Interesting Wedding Traditions

[Taualumna]

Have you come across any interesting wedding traditions? I have recently been asked to be a bride's "sister" for a wedding to take place in two months. The bride is originally from Hong Kong but has lived in Taiwan as well as the United States. This is a Chinese tradition (probably modern, as in 1920s or later). What I am supposed to do is to prevent the groom from greeting the bride and taking her to the church for the ceremony unless he pays cash to the sisters, as a symbol of letting her go. Sometimes, the women will make the groom (and his "brothers") sing or say an impromptu poem.

[adpialumcsuc]

No, But I find it very interesting to hear about others.

[honeychile]

I am shocked beyond belief that none of the other Western PA people have posted yet.

In this area, weddings are not "rated" by the flowers, the food, the bridal party, or the wedding cake - it's

The Cookie Table!!!


I've heard that the tradition started either with the Italian or Eastern European immigration to this area. Friends of the family will spend MONTHS making fancy, fancier, and fanciest cookies to be frozen and then displayed on said Cookie Table. You go to the wedding reception, and there are cookies ready. You finish your dinner, and there are more cookies. It's amazing, and I have been told several times that the sole reason my marriage failed is because I did not have a Cookie Table (*shamefully hangs her head*). Read more about it here.

And I'm not talking just chocolate chips or snickerdoodles - I'm talking about mini-ladylocks, pecan tassies, mini-cheesecakes, layered brownies, pizelles - it truly has to be seen to be truly appreciated!!

As for my "ethnic" tradition, the bride NEVER walks down the aisle during the rehearsal (she has a good friend do it), and there is always a Groom's Cake, along with the Wedding Cake.

[PenguinTrax]

Originally posted by honeychile
The Cookie Table!!!

In my experience, it's called the Viennese Table or Display. (because Vienna is such a pastry capital).

Seen them all across the U.S., not just in your area.

[winneythepooh7]

This is not really a "tradition" but something my aunt did at her wedding that I thought was really nice.

Both her father (my grandfather) and her brother (my uncle) had passed away so she had their pictures on her table next to her throughout the wedding. In the middle of the wedding, she had the song "Unforgettable" played and lit candles in their memory. The whole room was in tears. I thought it was really sweet and have never seen this done before, although I have seen a bride recently dance with her mom and sister to the "Father-daughter dance" because she had also lost her father.

[aurora_borealis]

The tradition in the family now is to get married in nontraditional places (I will not be participating, as I have selected Grace Cathedral many years ago, and will be the only daughter married in a church by an ordained minister that attended seminary, not my friend that received an ordination online). Two sisters have been married more than once. One met her husband in a bar, so they married in that bar. Another was married on an inactive volcano. My favorite is the sister that was married in a Reno drive through chapel, then went to Reno for her honeymoon after wedding number two. There were velvet paintings of Jesus at the second wedding. When my mother remarried they snuck off and went to a small church out in the country.

The tradition I am really sad I can't participate in, is having my grandmother bake my wedding cake. She started with my aunt's wedding in 1963, and made cakes for all the other aunts and uncles, the grandkids, cousins, family friends, and anyone who needed one up until just before she died. She was a finalist in the Pillsbury bakeoff more than once, so it was quality stuff. I will be able to use the cake topper couple she had at her wedding, which really makes me happy. She was married over 60 years, so I hope to receive the same blessings.

[AlphaSigOU]

I know that at a military wedding the arch of sabers is usually only reserved for officers (officers carry sabres, NCOs carry swords).

[PM_Mama00]

Italian weddings are so traditional that I don't even know what is tradition and what isn't (I've only been to one non-Italian wedding out of like 100 weddings in my life).

I like how my family in NY does it... not sure if everyone in NY does this. When the bridal party is announced at the reception, the girls line up on one side and the guys on the other, and make an archway for the bride and groom. I love that! I want it at my wedding.

Also at the weddings in NY, they have a cocktail hour in another room, while the bridal party and bride adn groom hang out in another. No one sees them until they are announced at the reception. I love that! OH and the dancers. I forgot where two of my cousins had their receptions, but they had these dancers dressed in costumes. My one cousin, before we were let into the reception hall, they filled the room with smoke and had pink lights on and the dancers were dressed in Mozart-like costumes. It was awesome!

[winneythepooh7]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by PM_Mama00
[B][color=deeppink]Italian weddings are so traditional that I don't even know what is tradition and what isn't (I've only been to one non-Italian wedding out of like 100 weddings in my life).

I like how my family in NY does it... not sure if everyone in NY does this. When the bridal party is announced at the reception, the girls line up on one side and the guys on the other, and make an archway for the bride and groom. I love that! I want it at my wedding.

Also at the weddings in NY, they have a cocktail hour in another room, while the bridal party and bride adn groom hang out in another. No one sees them until they are announced at the reception. I love that!


Most weddings I have gone to in NY do these things. A lot of the weddings I have gone to have been Italian though but I just think it is a trend that has caught on in general, especially the arch way thing with the bouquets which look pretty cool(I've seen it at other than Italian weddings). The last Italian wedding I went to, the bride had Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight" playing when she walked down the aisle. The groom's men all wore shades going down the aisle. When the bridal party entered for the reception, the bridesmaids wore the shades. The past several weddings I have gone to the brides wanted to be at their cocktail hour so they could get a lot of the "socializing" out of the way in the beginning of the reception. I think these are all cool things, just depends on your preference. One really cute thing I saw recently at a wedding was in the beginning of the reception, after the bride and groom were announced, the DJ asked for all the guests that loved these two people to please come onto the dance floor and form a circle around them. EVERYONE obviously got up from their seats. He then proceeded to play a dance song and this got everyone up dancing and mingling. You gotta love the Greeks though who throw money onto the dance floor at the couple throughout the wedding.

