n.

1. 1. The act of marrying.
   2. The ceremony or celebration of a marriage.
2. The anniversary of a marriage: a silver wedding.
3. The act or an instance of joining closely: a wedding of ideas.

noun

The act or ceremony by which two people become husband and wife: bridal, espousal, marriage, nuptial (often used in plural), spousal (often used in plural). See marriage/unmarried.

n

Definition: marriage rite
Antonyms: divorce

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Of all the life-cycle points, getting married is the most public. The way couples celebrate their wedding has always depended largely on their class, relative affluence or poverty, religion, and the region where they lived, but also on the dictates of fashion, which may vie strongly with those of tradition. The Victorian era was a major watershed in the way weddings were held, and E. M. Wright correctly identifies mobility (both social and geographical) and fashion as the factors involved:

The bridegroom's friends and relations are often complete strangers to the bride's kith and kin, their ways and beliefs are unknown to each other. They cannot join together in some time-honoured ceremonial when the newly-wedded pair enter their new home; instead, they wave hats and handkerchiefs in the wake of a train or a motor which is carrying the couple to a distant dwelling-place. The bride, too, has up-to-date ideas. She wants to make a sensation, like Lady Dunfunkus Macgregor's daughter, a description of whose marriage she has just read in the Daily Mail … Her dress and her doings, and all the wedding festivities, must as far as possible be modelled on a fashionable pattern, till finally modern conventionalities and not ancient customs rule the day. (Wright, 1913: 270)

Weddings necessarily take place under the constraints of legal and ecclesiastical regulations, but these change over time. Medieval rules forbidding marriage during penitential seasons, on high festival days, and after midday, are long gone; civil marriages came in in 1836; the 1994 Marriage Act allowed premises other than churches and registry offices to host marriage ceremonies. By May 1998 there were over 2,000 newly approved venues, mostly hotels and stately homes, but also museums, sports facilities, and halls, and a new industry of what might be called ‘genre weddings’ sprang up almost overnight. In addition, many couples now choose to go abroad to marry, and members of alternative religions (Wiccans, Druids, etc.) hold ‘handfasting’ rituals at sacred sites which, though not binding in law, are true marriages to the participants. It is too soon to say how these major changes will affect the traditional aspects of weddings, and what compromises between old and new will evolve.

Numerous sources since the early 19th century report that various days of the week were seen as lucky or unlucky for weddings, and virtually all say Fridays and Saturdays are worst. A widespread rhyme sums it up, here in a County Durham version:

Monday for wealth
Tuesday for health
Wednesday the best day of all
Thursday for losses
Friday for crosses
And Saturday no luck at all

(Henderson, 1879: 33)

Nowadays, the convenience of a weekend wedding outweighs any lingering superstition. Saturday is by far the most popular day, with 76 per cent of weddings in 1979 and 68 per cent in 1994; Friday is easily the second choice, with 11 per cent and 14 per cent, nearly three times as many as any midweek day. Similarly with the precepts noted in so many 19th-century sources, but now disregarded:

If you marry in Lent,
You will live to repent.
Marry in May,
Rue for aye.

The May proscription seems to have been stronger, and more long lasting, in Scotland than in England. Victorian parsons' diaries show Christmas Day as quite a popular day to marry, but a down-to-earth northern farmer's view says:

He's a fule that marries at Yule
For when the bairn's to bear
The corn's to shear

(Denham Tracts, 1895: ii. 92)

The custom of throwing things over the bride and groom has a long history, though the items thrown have changed. The earliest reference is from 1486; when Henry VII brought his wife to Bristol ‘a baker's wife cast out of a window a great quantity of wheat, crying “Welcome! and Good Luck!”’ (S. Seyer, Memoirs of Bristol, quoted in Folk-Lore Record 3 (1880), 133). Wheat or corn is mentioned regularly until the later 19th century, and occasionally flower petals and sugar plums. In 1874 Francis Kilvert recorded in his Diary (11 August) the throwing of rice, and this remained common till paper confetti was introduced around the turn of the 20th century. Almost at once there were complaints that it littered the aisle and spoiled the bridal costume, and was merely ‘a refined kind of horseplay’ (Surrey Gazette, (13 Sept. 1904), 3, reprinting from a Coventry parish magazine). Vicars and registrars regularly ban it, to little effect; a return to rice is often proposed as more environmentally sound.

