Did You Know? Fun Wedding Facts
- The Wedding Website
- Mar 23, 2018
- 3 min read
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue: Have you ever taken a second to consider the purpose of all of these wedding traditions? Probably not because you're too busy planning your perfect wedding. But since we're wedding obsessed, we took the liberty to dig around and find some fascinating facts about weddings we've all come to know.
- If your bridesmaids are not really thrilled about matching dresses, tell them they're good luck! The tradition of matching maids dates back to Roman times, when people believed evil spirits would attend the wedding in attempt to curse the bride and groom (that's so rude). Bridesmaids were required to dress exactly like the bride in order to confuse the spirits and bring luck to the marriage.
- Have you ever wondered where the well known phrase "tying the knot" came from? No? We neither.. In many cultures around the world the hands of the bride and groom are literally tied together to demonstrate the couple's commitment to each other and the new bond they have formed.
- Honeymoons weren't always as luxurious as today. Ancient Norse bridal couples went into hiding after the wedding, (can you believe?) and a member of the family would bring them a cup of honey wine for 30 days — or one moon — which is how the term "honeymoon" originated.
- In the United States, there is no law or religious dictate that says the bride must take the groom’s last name. However, after research we discovered that approximately 70% of Americans agree that a newly married bride should change her last name to those of her husband.
- Because white is the color of mourning in the Eastern cultures, white wedding dresses are uncommon.
- In many cultures, the groom often kidnapped the bride. The groom’s friends would help him, leading to the modern-day groomsmen. At the alter, the groom always stood on the bride’s right side so his right hand (or his sword hand as in history) would be free to fight a jealous rival.
- In Great Britain, it was apparently good luck for the bride to kiss a chimney sweep on her wedding day. He supposedly had special powers. They believed when he cleans the chimney, he also sweeps away all the evil spirits.
- Throwing rice as confetti at weddings symbolizes fertility, prosperity, and bounty. That being said, some modern churches and wedding locations discourage rice throwing because of the pervasive, yet mistaken, belief that rice can be fatal for birds when they eat it.
- Moroccan women are known to take a milk bath to purify themselves before their wedding ceremony.
- The English believe a spider found in a wedding dress means good luck. Oh No!
- For good luck, Egyptian women are known to pinch the bride on her wedding day.
- As much as seventeen tons of gold are made into wedding rings each year only in the United States.
- Queen Victoria's wedding cake weighed an unbelievable 300 pounds.
- It's believed that Middle Eastern brides paint henna on their hands and feet to protect themselves from the evil eye.
- The tradition of a wedding cake comes from ancient Rome, where revelers broke a loaf of bread over a bride's head for fertility's sake.
- Men who kiss their wives in the morning are said to live five years longer than those who don’t. (Make sure to kiss your husband every morning)
- Rumour has it, if the groom doesn’t pitch up to the wedding, it is the best man’s responsibility to take over and marry the bride.
- May is the most unlucky month to marry in.
- 40% of couples now plan their wedding and do tasks together.
- According to ancient Creeks and Romans, the bridal veil had an original purpose of protecting the bride from evil spirits.
- The largest wedding bouquet ever was over 197 feet long and used 1500 flowers.
- Hawaii seems to be the most searched-for honeymoon destination for people living in the USA.
- The first “space wedding” was back in 2003. Apparently a woman married her partner while she was in Texas and he was still in space.
- The largest wedding attendance was a Jewish wedding in Jerusalem in 1993 where 30,000 people attended the big day.
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