65 Best Wedding Rituals From Around the World
Wedding rituals are the perfect way to express the love, emotions, harmony, unity, and strength of the wed-to-be couple. There are different wedding rituals around the world, some of them may be funny, weird, romantic, symbolic, and sometimes humiliating too. Wedding rituals are not only for the couple but also involve the families of the couple. The families of the couples can get a chance to know each other and give blessings to them.
Each wedding ritual has reason and meaning that symbolizes the different means of the marriage. These wedding rituals made the couples come to each other and strengthen their bond of love. Wedding rituals make the celebration last long with beautiful memories. They connect the newlywed to their families and community.
- Hold Your Piddle
In Indonesia, the newlywed couple spends three days in their house. They are bound to their room to explore their affection and discover love. The family takes good care of the couple. Except the couple is not allowed to go washroom. They do practice in order to strengthen their bond and their bladders.
- Balance The Bread
In Armenia, when the bride and groom enter their wedding reception at the groom's house, they break a plate for good luck. After that, they are given lavash bread and honey by the groom's mother. They had to balance the bread on their shoulders to ward off evil and eat spoonfuls of honey to symbolize happiness, and then the celebrations start.
- Dangling Charms
The Norgeion brides are beautiful and wear a unique dress and headwear. The bride wears a traditional Norwegian dress bunad. A handmade woolen suit made up of silk shorts, short pants, stockings, a vest, and a topcoat. Also, the bride will wear an ornate silver and gold crown that has small charms dangling all around it. When she moves, the tinkling sound is supposed to deflect evil spirits.
- Be Serious
Weddings are related to happiness and celebrations the couple and their families enjoy it like a festival. The couple expresses their excitement and joy as they laugh and dance in the ceremony. Congolese couples must keep their happiness to the limit. The two are not allowed to smile during their entire wedding day, from ceremony to reception. If they do smile, they are not serious about the marriage.
- Lasso My Love
In a Mexican wedding, the bride and groom change vowes wearing an eight-shaped Lazo, or lasso, made of rosary beads and flowers draped around their shoulders. The eight-shape also symbolizes infinity which means hope their marriage will last long.
- Be Seated
In China, the bride's family hires a woman as a lucky charm for the bride who takes care of her during the ceremony and as she travels from her home to her groom's in an elaborately decorated sedan chair. The other attendants cover brides with parasols and tossing rice at the chair to bring prosperity and health to the bride.
- Clear The Way
In Germany, they do a ritual Polterabend the guests smash porcelain plates thrown on the ground to ward off any evil spirits. The couple has to sweep everything together that came in their way. It makes their coordination perfect to face challenges together in their life.
- Tooth Treasure
The tooth of the sperm whale known as a tabua is perhaps the most valuable of all traditional Fijian objects. In Fiji, the man has to present a whale tooth to his future in-law for asking a hand for his daughter. They were given as tokens to symbolize marriage or as payment of bride price.
- Dress In All White
In Japanese, wedding brides wear all white from head to toe. The bride wears white makeup, a kimono, and a hood called a tsunokakushi. White reflects her maiden status, and the hood hides the so-called "horns of jealousy" she feels towards her mother-in-law.
- Wedding In Hamlet
Centuries ago in England, had a marriage act prevented the marriage of couples under the age of 21 without their parents' consent. But it was still legal in the village, Gretna Green, Scotland marry without such consent, couples began crossing the border into Scotland.
- Let's Celebrate
In Lebanon, the wedding celebration starts too early before the ceremony. The party begins with music, belly dancing, and shouting at both the groom's and bride's homes by the couple's friends, family, and, occasionally, professional dancers and musicians. It ends up at the bride's house, where the couple is showered with blessings and flower petals as they leave for the ceremony.
- Bullseye
In China, during the marriage ceremony, the groom will shoot his bride with a bow and (head-less) arrow several times, then collects arrows and breaks them to ensure their love lasts forever. The groom must remember to remove the arrowheads.
- Baby Blessings
In Czech, before the bride and groom get married, an infant is placed on the couple's bed to bless and enhance their fertility. After the wedding, the guests shower them with rice, peas, and lentils that symbolize promoting fertility.
- Best man’s Shave
In Greek weddings, groomsman or groom's best man, or koumparos becomes his barber. They pull out a razor and shaves the groom's face. After he has shaved freshly, his mother-in-law will feed him honey and almonds.
- Dance In The Desert
In the West African country of Niger, the camel dance in the desert is present on the reception in the desert by a camel. The wedding guests enjoy the groove of the humpback animal when onto a rhythmic drumbeat.