Writers from the early 17th century onwards often mention the strewing of rushes, herbs, or flowers for the bride to walk on. A malevolent parody, using rue, occurred in Herefordshire (Leather, 1912: 115). The only remnant of strewing is the custom of having little girls throwing flower petals down the aisle, perhaps reimported to Britain via American films. An unusual variation was reported from Cranbrook (Kent) in the 1850s; there, it was customary to strew the path from the church ‘with emblems of the bridegroom's calling; carpenters walk on shavings; butchers on the skins of slaughtered sheep; the followers of St Crispin are honoured with leather parings; paper-hangers with strips of paper; blacksmiths with old iron, rusty nails, etc.’ (N&Q 1s:10 (1855), 181). The groom's occupation may be reflected in other ways, for example a ‘guard of honour’ outside the church with raised swords, police truncheons, or tools of a trade. At a butcher's wedding in Croydon in 1902, other butchers greeted the couple by ‘ringing the bells’ on marrow-bones and cleavers (Croydon Advertiser (21 June 1902); cf. Chambers, 1878: i. 360).

Other long-standing but boisterous customs which are now obsolete include firing the anvil, and horseplay during the walk to and from church:

a wedding in the Dales of Yorkshire is indeed a thing to see; nothing can be imagined comparable to it in wildness and obstreperous mirth. The bride and bridegroom may be a little subdued, but his friends are like men bereft of reason. They career round the bridal party like Arabs of the desert, galloping over ground on which, in cooler moments, they would hesitate even to walk a horse—shouting all the time, and firing volleys from the guns they carry with them. Next they will dash along the road in advance of the party, carrying the whiskey-bottle, and compelling everyone they meet to pledge the newly-married pair. (Henderson, 1879: 37)

In Yorkshire villages, guns were often filled with feathers and fired over the bride's and groom's heads (Blakeborough, 1898: 95-6; Nicholson, 1890: 3). A more dangerous custom is revealed when a man tried for shooting at, and damaging, the door of the bride's mother at Pensham (Worcestershire) pleaded this was customary at weddings (Worcester Herald (22 Mar. 1845)). It was quite common to bar the way of the party returning from church, for example by a locked gate or a rope across the road; the groom would be expected to pay to be allowed through, often by tossing coins to be scrambled for (Palmer, 1976: 31-2).

It is now almost universal at formal receptions to have an iced cake, the first cut being made ceremonially by bride and groom together; this is first mentioned in the 1890s. Using pieces of wedding cake in love divinations is reported regularly since the early 18th century, often with complications such as passing the fragment nine times through a wedding ring (Gentleman's Magazine (1832), 492). Throwing pieces of cake (not usually the cake itself) over the heads of the bride and/or groom was common in Yorkshire and Northumberland; sometimes guests did this, sometimes the bride herself; sometimes a plate was thrown too. In all cases it was lucky for the cake and plate to break, and usually the guests tried to snatch a piece for themselves (N&Q 1s:7 (1853), 545; Blakeborough, 1898: 96).

A widespread modern feature is that all unmarried women (and sometimes men) gather as the bride is about to depart; she throws her bouquet over her shoulder (to avoid favouritism), and whoever catches it will be married next. Opie and Tatem give the first reference for this as 1923, and in 1963 it could still be called ‘American’. In past generations, other items were thrown, to similar purpose. The stocking is the missile in numerous literary references of the 17th and 18th centuries: at the end of the day, when the couple are sitting up in bed, young men take the bride's stocking and girls the groom's, and throw it over their shoulders. Whoever hits the bride or groom (‘on the nose’, many sources say) will marry soon (Brand, 1849: i. 170; Balfour, 1904: 97-8; Evelyn's Diary, 9 Oct. 1671). Another regular custom of the 18th and 19th centuries, which Brand thought ‘bordered very closely upon indecency’, was for young unmarried men to compete in a race for the privilege of removing and keeping the bride's garter. Earlier references imply an indecent scramble ‘before the very altar’ (Brand, 1849: ii. 139-40). Later, mere ribbons were raced for, probably as a decorous substitute (Henderson, 1879: 41-2; N&Q 146 (1924), 113-14, 163).

There has been much comment on throwing old shoes after the departing couple, which has been done for 300 years at least, but little elucidation. It is important to realize that it is merely one application of a practice first mentioned in Heywood's Proverbs (1546) of throwing shoes at people for luck when leaving on a journey, or entering a new house; whatever the underlying symbolism, it cannot be unique to weddings. A playful elaboration reported from Kent in 1894 was for the chief bridesmaid to retrieve one of the shoes and throw it again for the bridesmaids to race for, and then again for the men (Lippincott's Magazine 54 (1894), 884). Nowadays shoes are tied to the couple's car, along with tin cans, balloons, and streamers.

