10+ Wedding Traditions That Young People Around the World Are Giving Up On

Curiosities
3 years ago

Most wedding traditions reach far into the past. And in the modern world, where things change incredibly fast, people are still loyal to these traditions. Very often, people have a hard time understanding or remembering what these traditions even mean, but they still follow them even though their original meaning has gotten lost in history.

We at Bright Side tried to find out what the attitude is toward wedding traditions around the world today.

  • Apparently, in my fiancé’s rural hometown, they do something called a hog trough dance... if a younger sibling gets married before an older sibling, the older sibling has to dance around a hog trough at the reception while guests put money in it. This seems so bizarre and embarrassing to me, I’m definitely not making my older sibling dance at our reception! © ChampionOfTheSunn / Reddit

  • Denmark: Guests start clinking glasses to make the bride and groom kiss while standing on chairs. If the guests start stomping their feet, the bride and groom have to go under the table and kiss there. In the beginning, I found it very annoying and upsetting, now I’ve gotten used to it. © Halefa / Reddit

  • It’s said that wearing pearls as a bride is a bad luck or a bad omen. I don’t remember what the “reasoning” is, but I’m paying no attention to it! I love pearls and most of my accessories and jewelry will have pearls in them! © meganthemuggle / Reddit

  • It’s traditional for all of the guests to stand when the bride comes out. I personally have never liked that. I decided to have my officiant tell everyone to remain seated when I came out before the processional began. Some of the people at the rehearsal the night before thought I was completely insane (some to the point of being combative). They were adamant that I couldn’t go against that tradition and that people were going to get confused and stand anyway. I’m a pretty laid back person, so my response was, “Well, then they stand.” Whatever. It’s not going to ruin my day! In the end, no one stood. Everyone remained seated. And my photographer got a great picture of my dad and me coming down the aisle! © Kelly Bailey / Quora

  • Symbolically, the way you feed each other cake is a representation of how you will take care of each other in sickness and for worse. All the bad, hard stuff that is part of married life is included in the vows. The reception is all about celebrating the health, happiness, and the best of life, so it’s understandable that people want to play, but that cake-eating thing is actually a very serious and solemn part of the reception and it seals the vows you just made to each other. My husband is really not a cake smasher anyway, but I told him before the wedding that if so much as a little dab of frosting purposefully ended up on my nose, then he would be breaking the marriage covenant and I’d be filing divorce papers the next day. I believe that these symbols develop for a reason and if they’re worth keeping, they’re worth following. We served each other cake with as much love and respect as we had for each other. I do believe for us it cemented the solidity of our vows. Yes, I was 100% serious about filing for divorce the next day, but I was 99% sure I wouldn’t have to. © Tamara Castleman / Quora

  • I love to dance and I have always enjoyed weddings that have dancing, but I have also been to weddings where there was a small group of people dancing while the rest of the guests sat at their tables waiting for the appropriate amount of time to stay until they could go home. Those guests can’t talk to each other over a loud DJ, so if they’re not in the mood to dance, then they just have to sit there. I wasn’t opposed to dancing, but it wasn’t the style we were going for. We wanted it to be a low-key, summer evening party where people could mix and mingle and talk while they dined. We had a low-country boil and the majority of tables were standing oyster tables (with a few tables for people that may have wanted to sit down). People were able to move around and talk and play lawn games instead of hitting the dance floor. It was so fun! We did have our guitarist sing and play in the background, though. © Kelly Bailey / Quora

  • In Moldova, it is a tradition to feed guests cabbage rolls (national treat). But I had a Hollywood-style wedding, and there was no place for cabbage rolls. I replaced them with salmon. A colleague comes up to me and says, “Wow! So cool! No cabbage rolls! I’m jealous!” But my relatives said that the wedding was great, but there were no cabbage rolls.

  • White dress. I hate white for 2 main reasons: First, it looks boring, second, it looks awful on me. Doesn’t suit me at all. Also, most wedding dresses look just like that: a wedding dress. You spend a ridiculously high amount of money for a dress you’re probably only gonna wear once in your life. I’d rather wear something in navy blue or a really dark purple. Looks much more interesting in my opinion, and you can also wear it in the future. © Lea Sing / Quora

  • Formal wear. To be honest, I couldn’t care less about it. For my wedding, people can come as they like, as long as they’re wearing something, it’s fine with me. © Lea Sing / Quora

  • Veil. Just...why? It looks awful and hides the bride’s hair. © Lea Sing / Quora

  • My husband is Indian, so I got to learn all about their traditions when we were planning our wedding. There is a custom where the bride’s sisters steal the groom’s shoes and refuse to return them unless he gives them money. It can end up being thousands! My cousins were planning to take my husband’s shoes, but he told them he would just go barefoot rather than pay them. © b-m**f / Reddit

  • I despise the so-called “tradition” of the groom removing the bride’s garter and tossing it to the groomsmen, and the one who catches it expected to put it on the leg of the mortified woman who caught the bouquet. Why? A garter is an undergarment, and any removal of bridal underwear should definitely take place in private after the wedding is over. © Jennifer Georgia / Quora

  • Father escort. I hate this tradition so much because of its original meaning. It stems from a time when a woman was practically “property” for her whole life. The tradition basically means the father gives away his daughter (his “property”) to her husband. It’s just awful, no thanks. © Lea Sing / Quora

  • My wife vetoed the idea of “you may kiss the bride” after we’d been officially proclaimed as married since she’s quite reserved like that. At the reception, there was no first dance (actually no dancing at all, since everyone preferred to sit and chat, so there was no reason to play music) and definitely none of that stupid “shove cake in each other’s faces” rubbish. We’d spent good money on a very nice cake, so we wanted people to eat it. © Harry Kriewaldt / Quora

  • The one prohibition for my wedding was in the vows. I ensured that the phrase “to love, honor, and OBEY” was not uttered. I know me — somewhat of a traditionalist — but only when a role is CHOSEN, not assigned because of gender. I didn’t feel it necessary to promise to do something that I would never do — on principle alone! Approaching 20 years, my husband sometimes still teases me if we have a disagreement and I’ve dug my feet in on the issue. He’ll say, “Hey, weren’t you supposed to love, honor, and OBEY?!... Oh yeah, you did say you wouldn’t ‘obey,’ didn’t you!” (He thinks he’s being funny!) © Shelia Gulledge / Quora

  • Before the bride leaves her parents’ home for the wedding, her close relatives put a red ribbon around her waist in order to symbolize her chastity. Since the bridegroom is the only one who gets to untie that knot, it also shows her promise to him that he will be the first one to gain access to her body. © Zeynep Cemre / Quora

  • My husband and I decided to not have the tradition of having a regular wedding with a lot of guests. It was hard with all the pressure from our families and our colleagues. But we got married, put the rings on, and went out of town, rented a room in a 5-star hotel, and had an amazing dinner in a great restaurant. We enjoyed each other’s company and the atmosphere. We don’t regret this decision. I think that the wedding is the couple’s choice and other people have to respect it. © aprelSKA25 / Pikabu

  • In Russia, there’s a tradition where you’re supposed to “buy” the princess. Fortunately, nobody liked this tradition, so we ignored it. I think it’s disrespectful toward the bride. And my husband was happy when he found he wouldn’t have to do all this.

  • Instead of a wedding, my wife and I went to Paris for 10 days. Our relatives didn’t understand this and said everything was wrong and we had no future. We’ve been together for 37 years. © Puvel / Pikabu

What’s your opinion on wedding traditions? Share in the comment section below!

Preview photo credit Wirestock Images / shutterstock

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