Wedding Traditions to Remember

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My favorite part of weddings are the traditions. Every family has their own unique traditions, and new wedding traditions are born all the time.

Wedding Dances

Most weddings have the traditional first dance, the dance of the bride with her father, and the dance of the groom with his mother. Some families have their own traditions about which songs to dance to. And some like to use this dance to celebrate a special bond. At a recent wedding I was at, the bride and her father loved to dance and be silly together; their dance together was the Electric Slide.

At a Jewish wedding, the tradition is to dance the horah, a traditional circle dance where the bride and groom are lifted on chairs as guests dance around them. The tradition began in Europe when men and women weren’t permitted to dance together; lifting the bride and groom on chairs allowed them to see each other at their own wedding reception. And in some areas, no wedding would be complete without the “money dance.” Guests pay the groom to take a turn around the dance floor with the bride; the couple uses the money to start their new life together.

Flowers, Cake, and Cameras

At most weddings, the bride tosses her bouquet to all the single women present; tradition is that whoever catches the bouquet will be the next to get married. And a newer tradition, but just as popular, is for the groom to toss his new bride’s garter to all the single men. There are lots of traditions, too, with the wedding cake. Most couples save the top layer of their cake to eat on their first anniversary. Of course, too, there’s the traditional cutting of the cake and feeding each other that first bite (and the strange tradition of stuffing cake in your new spouse’s face).

In the South, it’s popular at weddings to have a separate “groom’s cake”, usually decorated to celebrate a hobby or interest of the groom. Disposable cameras on wedding tables have led to lots of new wedding traditions. I have friends who take pictures of their ties at every wedding they go to. And I heard of a couple who takes fruit from garnishes at every wedding they go to to make a smiley face plate; they take a picture of it for the bride and groom as well as one for their own album.

Of course, there’s my favorite wedding tradition. At my wedding, my husband’s fraternity brothers continued their new tradition of serenading the bride. It’s a moment I’ll never forget!