There is a wide assortment of beliefs and taboos to ensure a happy marriage, beginning well before the wedding day. Many are still known, though not necessarily taken seriously. Two sayings which are still quoted are ‘Change the name and not the letter, Change for the worse and not the better’ (reported everywhere from the 1850s onwards), and ‘Happy the bride the sun shines on’, known already to Herrick (Hesperides (1648)). Some rules seem to be based on ‘not tempting fate’. That the couple should not hear their own banns called, lest the firstborn child be deaf and dumb, was reported from all regions from the 1850s onwards. The bride must not make her own dress; some small part—a thread, a bow, whatever—must be left off until the actual moment she leaves for church (Folk-Lore 68 (1957), 146); she should not look in a mirror once it is all complete (N&Q 2s:12 (1861), 490); and, as everyone knows, the groom must not see her in her wedding dress before she arrives in church.

Before white dresses became virtually universal, colour was important. Green was shunned as unlucky; blue was favoured—except, according to Blakeborough, in 19th-century Yorkshire, where it too was unlucky. A well-known rhyme ran:

Married in green, ashamed to be seen
Married in grey, will go far away
Married in red, wish yourself dead
Married in blue, always be true
Married in yellow, ashamed of your fellow
Married in black, wish yourself back
Married in pink, of you he'll think
Married in white, sure to go right.

The widest-known rhyme today is ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’, first recorded in Shropshire only in 1883 (Burne, 1883: 290). Many say the item borrowed should be something worn at a previous wedding, provided the marriage turned out happily; the veil is often singled out as the luckiest.

The general belief that meeting a chimney-sweep is lucky, reported since the late 19th century, became specifically linked to weddings during the 20th century; such meetings are now deliberately arranged. For a bridal party to meet a funeral is very unlucky; one young bride told her vicar, in tears, that it meant all her babies would be born dead (Balleine, 1939: 5). Other bad omens were for the church clock to strike during the ceremony (Opie and Tatem, 1989: 85-6); a thunderstorm meant the couple would have no children (Porter, 1969: 7). Various signs foretold whether the bride or the groom would die first. In Yorkshire, ‘them as speaks loudest dies first’ (N&Q 6s:1 (1880), 75); in Shropshire, whichever drops the ring (Burne, 1883: 294-5); in Herefordshire, whichever turns away from the altar first (Leather, 1912: 114); in Lincolnshire, whichever kneels down first (N&Q 4s:12 (1873), 44); in Yorkshire again, whichever first falls asleep on the wedding night (N&Q 1s:6 (1852), 312). The behaviour of bride and groom could also show which would be ‘master’ in the new home: whichever stepped out of church first, left the bride's home first after the meal, crossed the threshold first, and so on (Wright, 1913: 273).

Everyone now knows the groom ‘should’ carry the bride over the threshold of their new home, though it is not always actually performed. The history of this is obscure; Brand calls it ‘an ancient custom’, but it is not regularly reported in 19th-century sources, though other threshold customs are—for example the widespread ‘warming the doorstep’ of the bride's old home by pouring hot water over it once the bride and groom had left, and the custom at Knutsford (Cheshire) that neighbours made patterns in white sand outside the bride's and groom's doors (N&Q 2s:10 (1860), 264; Folk-Lore Journal 1 (1883), 227). The interpretation is even more doubtful. Herrick, who does not actually mention lifting, has the line ‘Now o'er the threshold force her in’ (Hes-perides (1648)), implying that a show of modest reluctance was expected. Others speculate that it is meant to avert the bad luck of stumbling, or that it ensures that as neither is first to enter, neither will be ‘master’.

Given the nature of the celebration, weddings can involve a fair amount of ribaldry from onlookers and guests, but this is underplayed in published accounts, and difficult to document. One instance is the business with the stocking or garter detailed above, another, a trick of placing a bell under the bridal bed; a writer in 1543 complained that the couple would be serenaded through the chamber door, with ‘vicious and naughty ballads’ (Brand, 1849: ii. 173). In modern times, much of this has been hived off to the stag and hen nights, but echoes survive in the licence in innuendo allowed to the Best Man in his speech at the wedding breakfast.

