There are more than 2 million couples who get married in the U.S. every year.
Some of them put together grandiose wedding ceremonies and receptions and invite hundreds of people to them. Others prefer much less formal (and less expensive!) backyard weddings with just a couple dozen people on the guest list.
If you’re planning on getting married at some point in the near future, you’re free to take whatever approach you want to your wedding. But one of the best ways to make it feel even more special than it would be otherwise is by incorporating wedding traditions into it.
There are so many wedding traditions that couples have used over the years. Check out 7 classic wedding traditions below that you might want to think about using on your big day.
1. Wear Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue
For years now, brides have been encouraged to wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” on their wedding days. But most don’t realize why it’s important for them to do it.
This is one of the oldest wedding traditions around. Here is what each aspect of it symbolizes:
- Something old = Continuity
- Something new = Optimism
- Something borrowed = Good luck
- Something blue = Love, purity, and fidelity
There are so many different “old, new, borrowed, and blue” things you can wear on your wedding day. Read more here about one unique way to make something old new again.
2. Avoid Seeing Your Soon-to-Be Spouse Before the Wedding
Many couples choose to see one another before their wedding ceremonies these days so that they can take photos together. They don’t want to waste a bunch of time after the ceremony taking pictures when they can do it beforehand and get the best shots.
But there are also many couples that still subscribe to this particular wedding tradition. They wait until the bride makes her way down the aisle to see one another on their wedding day. It’s supposedly good luck to go this route.
3. Tie a Knot While You’re Tying the Knot
Most people are familiar with the phrase “tying the knot.” It’s often used when talking about two people getting married.
But what some people don’t realize is that “tying the knot” is actually a long-standing Celtic wedding tradition that literally involves tying a knot after tying a couples’ hands together.
You and your significant other are going to be forming an unbreakable bond when you make the decision to get married. Why not show off just how unbreakable that bond is going to be by tying a knot around your hands at the end of your wedding ceremony?
4. Put a Penny in Your Shoe
The idea of sticking a penny into your shoe on your wedding day when you’re going to spend most of the day on your feet might sound awful to you. And if you don’t position the penny properly, it could definitely lead to some discomfort throughout your wedding day.
But there are a lot of brides who stick a penny in their shoe on their big day because it’s supposed to bring good luck to a newly married couple. It serves as an invitation for wealth and fortune to enter the lives of the couple as they move forward.
Money troubles are one of the biggest problems plaguing young couples in the U.S. today. So it couldn’t hurt to stick a penny in your shoe as part of this wedding tradition.
5. Save the Top Tier of Your Wedding Cake For a Year
Many, many years ago, when wedding cakes were usually still made out of fruitcakes, couples would save a piece of cake until the birth of their first child.
Today, wedding cakes aren’t designed to last quite that long. But there are still many couples who stick them into the freezer and save them.
They don’t save the cake for the birth of their first child, though. Instead, they save it and eat it on their first wedding anniversary. As long as the cake is stored properly, it’ll taste just as good as it did on their wedding day and bring back some fond memories of their first year together.
6. Throwing the Bouquet at the Reception
Once upon a time, it was considered good luck for those at a wedding reception to come into contact with a bride. So people would often bumrush brides at weddings to touch their dress, their veil, and whatever else they could get their hands on.
Eventually, brides figured out a clever way to keep these people away. They would throw out their bouquet and let those at a wedding fight over it. Whoever walked away with the bouquet was said to be the next in line to get married.
These days, it would be considered rude to run up to a bride and touch her dress, her veil, or anything else. But many brides continue to throw out their bouquets at their weddings to those single women in attendance.
7. Carrying the Bride Over the Threshold
One of the final wedding traditions that you and your soon-to-be spouse can carry out on your wedding day is the act of the groom carrying the bride over the threshold to their new home.
In olden times, couples did this to avoid the evil spirits located in the open doorway of a new home. There were a lot of myths back then about the spirits that couples might encounter if they walked through an open door normally.
Today, more than 50 percent of couples cohabitate before their wedding day. But this is still a cute wedding tradition that many couples continue to carry out.
Work These Wedding Traditions Into Your Celebration
Following the different wedding traditions is one of the things that makes a wedding day so much fun. Brides and grooms have a blast trying to stick to the traditions as best they can.
If you weren’t planning on doing it already, try to work at least one or two of the traditions listed here into your wedding. It’ll allow you to make lots of special memories with your spouse on your first day of marriage.
Do you need help picking the perfect venue for your wedding? Take a look at our blog for a guide on choosing the right venue.
