When you look at marriage ceremonies historically, you’ll see that weddings didn’t actually have that much to do with love. Marriage was seen as an institution, developed for political purposes (think Marie Antoinette), economic (think Henry VIII and his six wives) and financial reasons (George IV). It wasn’t about two people being deeply in love and wanting to join in matrimony, but rather a business arrangement often struck by the male members of a family.
Wedding traditions have been around for so long that most of us won’t know the true origins. So when I got engaged last year, I decided to take a look at them as we planned our wedding. I have to say, it was a bit more of an eye-opener than I first expected.
Historically, weddings weren’t always fun for brides. (Nor was it always the will of the groom!) So before we walked down the aisle, we wanted to be aware of what each of the traditions of a wedding entailed and why. Not necessarily because I thought I’d be a bad feminist if I didn’t… I think people should do what the hell they want on their wedding day… but more because I wanted to appreciate how far weddings have come and what traditions we could pick and choose from.
Read the full article here and get in touch if you’re planning a wedding and let us know what traditions you know about and are using.