Weddings are a universal life cycle event where rituals and ceremony display a group's interest, whether conspicuously or obscurely, in economics, organizational balance, power, and social forms. Nuptials allow families and couples to establish a new status in society; this is especially true for the bride as she is now an adult woman, belonging to her husband's family and responsible for perpetuating his (and now her) lineage. Upon marrying, the groom also gains a new status of respectful adulthood, a full member of society.

One major role of food in this rite of passage is the show of opulence and social status. For example, the English nobility of the late Middle Ages had their own ideas regarding the proper wedding feast: boar and lamb were served as a first course, followed by venison in broth and antelope served with a spiced, sweet pudding containing rice flour. The third course contained fish and a baked meat and began with lozenge and almond cream in syrup; cheese, hot bread, a sweet, and other dishes were the fourth course.

Weddings in Greece

As Vassos Argyrou writes in Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean (pp. 60–110), weddings in Cypriot and other small villages of Greece were five-to six-day affairs in the 1930s. The nuptial rites customarily began on a Friday or Saturday with the preparation of the resi, a dish particular to the Limassol and Paphos areas. The communal preparation of the resi is the first of many fertility rituals; here the crushed wheat, pork, chicken, and other meats represent the abundance and fertility of the land upon which the couple would make their home. First, a group of village women cleaned the wheat by removing inedible portions and stones. Then, having placed the cleaned wheat in large wooden vessels, skafes, and covered these bowls with red shawls, the women, led by musicians, proceeded to the village fountain. After washing the wheat seven times in a step called efta plimmata, the wheat was returned to the bride's house in the same processional fashion, where it was pounded until crushed by using a faouta, a rectangular paddle with rounded edges. While the resi would not be served until the Sunday feast, the lengthy preparation process customarily started on Friday, and the dish was cooked on Saturday.

After the church ceremony, stefanoman, on Sunday, the couple and their guests returned to the newlyweds' home to perform one of the many rituals of that day. In response to good wishes from guests, the couple sprinkled the guests' hands with rosewater. Afterwards, men were served a glass of homemade wine, while the women were given a dish of fruit preserved in syrup, ghliko. An elaborate feast followed, attended by many people of the village. They dined on the traditional resi, potatoes yakhni (cooked in tomato sauce), kolokasi (a root vegetable similar to a sweet potato), salads, beets, and meats. The traditional beverage selection was limited to homemade wine and zivania (grappa).

On Monday, food such as kanishia, potatoes, olive oil, cheese, pasta, chicken, and wine was brought by people of the community to the couple's home. These gifts would unofficially set the guest list for the dinner served later that evening; in addition, they served as a hospitality gift to the couple's families with implications of future reciprocity.

The final rituals of the week were to kopsimon ton makarounion (the cutting of the pasta) and to sinaman ton ornithon (the collection of the chickens). These events took place on Tuesday and were attended by those who could not participate in Sunday or Monday's festivities. Accompanied by live musicians at the couple's home, the women rolled small pieces of dough between their palms, producing long, thin pieces which they then cut into small pieces. The collection of the chickens began after cutting the pasta, where young men gathered chickens from various village households (usually homes of invited guests). Also part of a musical procession, the youths brought the chickens home to be slaughtered and prepared with the pasta for the evening meal.

Greek weddings in the 1930s were not a small family affair; weddings were public celebrations, as almost all community members were considered friends and members of the family. Fathers of the bride and groom also felt their family name required a worthy nuptial celebration; thus, in Paphos, weeks before any actual celebrations, the two families distributed a special bread called yiristarka as an invitation.

Weddings in India

In an 1899 article titled "The Hill Tribes of the Central Indian Hills," William Crooke describes the Hindu-based wedding customs of several tribes. These customs emphasize the role of food in carrying out rites promising fertility, happiness, and abundance. An initial marital rite takes place when the parents of the newly betrothed couple drink together out of vessels made from the leaves of a holy tree. For brides of the Majhwâr tribe, entry into the couple's new home is forbidden until she and her husband eat rice boiled in milk. A young Dhobi male will not consume boiled rice before his wedding feast so as to preserve the sacred meaning of this ritual. Some Bengali tribes practiced a custom where blood was drawn from the husband's finger and mixed with betel and eaten by the bride. Rice also enters the nuptial customs as five mounds of rice are placed on a stone and the bride is made to knock them down with her foot symbolizing her departure from her natal family and her entry into the family of her husband.

Grains continue to represent fertility across the world's cultures as special wheaten cakes are prepared for the newlyweds to walk on; women throw betel and barley over the groom as he enters his new home; and the bride's brother pours wheat, rice, or barley over the bride as she turns around.

