Last week, we covered classic wedding traditions, including the poem about something borrowed, something blue, and the origins of the veil, the white wedding gown, and engagement and wedding rings. We thought this week we’d look at wedding superstitions. And there are plenty.
To be clear, it’s not just wedding days that are steeped in superstitions. If you look around, our whole lives are affected by them. So much so that we stop noticing anything…strange.
We just think “oh, of course…” when we see the elevator buttons skip floor 13.
We walk around like our little selves avoiding the cracks in the sidewalks (and imagine our moms thanking us for protecting their backs).
And we avoid opening umbrellas inside, letting black cats walk in front of us, or walking under ladders. Some of us still throw salt over our shoulder and knock on wood how many times a day?! ((ha))
These are just common cultural superstitions. How many of us have our own little personal ones around numbers, colors, songs, and teams?
The same basic things are true of wedding superstitions: they are everywhere; they are cultural; and there are ones that maybe just your family believes.
Let’s take a look at some of the more common wedding superstitions, what they mean, and where they come from.
Wedding superstitions: Seeing each other before the ceremony
With first look photos, it seems this one is becoming less a thing. (And side note: we definitely love first looks as your photographer.) But there are still couples who fiercely protect themselves from seeing each other. Why? It goes back to arranged marriages. People were worried that some brides or grooms might get a look and do a runner. (This amuses us.)
Tossing the garter
Back in the day (and we mean really far back in the day), people used to stand outside bridal chambers after the wedding to get proof of consummation. Somehow this transferred to the garter being a sign of good luck. So imagine… wedding guests would try to take it from the bride. Finally, some smart bride said, no more of that! And started throwing it into the group of guests.
Carrying the bride over the threshold
In medieval times, people believed brides were super vulnerable to evil spirits… through their feet. (That sentence started out ridiculous and just got more so. Like with so many wedding superstitions.) To avoid feet-entering-spirits, a groom would carry the bride over the threshold into their new home to avoid bringing in any unwanted guests.
Saving the top layer of your wedding cake
As soon as couples were married (long ago…), there was typically a short time between that wedding and the first baby (some even shorter than others… ((squint))). The top layer of the cake was being saved for the christening ceremony. Now, of course, we just see it as a way to celebrate our first anniversaries. Yeah, by eating often freezer burned or stale or just generally old cake. ((yum))
No pearls on your wedding day
In some cultures, pearls were said to represent the tears you would cry during your marriage. So the more pearls, the more tears. Best to avoid them altogether was the thought.
Don’t give knives as a gift
In old wedding superstitions it was believed that knives represented broken (or cut) relationships. So giving them was seen as, well, the ultimate passive aggressive gift? Anyone?
Ring bells on your wedding day
If the church won’t be doing this for you, in Ireland some brides still carry little bells in their bouquet. The Irish superstition was/is that this would ward off evil spirits (those evil spirits again!) and bring a harmonious family life by reminding you of your vows when you hear bells thereafter.
Getting married on a Saturday
You read that right! Saturday is considered bad luck in Ireland; Friday the 13th is bad according to the Romans; and speaking of Romans, they just thought you should totally avoid May because it was the month of the Feast of the Dead.
Back to why not Saturday…
According to an old Celtic poem:
Monday for wealth, Tuesday for health,
Wednesday the best day of all, Thursday for losses,
Friday for crosses, and Saturday no luck at all.
Rain on your wedding day: a positive wedding superstition
Though this song had it all wrong. Rain on your wedding day is considered good luck as it represents fertility and cleansing and a fresh start.
Passing a nun or monk on your way to the ceremony
Speaking of fertility, this would be the opposite wedding superstition. If you pass a monk or nun on your way to the ceremony, it could signal infertility. (Of course, we no longer believe this nonsense, right?)
The superstition that is the… bridesmaid!
Would you have ever guessed that this all started as a superstition? And of course, we have ancient Romans to thank. (They were a seriously superstitious bunch!).
They sent bridesmaids down the aisle before the bride to distract and confuse evil spirits.
Smashing Glass
Not ancient Romans, but still… Italians bring us this wedding superstition, believing that if you smash glass, the number of pieces it breaks into is how many wonderful years you’ll have together. So people really put some effort into this. If you’re doing, don’t be dainty!
No yellow roses
If you love yellow flowers, wedding superstition would say to find something other than roses for your bouquet. Why? In the Victorian era, which was big into flower meaning and brought us a lot of our wedding traditions, yellow roses were seen as the flower of infidelity, relationship breakups, and jealousy. So maybe just skip ’em. ((ha))
What about your wedding superstitions?
Like we said at the beginning of this piece, some wedding superstitions are familial. Maybe something happened to a long ago aunt during her wedding that your family now tries to avoid, for example. Do any of you out there have any stories like that? We’d love to hear them!
We’d also love to hear which superstitions you included in your wedding. We all have little things. ((wink))
ADD A COMMENT