- Ring The Bell
At a Guatemalan wedding reception, grooms can do whatever they want, including smashing things.
The mother of the groom breaks a white bell to welcome the newlyweds to the party. The bell, filled with flour, rice, and grains, is meant to bring luck and prosperity to the couple.
- Have A Bite
In Russia, newly married Russian couples follow a sweet tradition they share a wedding sweetbread called karavay. The bread has decorated with wheat for prosperity and interlocking rings for faithfulness. Whoever takes the big bite, without using their hands, the husband or wife, is considered the head of the family.
- Money Dance
In Cuba, the money dance is a cultural tradition at many wedding receptions. Every male guest who dances with the bride must pin money to her dress to help the couple pay for their wedding and honeymoon. The custom is to help establish the couple in their new life and show how much they are loved and appreciated.
- Sneak Out Safely
In Venezuela, the couple doesn't wait for the reception to come to its end. A couple sneaks out in the middle of the party. It's good luck for the newlyweds to sneak away before the party has come to an end without getting caught. It is also good luck for guest who catches on that they are gone.
- Wedding Door Games
In China, a lighthearted tradition, bridesmaids give the groom a hard time on the morning of the wedding day by putting him through a series of tests and challenges called wedding door games. The groom has to prove that he's worthy of the bride. Then he must pay the girls with envelopes full of money.
- Flag Day
In Turkey, the groom's house is decorated with a Turkish flag, a red flag with crescent and star. Many other things like fruits, vegetables, and mirrors also place on the top of the groom's house, along with the flag. The and flag and other things signify the initiation of the wedding.
- Sweet Towers
At Norwegian weddings, they serve a towering special-occasion cake called a kransekake, unlike the white wedding cake. The high cake is made with iced almond cake rings to form a cone shape and a wine bottle placed in its hollow center.
- Release Feathered Friend
In the Philippines, after the wedding, happy brides and grooms release a pair of white doves, one male, and one female, in the air. The birds are said to symbolize a harmonious life together for the newly married couple.
- Human Carpet
The Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia have a weirder wedding tradition. After the wedding, the close relative of the bride and groom all lie down on the floor with their face down and forms a human carpet for the newlyweds to walk over.
- Stealing Shoes
Indian wedding has many rituals, one of them is called Joota Chupai. On the wedding day, an Indian bride's mischievous sisters and female cousins make off with the groom's shoes and hide them somewhere. They demand ransom money for their safe return.
- Have A Chicken
In Mongolia, the couple kills a young chicken before setting a wedding date. They cut a baby chicken apart by holding the knife together. Then couple must inspect the innards of the chick until they locate a healthy liver.
- Keep Your Feet Down
In Ireland, when the bride and groom are dancing, the bride must keep at least one foot on the floor at all times. While dancing, the bride was prohibited take both feet off the floor in case the fairies came and swept her away. Irish folklore states that fairies love brides.
- Vows At Tomb
In Moscow, the couple chooses to say their vows next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Then couples take wedding photos at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin and lay down flowers afterward to offer them respect.
- Share The Blooms
In Whales, the bride shows love and care towards her bridesmaids and close friends. The bride carries a bouquet that includes myrtle, an herb that symbolizes love and has health benefits, and the bride gives a cutting to each of her bridesmaids. It has said that if a bridesmaid plants the myrtle cutting and it blooms, she'll be the next bride.
- Show Your Worth
In Russia, the groom has to go brides' parent's home on the morning of the wedding day. He has to show his worth by giving gifts to the brides' parents even has to pay ransom money for his wife. Also, he can do singing and dancing to show he can be the groom of their daughter.
- Pull Your Charm
In Peruvian weddings, the wedding cake is assembled with ribbons attached to charms and one connected to the fake wedding ring. During the reception, all the single women guests participate in the "cake pull." Each participant grabs a ribbon, and the single lady who pulls out the fake wedding ring, per tradition, will be the next to get married.
- Token Of Love
In the old days, when a Welshman fell in love and was ready to get married, he carved lovespoons from wood and gave them to his beloved. The spoon includes decorations like a key to symbolize a key of his heart and beads, represents the number of children he wants.
- Change To Amazed
In China, the bride wears three dresses during her wedding and reception ceremony. The brides walk down the aisle in a slim-fitting, the embroidered dress called a traditional qipao or cheongsam. For the reception, they change into a more decked-out gown with Western flair. And at night, Chinese brides make a final change into a cocktail dress.