Boiotian Weddings

Ancient Boiotian weddings were secondarily presented and analyzed in the nuptial iconography of several vases found in the Kanapitsa cemetery of Thebes. Researchers believe the fertility ritual of katachysmata, where the bride and groom are showered with cakes, figs, apples, nuts, and other fruits, is depicted, as well as the practice of the bride consuming a quince, apple, or other fruit to signify her public transition into her new role as a married woman.

In Greek Orthodox wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom sip wine from the same cup as a symbol of the shared cheer and unpleasantness they will experience in their life together.

Chimbu Weddings

The Chimbu of the New Guinea highlands live in a world where transactions define all relationships and interpersonal interactions. These dynamic operations—gifts, tolls, assistance—carry many implicit meanings which test loyalty and create intergroup balance. Chimbu weddings provide opportunities for groups to participate in transactional gift-giving and feasting; sweet potatoes are given or exchanged at weddings, as are bean roots and nuts when available. Marriages often occur at the height of a pig ceremony where numerous pigs are sacrificed, bulga kande, and cooked at a ceremonial ground; also at this time, male dancers enact a fertility rite, blessing the women, pigs, and sweet potato vines. Along with the gift of vegetable produce, the widely traditional cooked pig meat is distributed among those who cooked it and individual kinsmen.

Nias Weddings

The wedding feasts of the Nias people—Nias is the largest chain of islands off the west coast of Sumatra—also include a large amount of pork. Preparation for the traditional feast at the bride's house begins when the groom's party begins a procession over the hills involving gongs and drums and a small herd of about six pigs. Upon arrival at the bride's house, the men are served betel. Many hours and ritual transactions later, two pigs (bawi huku, law pig, and bawi vangovalu, wedding pig) are slaughtered by an elder or member of the bride's party to commence the main attraction of the feast. Provided by the groom, the raw pig is ceremoniously and carefully butchered into portions; the lower jaw, the most prized portion, is divided into four. The bride's father and his close relatives and elders of the bride receive a portion running the whole length of the pig. A small quantity is cooked for the bride's relatives, and the remaining raw portions are given to the chief, wife-givers, and butchers.

The host reciprocates the gift of the wedding pig with another larger pig, bawi daravatö. Once again the pig is split among the guests; the groom takes one leg and a hind-part (about one-quarter of the animal) home to his village, the groom's speaker receives one back section, and the host is entitled to a leg and the lower jawbone as a token of the evening. The remaining parts are cooked and served to all other guests. The groom and his family members receive the lower jaw, belly, and heart served on a large mound of rice, while he and his bride eat from the same plate. Status determines the size and type of portion; thus, only the elders of each group are entrusted with the duty of distributing the meat.

The betrothal of a Nias couple is solidified with feamanu, the eating of the chicken. Provided that specific omens which can break the contract are not encountered, the couple will eat the cooked chicken as their first meal together, and a small pig will accompany the meal. Raw and cooked portions, especially the lower jaw, are cut and given to the groom's father.

Weddings in China

The marriage customs observed in 1938 of the Chinese in the town then known as I Chang, located on the north bank of the Yangtse River, required preparations to begin at least one year in advance. During this time, pigs must be fattened, rice and other foods accumulated, and goats and chickens prepared. About one week before the wedding ceremony, final preparations for the wedding feast began. The feast, which lasted four hours, included nine courses; the first course was cuttlefish or sea slugs and wine; the roundness of the meatballs of the fifth course represented a coming together of the groom greeting his guests; the ninth course also included fish, yü, which also means surplus, ending the meal with an omen to abundance in the couple's future.

Later in the course of this days-long elaborate marriage ritual, tea and poached eggs with sugar were served three times to the guests. The groom and his party only feign partaking of these refreshments since actual consumption would violate social etiquette. Numerous tea ceremonies take place, often followed by a serving of tobacco.

While preparing the nuptial bed, two women selected by the groom's family place cakes, dried lungan nuts, red-stained peanuts, and ginko nuts in the bed. Young girls search for these goods and eat them in hopes of future fertility. In a ceremony to finalize the marriage, the bride and groom are each given a glass of wine; they drink half the contents, exchange the cups, and finish consuming the rest of the wine; the same ritual is done with pieces of candy after the wine.

To ensure that as a wife the bride will be thorough in completion of her duties, she places a pre-prepared fish in the stove with the head pointing toward the front of the stove, and the tail in the back. This ritual, yu tou yu wei, says that she will be thoroughly dutiful. In addition, a dish of steamed vegetables mixed with rice flour, chêng tsai, is prepared by the bride, symbolizing abundance.

