed to be carried over the threshold by her groom. Virginity aside, most other origins of this tradition come from superstition and belief in evil spirits. Carrying the bride across the threshold in Western Europe, for example, was once thought to help keep away evil spirits. You wouldn’t want a clumsy bride to trip as she walked through the threshold and bring bad luck to the marriage, nor would you want the evil spirits hidden in the soles of her feet to curse the house as she walks through the doorway. Today the tradition is considered a romantic gesture rather than a result of superstition or modesty.
Shivaree: Disturbing the Newlyweds. There’s knowing when and how to toast the happy couple, and most newlyweds would likely agree it’s not after-hours at their home on their wedding night. The practice of crashing the wedding night likely started during the Middle Ages. Consider this tradition something like caroling during the holiday season, but in this case, you’re gathering at the home of a newly-married couple on their wedding night for the sole purpose of disturbing their peace (usually with some sort of ruckus such as discordant music, horns or other loud noises) in an effort to be invited inside to toast the happy couple. Ignored? Being ignored by the newlyweds is unacceptable, and over the years, stories not only of noise and hooliganism have been told, but also tales of kidnaping the bride or groom for the night.
Freezing Top Tier of the Wedding Cake. It used to be that newly married couples were expected to have their first baby before their first anniversary, and as a result, weddings and christenings were much more tightly linked than they are today – and, as it turned out, both occasions called for cake. During the 1800s, when multi-tiered wedding cakes became fashionable, brides began saving the leftover top tier of the wedding cake to be used for the christening instead of buying a separate cake – to be defrosted in what many a 19th-century bride hoped would be about a year. Today, couples freeze wedding cake for sentiment.
There’s more to freezing the top tier of your wedding cake than a zip-top bag or food storage container – or, we can barely imagine, in a cardboard box. The better prepped, the less chance your cake will suffer freezer burn. For example, before wrapping your cake, some recommend giving it a little time to chill uncovered in the freezer – this is to help firm up the cake and frosting before you wrap it for storage. Wrap it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and zip-top freezer bags (and if you gently squeeze the air out of the bag before storing it will help reduce the number of cake-ruining ice crystals that form). When the time comes, thaw your cake slowly in the refrigerator before eating. Despite your best efforts, year-old frozen cake can lack a certain freshness, no matter how much care you give it beforehand, and modern couples have been known to celebrate the tradition with a freshly-baked – and top tier-sized – version of their wedding cake.
Sources: The Wedding Planner and Wedding Traditions.