- All Messed Up
In Scotland, the bride and groom capture by their friends before their wedding and covered with ash, flour, molasses, and feathers. Then the couple is heads toward the parade around the town. This funny ritual has performed to ward off the evil spirits by humiliating the couple.
- Fascinating Hand Prints
In an Indian traditional wedding, the bride to be used to cover her hand skin with mehndi, intricately painted, in tattoo fashion. Mehndi is a type of paint made from henna. The brides sit hours with her close friend to print fabulous designs on her hands.
- Find Your Bride
In Romania, the kidnapping of the bride before the wedding is a famous tradition. The bride's friends will steal her from the wedding party and take her somewhere else to enjoy herself with friends before demanding a ransom for the groom to get her back. A few bottles of alcohol or singing a love song in front of the entire party.
- Tears Of Joy
In China, the Tujia brides start crying a month before the wedding for one hour every day. After ten days, her mother joins the picture, and 10-days after that, her grandma does the same. By the end of the month, every female in the family is crying alongside the bride. The tradition has followed to express her joy with tears as the women weep in different tones, reminiscent of a song.
- Tied Knot With Bush
In an Indian wedding, if the bride is born during the astrological period when Mars and Saturn are both under the seventh house, she is Manglik. Hence, the woman is first married to a tree or an animal to ward off the evil effects of the curse on her human husband.
- Chop Down
In Germany, after the wedding, the couple is present a log and saw. The couple has to chop the log with saw together work as a team. It has believed they are proving their ability to work together in overcoming every obstacle that comes into their life.
- Don't Feel Jealous
In Sweden, after the wedding ceremony, whenever the bride leaves the table, all women in the party shall stand up and hurry to kiss the groom. And vice versa when the groom leaves the room for any reason, then the other men at the wedding may kiss the bride. Nowadays, the bride and groom may also ring a bell.
- Test Your Knowledge
In South Korean weddings, they had a custom known as the falaka that involves beating the bottoms of the groom's feet. The groom's friends and the family hold him down as beating his feet with a stick or dried fish. The point of the ceremony is to test the groom's knowledge, which is why in between beatings, he has asked various trivia questions.
- Put On Wicky Socks
At French-Canadian ceremonies, they had a very colorful and cheerful wedding ritual. The elder, unmarried siblings of the bride and groom perform a dance. They wear wicky, colorful socks to perform traditional dance. The guest throws money at them to express their happiness. The money is then collected and given to the newlywed as blessings.
- Sing To Your Love
In Italy, they had romantic and fabulous rituals at their weddings. The groom throws a surprise party for his bride-to-be a night before the wedding. The groom sings a La serenata with musicians outside the window of his bride-to-be. The party then turns into a lavish family and friend buffet.
- Nick Of Tie
In Spain, before the wedding, close friends of the groom cut his tie into pieces. They sell the tie pieces to the guests to raise money for the newlyweds. The ritual is similar for the bride garter friends of the bride chop the bride garter sell pieces among the guests.
- Sweet Goodbye
In Italy, the wedding guests shower the exiting couple with colorful candied almonds. The almond candies are in small tulle bags, and they can also be twisted together into the shape of a flower. The number of petals on the flowers represents happiness, health, fertility, longevity, and wealth for the newly married couple.
- Black Is Forever
In Spain, the brides wear black at the wedding and walk down the aisle to symbolize their true love and loyalty. In traditional Spanish culture, the black color signifies the bride's commitment and devotion to her groom "until death do us part." It sounds wired but, black is love lasts forever.
- Wishing Tree
At a Dutch wedding, guest writes their wishes and blessing for the couple on the paper and hang them literal tree branch or small potted tree instead of the guestbook. A wish tree comprises branches, ribbons, and leaves upon which the guests share their wishes. After the wedding, the happy couple can display the leaves or even the wish tree itself for years to come.
- Stylish Bride
In traditional African weddings, the bride wears a specific dress. She wears a wrap skirt called Pagne, a matching shawl, and a headpiece. The fabric color also symbolizes different meanings gold symbolizes prosperity, purple symbolizes royalty, blue symbolizes femininity and purity, and green symbolizes life.
- Wrapped In Warmth
The Native American culture involves wrapping a quilt around the newlyweds' shoulders to symbolize warmth and togetherness. Before an officiant blesses the union, both bride and groom are wrapped (individually) in blue blankets. The newlywed couple wrapped in a single white blanket after the officiant's announcement. The blue color represents their past lives and, the white symbolizes their dedication to filling their new lives with peace.