[angelic1]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
[color=deeppink]

Also at the weddings in NY, they have a cocktail hour in another room, while the bridal party and bride adn groom hang out in another. No one sees them until they are announced at the reception. I love that! color]

At my friends' wedding they did this as well. We had a cocktail hour in another room til the announced us. The bride and groom got away for a little while themselves as well. Which was a nice break for us to hang out.

[CASIGKAP]

In Latino Catholic weddings, it's tradition for the groom to symbolically pay a dowry to the brides family as a vow that he will always provide for her. When I say symbolically, I mean that he doesn't actually give them money or gifts. It's 13 gold coins representing the 12 apostles & Jesus. He gives these to his bride.
Another tradition is to bind the couple with a rope that symbolized their eternal union.
Finally, it's also tradition to have padrinos & madrinas. These are godparents that pay for different portions of your wedding so you'd have a set of godparents that pay for your dress, another pays for the reception, yet another pays for the limos, etc. Their names are then printed on a wedding program to indicate that these people cared for the couple so much that rather than have the families pay, the money goes towards the couple while everyone else foots the bill. It seems weird but it works out b/c if someone does it for you, sometime down the road, you'd have to do it for someone else.

[AGDee]

Traditions in my Italian family:

MUST have the Tarantella dance

My nonno made wine for each of his grandchildren's weddings the year we were born. We called it Dago Red and it is what was used for the toast for the bridal party and immediate family tables. We are all married now, and he passed in 1979, so the wine is gone now.

The old Italian guys who get up when the band is on break and sing Volare and other assorted Italian songs. There aren't too many of them left now, so this one will die out.

There is a party at the bride's parents' house after the ceremony and before the reception. This came about because your ceremony on a Saturday in a Catholic church has to end by 3 pm so they can start confessions and receptions usually don't start until 6 or 7 pm. People are all dressed up with no place to go, so they host a party at the parents' house for everybody.

The next day party. You must get together with all the family the next day (usually at the bride's parents' home) to open your gifts in front of everybody and face endless harassment about "the wedding night".

We did the arch for entering the reception too.

We had a dessert table (not a cookie table) with home made cannoli, pinolata (sp?) and pizelle and other various Italian goodies.

Dee

This one time I went to a wedding in Mexico and that was the most craziest and funnest wedding I had ever been to.

At the reception all the groom's friends got together, picked him up and took off all his clothes. Down to his underwear! I really don't know what it symbolizes, but it is definately common, because I have told my friends before.

This one I definitely don't understand. The bride will stand on a chair and all the girls run all around her in a crazy line. Like I said, I don't know why.

Not to mention, the wedding receptions out there don't end till the sun rises.

If I think of anymore traditions I'll let you know.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by AGDee
Traditions in my Italian family:

MUST have the Tarantella dance

My nonno made wine for each of his grandchildren's weddings the year we were born. We called it Dago Red and it is what was used for the toast for the bridal party and immediate family tables. We are all married now, and he passed in 1979, so the wine is gone now.

The old Italian guys who get up when the band is on break and sing Volare and other assorted Italian songs. There aren't too many of them left now, so this one will die out.

There is a party at the bride's parents' house after the ceremony and before the reception. This came about because your ceremony on a Saturday in a Catholic church has to end by 3 pm so they can start confessions and receptions usually don't start until 6 or 7 pm. People are all dressed up with no place to go, so they host a party at the parents' house for everybody.

The next day party. You must get together with all the family the next day (usually at the bride's parents' home) to open your gifts in front of everybody and face endless harassment about "the wedding night".

We did the arch for entering the reception too.

We had a dessert table (not a cookie table) with home made cannoli, pinolata (sp?) and pizelle and other various Italian goodies.

Dee

Are you sure we're not related? Lol!

And ours wasn't Volare, it was some song that my old next door neighbor used to sing... sounded like he was saying "Red pa-pop". Can't remember the name.

Can't forget the father-daughter song if your Italian. Forgot that tone too, but I love it. And Ti Amo.

I'm so proud to be Italian!

[ambición6]

PoohsHoneyBee,
at my friend's wedding we did all those things! i dont know why we run around the bride, but i do know why we strip the groom down (or so I think...this is what i have heard).

The groom is taken by all the guys and stripped down and the clothes are thrown/given to the bride so she can dress her man back up....you know to symbolize the wifely duties of picking up after him and taking care of him.

another funny one we do is the bride wraps a belt around the grooms neck (kinda like walking a dog) while he sweeps the floor with a broom....sorta to show who rules!

yeah yeah not exactly PC but at least in most of my family the woman seems all wifely and bow down to the man but in reality shes the one that rules and is in charge of the bank accounts. the servient wifey image is all for show! lol lol.

another we do (had it at my wedding) is the dollar dance. i think alot of non-latino weddings do this to but basically you pin money on the bride and groom to be able to dance with them.