Wedding Superstitions. We’ve all heard of them. Have you ever wondered why certain things are common practice for your wedding day? Why the happy couple shouldn’t see each other before the altar? Why brides traditionally wear a veil? And why it is considered good luck for it to rain on your wedding day? These wedding superstitions are linked from our past, and some have fun backstories!
Something Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue
A catchy rhyme we’ve all heard before… but why do we say it and make sure that every bride has each of these items? Each part of the saying is devoted to helping the happy couple in their future marriage. “Something Old” is representative of the bride’s past and continuity, while her “Something New” is to symbolize their optimism and new future as a couple. The “Something Borrowed” item should come from someone in the couple’s life that is happily married so that some of their good fortune will rub off on the newlyweds. “Something Blue” is tied to the belief that blue symbolizes purity, love and fidelity.
Seeing Each Other Before the Wedding
This little wedding superstition is a nod to the time of arranged marriages. If a couple in those times laid eyes on each other before the ceremony, it gave them more of an opportunity to change their minds and run away. With the changing of times, this tradition is one that many couples have chosen to ignore, giving them the opportunity to spend more of their special day together and have the opportunity for those amazing first look photos!
Wedding Bells
We’ve all probably heard the saying “wedding bells ringing,” but where did it come from? In Celtic lands, church bells were rung after the wedding ceremony to announce the newlyweds across the countryside, but the bells were also thought to ward off evil spirits and grant well wishes. Bells have since become a symbol of unity. Often bells are depicted as two bells joined at the top with a bow. A bell, and more often in modern society, the clinking of a knife on a glass, is also used to encourage the couple to kiss or make a speech.
Rain on Your Wedding Day
In many cultures, this wedding superstition is considered good luck for it to rain on your wedding day… although there are quite a few brides with outdoor weddings that would disagree! Rain has, in these cultures, represented fertility, cleansing, renewal, unity, and tears. Due to agricultural cultures, rain has always symbolized fertility. Which, for obvious reasons, is something that couples would traditionally want to bless their marriage. As a cleansing symbol, rain is said to cleanse away the tough and sadness from your past.
Similarly, rain has been a symbol of renewal to wash away the bad memories of the past and give the couple a completely new and fresh start! Just as a knot you tie with rope is extremely hard to untie when it becomes wet, rain on the day you “tie the knot” symbolizes that your ties can’t be broken. Rain can also symbolize the last tears a bride will shed as she enters her new, happy life.
So let it rain on your wedding day! But make sure you have something new, something old, something borrowed, and something blue!