- Signing Ketubah
In a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, the ketubah is signed by two witnesses and is sometimes read aloud at the wedding ceremony under the chuppah. A ketubah is a marriage contract promising to love and support each other unconditionally. It is then traditionally handed to the bride for safekeeping throughout the wedding day.
- Illuminate Your Love
In South Africa, an old African tradition involves the lighting of the fire to represent the union of two-family houses. The parents of the couple would traditionally carry a fire from their hearths in their homes. They combine the flame and take it to the home of the new couple to lit the fire. Today, this custom is modified so that the newlyweds begin a fire with a special touch and invite their parents to kindle the flame.
- Vows With Sundial
On the Aran Islands, the island of Ireland, weddings have a Celtic sundial ceremony as an essential wedding ritual. The couple has to touch fingers through the sundial's hole that serves as both a symbol and confirmation of their union. The witnesses may then offer their wishes and blessing to the newlywed by passing a silk scarf through the hole (three times) and spoken those dreams loud.
- Pass The Rope
In some wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom pass a short rope around for all their guests to bless. After the last guest held the rope and gives their approval and blessing, it gets back to the bride and groom. They tie the knot that symbolizes the couple union and their lives being strong and braid together as one.
- Lit A Unity Candle
It is a Judeo-Christian tradition that symbolizes the unity of bride and groom. The bride and groom each hold a lit candle and combine their flames to light a third, larger candle. It represents the bride and groom coming together as one and a bright future. Sometimes the parents and friends also can participate in this ceremony and say their blessings to the couple.
- Take A Sip
In most Catholic and Jewish wedding ceremonies, some couples drink wine from the same cup. Others prefer to pour two types of wine into one glass before sharing. This blending symbolizes the union and your new life as a married couple. It also represents the union of the two families as they take a sip from the same cup.
- Vows Under Chuppah
In Jewish weddings, they had the custom to exchange vows under the chuppah. The chuppah is a canopy that consists of a cloth or sheet, sometimes a tallit stretched or supported over four poles or sometimes manually held up by attendants to the ceremony. The four corners and a roof of chuppah symbolize the home and family.
- Sand Ceremony
The sand ceremony is a tradition in which a couple pours sand from separate vessels into a unified, central one. The bride and groom each have a small jar of sand both are a different color. They pour a small container of sand into a larger vessel to symbolize their unity and harmony as a couple.
- Handfasting
Handfasting is an ancient Celtic practice representing the unity of the couple. The bride and groom hold opposite hands (so their arms make a figure eight representing eternity). Then, their hands are tied together with a ribbon to symbolize a union. They could even use heirloom fabric to make it even more meaningful.
- Encircle Your Partner
In Jewish weddings, the bride circles the groom seven times to break down any barriers between them. Encircling each other during the wedding ceremony represents that you and your partner do not have any walls around each other. Nowadays, rather than the bride circling around her groom, the couple encircles around one another.
- Create A Time Capsule
Before performing this ritual, you and your spouse must collect memorable things related to your relationship. For example, you can place a movie ticket from your first movie together as a couple or a favorite set of poems. Put all things into a box and help each other nail it shut take turns in hammering. It will then be open during your first wedding anniversary.
- Crowning
Crowning is a Greek Orthodox tradition the brides and grooms appoint koumbaroi. They are attendants who place the wedding crowns on the bride and groom heads and the rings on their fingers. The crowns are known as Stefana, are connected by ribbon, and represent the union of the bride and groom. And as well as their status as queen and king of the family.
- Knot Of Love
It is an old Irish tradition the bride and groom tie a fisherman's knot with ribbon and exchanged beautifully written vows and symbolic wedding rings. This wedding ritual has been performed by couples to symbolize a strong bond that does not break under pressure and become stronger. The tying ropes together as a couple signifies the everlasting connection of them with each other.
- Cleansing Spouse's Feet
The washing of the spouse's feet symbolizes letting go of the past misunderstandings and enter into the marriage with open hearts. This cleansing ceremony is perfect for outdoor weddings includes a mid-size bowl filled with water and a towel. While indoor weddings, the couples can hold their hands over a bowl or share a goblet full of water to symbolize the purity of love.
- Passing The Rings
It is also known as a ring warming ceremony that includes guests passes on your wedding ring to give their blessings to the couple. This ritual has performed by sending one ring down to one side of the aisle and the other to the opposite side. It gives a chance to every guest to hold the rings and bestow their blessings and positive thoughts toward your marriage.
- Share With Family
It is a simple yet heartwarming custom perfect for smaller weddings. This Quaker tradition involves inviting close family members and friends to form a circle together with the bride and groom in one area. They may also ask to share their thoughts and feelings about the couple.
