Wedding customs

What’s common between having a sugar cube into your glove, henna tattoos and horse-shoes? They are all wedding customs and traditions in different cultures and countries around the globe! Find out this and more charming traditions from around the globe.

India: Hindu weddings include a ritual called ‘saptapadi’, a religious rite that traditionally involves the bride and groom taking seven steps around a ceremonial fire. The steps go hand in hand with seven vows, representing nourishment, strength and health, spirituality, happiness, progeny, longevity, and friendship and fidelity. Under Hindu law, the marriage is not legal until the ‘saptapadi’ is complete.

Mexico: It’s customary for the groom to give the bride 13 gold coins, ‘trece monedas de oro’, to represent his commitment, trust, and confidence in her. Her acceptance means that she receives his trust and confidence unconditionally, with total dedication and prudence. The coins are then blessed by the priest during the ceremony.

Italy: Food figures big in an Italian wedding―even before the reception begins. At the end of the ceremony, candy-coated almonds, called confetti, meant to represent the sweetness in life, are tied into small bags and tossed to the bride and groom. The bags are also presented to guests as wedding favors.

Sri Lanka: Buddhist weddings take place on beautifully carved wooden platforms called ‘magul poru’.

Morocco: Before the wedding, a Moroccan bride has her hands and feet painted with henna tattoos to represent good luck, protection, and the transition from unwed woman to wife.

China: A bride is virtually guaranteed a good hair day for the wedding, since a “good luck woman” (any woman who has a healthy son, husband, or daughter) prepares the bride’s hair for the ceremony. The hair is combed four times.

Ireland: A bride sews an ornament in the shape of a horseshoe into her dress for good luck, or she may carry a horseshoe in her bouquet.

Brazil: It’s customary for a bride to be fashionably late to her wedding. This helps ensure that the groom will not see her in her wedding dress before the ceremony begins.

Kenya: The day after the “real” wedding, Swahili brides are the focus of a ceremony called kupamba. It’s a chance for the bride and other women to show off elaborate dresses and hairstyles.

Greece: Brides tuck a sugar cube into their gloves — according to Greek culture, the sugar will sweeten their union.

England: English believe a spider found in a wedding dress means good luck! Wednesday is considered the “best day” to marry, although Monday is for wealth and Tuesday is for health. Saturday is the unluckiest wedding day, according to English folklore, though funnily enough it’s the most popular day of the week to marry!

Egypt: For good luck, Egyptian women pinch the bride on her wedding day.

Czech Republic: They throw peas to newlyweds here, instead of rice.

Sweden: A Swedish bride puts a silver coin from her father and a gold coin from her mother in each shoe to ensure that she’ll never do without.

Finland: A Finnish bride traditionally went door-to-door collecting gifts in a pillowcase, accompanied by an older married man who represented long marriage.

Morocco: Moroccan women take a milk bath to purify themselves before their wedding ceremony.

Korea: In Korea, brides don bright hues of red and yellow to take their vows.

Denmark: In Denmark, brides and grooms traditionally cross-dressed to confuse evil spirits!

South Africa: In South Africa, the parents of both bride and groom traditionally carried fire from their hearths to light a new fire in the newlyweds’ hearth.