It is that time of year again – everyone seems to be racing to get married! Unless you are the bride or the groom yourself, your entire month’s salary is about to be spent on these weddings! But if you are the one who is about to tie the knot, I already salute you for living dangerously (!) and I admire your nerve even more if you aren’t stressing out about these typical wedding superstitions.
Some wedding superstitions are so ingrained in our culture and values that we don’t even find it important to question them or learn about them in detail. But can you tell me why the bride is asked to toss her bouquet over her head? Why on earth would a couple deep freeze a layer of their wedding cake for a year? And what could possibly be the reason for brides going to such lengths to not let their grooms sneak a peek at their wedding gowns? I guess it’s time to tell you why in order to drive out any remaining fear you may have!
Suggested read: The bizarre origins of 10 wedding traditions
1. “Something Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue!”
Image source: Pinterest
It is said that a bride must wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue on her wedding day. I am sure you have seen how creatively women don inherited jewelry with a new pair of peep-toe wedges, applying their mother’s transparent nail polish and slipping on a blue rubber band! Though they look lovely, what I don’t like is that their creativity is only aimed at keeping the bugs of wedding superstitions at bay!
The story behind it: This is an old tradition which has now become a popular rhyme. Each element represents something. While wearing something old signifies the bride’s past, something new denotes the duo’s happy and bright future. The bride is expected to borrow something from a friend who is enjoying marital bliss, with the expectation that some of this friend’s good luck rubs off on her. Fidelity and love is symbolized by the color blue!
2. Bad luck if the groom sees the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding!
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Though arranged marriages are not as common today, some brides go to bizarre lengths to make sure this superstition does not ruin their married life. Some people even view it as a game, only adding to the fun and excitement of this memorable day. However, some people feel way more relaxed if they get a glimpse of each other, even for a couple of minutes, before the grand event! Know the real story behind it and then decide what works better for you. 
Once upon a time when arranged marriages were in vogue, the couple-to-be was not allowed to see one another before the finale (at all!). Weddings in those days were more of a business deal between the two families (How romantic is that!). All fathers were more than happy to marry their daughters off to some rich, land-owning guy. However, he was fearful that if the groom saw the girl before the wedding, he would refuse to marry her if he felt she was unattractive! This would be something shameful for the bride and the whole family, which is where the tradition comes from. Now you also know why the girl wears a veil! 😉
3. The person who catches the bouquet the bride tosses will be the next one to marry!
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In most modern weddings, we see the groom removing and tossing his bride’s garter to the groomsmen once the bride tosses the bouquet at her bridesmaids. And if you have watched Picture Perfect, you know that the bachelor who catches the garter places it on the leg of the unmarried women who caught the bouquet. According to the myth, these two will be getting married next. Not to each other necessarily! This is a fun tradition, despite having watched many videos of bridesmaids getting injured and men getting into an ugly fight for the garter!
The tale behind this tradition is dirty! In feudal times, it was thought to be lucky if one could get a piece of the bride’s dress. So crowds would trail behind the newlyweds into their chambers to rip fragments of her gown right off her body! To save her dress and herself, the bride would use her bouquet to distract these guests. When the couple made it to their chamber, the groom would toss the bride’s garter at the people as if trying to say that he is about to seal the deal! I told you some wedding superstitions are weird!
4. The couple must save the top layer of their wedding cake and have it on their first anniversary!
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As the period between a wedding and christening widened, these two events became dissociated from each other, and so did the reason for saving the top tier of the wedding cake. Now people only do it as a reminder of their memorable big day. Icks, eh?! In the freezer for a year, imagine that! Some people remain superstitious, however, and ask their baker to recreate the top layer of their wedding cake on their anniversary.
To understand this weird superstition, you must know that in the earlier days, marriage was not thought to be a sign of love, but rather a sign that a baby was coming shortly. So the weddings and christenings were linked and so were the cakes baked for each event. Multi-layered wedding cakes started becoming a trend in the 19th century. The christening cake took a back seat. Couples thought that the christening would be a good opportunity to finish off the huge cake!
Suggested read: 10 most interesting wedding traditions from around the world
5. Rain on your wedding day is a good omen!
Image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
I know you might feel that rain ruins your whole hairdo and make up and is no good in general! However, one wedding superstition says otherwise! You may have heard of people doing a rain dance to welcome an unexpected shower at a wedding, see why!
The rain is said to be good luck because it represents:
- Fertility: Since rain waters Mother Earth, allowing trees and plants to grow.
- Cleansing: The rain washes away all impurities.
- Unity: This is fun! I am sure you know that when a knot is wet, it is almost impossible to untie. The rain on your wedding day will stop you from ‘Un-tying the knot’!
- Renewal: Petrichor- refreshing and revitalizing!
- Tears: Rain on your wedding day is lucky because it symbolizes that this is the last time the bride will cry.
6. The groom carries his bride across the threshold of their new home to avert bad luck!
Image source: Google, copyright-free image under Creative Commons License
Today it is just plain romantic, but in medieval Europe, it was done because it was considered scandalous of a woman to express excitement about losing her virginity. The groom would carry her so that she didn’t look too eager! Western Europeans, however, thought that if a bride stumbled though the threshold she would bring bad luck. In some ancient cultures, a home’s threshold was thought to be where the evil spirits lurked. Thus the groom carried the wife into the house to avoid bringing any evil spirits inside the house!
7. 3 times a bridesmaid, never a bride!
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A sexist explanation of this is that bridesmaids look their best for a wedding ceremony. However, if she’s shown her best to the world three times and yet not found a keeper, she better stop trying! However, this is only a joke!
In years gone by, one of the roles of the bridesmaids was to distract the evil spirits who tried to bring harm to the bride and ruin the marriage. This saying of ‘3 times bridesmaid, never a bride’ is linked with these bad spirits. A woman who has been a bridesmaid too often would inevitably be tainted with bad luck by the evil spirits. This bad luck would prevent her marriage. Holy crap!
8. Wedding ring must never be removed from the bride’s hand!
Image source: Google, copyright-free image under Creative Commons License
Let’s put a ring on it! The superstitions surrounding wedding rings are bizarre. According to one wedding superstition, the bride must never fully remove her ring from her hand. If she wants to shift it to her right hand, she must place the two ring fingers end-to-end and ask her man to slide it across. Also, she must never allow a female friend to try on her ring. If so, she is sure to steal your husband away!
During the Medieval ages, the rings were exchanged as a symbol of a legal marriage. This tradition was then manipulated by the kings to remove themselves from any undesired marriage. This resulted in the custom of having two rings: one for the engagement and one for the wedding!
Suggested read: 15 blush wedding dresses bound to make you blush with pleasure
Every family has various know-it-alls as members: the brother who recites the World Series stats even though no one’s asked that of him, the younger sister who can name all the movies in the Bond series n reverse chronological order, and of course, how could we forget the aunt who keeps warning (read scaring) you about various wedding superstitions! Even though we can’t help you with the brother and the younger sister, the aunt can be completely handled. Use these explanations of wedding superstitions to shoo her off! 😉
Featured image source: Google, copyright-free image under Creative Commons License
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