Contemporary Hindu Rituals

Contemporary Hindu wedding rituals also involve food at almost every stage in the ceremony. In a prenuptial rite at the bride's and groom's homes, male and female guests heat the couple's bodies to ready them for sexual intercourse by rubbing them with turmeric. In another preliminary ritual, the groom's party is served a light pakka (fried) meal at the bride's house, then the bride sits behind a mound of rice, and the groom's father places coconuts and sweets (believed to be auspicious) and money in her lap.

During the main nuptial ritual, the priest pours rice into a small tray held in the bride's right hand. The groom places his arm around her shoulders and knocks the rice onto the ground seven times. After the ceremony is completed, Muhajayana takes place. During this rite, the bride fills a metal tin with uncooked rice and holds it on the ground for the new husband to kick over seven times. The disturbance of the raw grain by the male in these two practices places him in an active role for reproduction.

Also during Muhajayana, the wife cooks a mixture of rice and pulse, khichri, for the groom and his younger brothers. When the husband is full from his portions, he hands the leftovers to her for her to eat. This act embodies the belief that the leftovers of a superior confer a blessing on the subordinate who consumes them.

 My small-leaf basil 
 and my marjoram 
 it is you who will separate me 
 from my mother 
 Come to the window 
 girl, the one with the glass pane 
 to see your face 
 [which is as white as] flour 
 The stairs you ascend 
 [I wished] I ascended too 
 and at every step 
 to give you sweet kisses 

Traditional song sung by village musicians reserved for the women as part of the nuptial festivities (Argyrou, Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean, p. 69).

In The Wedding Day in All Ages and Countries by Edward J. Wood published in 1869, Wood writes on the various wedding rituals throughout the world. In Athenian tradition, sweetmeats, symbolic of abundance, were gingerly thrown upon the couple as they walked into a house for the nuptial feast. Later on, a quince was shared by the pair in hopes that their marriage would be agreeable. A man in Algiers placed fish at his new wife's feet for good luck. Past Chinese tradition called for a quilt, held by her relatives, to be placed in front of the bridal chair and as the bride sat there, four bread cakes were thrown into the air so that they would land on the quilt; this ritual also represents good luck.

Bibliography

Argyrou, Vassos. Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Beatty, Andrew. Society and Exchange in Nias. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Brown, Paula. "Chimbu Transactions." Man, New Series 5 (1970): 99–117.

Charsley, S. R. Wedding Cakes and Cultural History. New York: Routledge, 1992.

Crooke, William. "The Hill Tribes of the Central Indian Hills." Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 28 (1899): 220–248.

Han-yi, Feng, and J. K. Shryock. "Marriage Customs in the Vicinity of I chang." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 13 (1950): 362–430.

Sabetai, Victoria. "Marriage Boiotan Style." Hesperia 67 (1998): 323–334.

Wood, E. J. The Wedding Day in All Ages and Countries. Vol. I. London: Richard Bentley, 1869.

—Dalila Bothwell

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

A ceremony at which two persons undertake to become one, one undertakes to become nothing, and nothing undertakes to become supportable.

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IN BRIEF: The act of marrying.

There is something about a wedding-gown prettier than in any other gown in the world. — Douglas Jerrold (1803-1857).

• 123 Affordable Weddings Helps brides plan an inexpensive wedding that is still elegant.

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Quotes:

"A princely marriage is the brilliant edition of a universal fact, and, as such, it rivets mankind." - Walter Bagehot

"That is ever the way. 'Tis all jealousy to the bride and good wishes to the corpse." - Sir James M. Barrie

"Bride. A woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her." - Ambrose Bierce

"Girls usually have a paper mâché face on their wedding day." - Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

"Wedding is destiny, and hanging likewise." - John Heywood

"It is amazing at how small a price may the wedding ring be placed upon a worthless hand; but, by the beauty of our law, what heaps of gold are indispensable to take it off!" - Douglas Jerold

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - bryllup

idioms:

• wedding day    bryllupsdag
• wedding march    brudemarch
• wedding night    bryllupsnat

Nederlands (Dutch)
bruiloft, huwelijksfeest, trouwen, bruids-, trouw-, trouwend

Français (French)
n. - mariage, noces
adj. - de mariage

idioms:

• wedding day    jour des noces
• wedding march    marche nuptiale
• wedding night    nuit de noces

Deutsch (German)
n. - Hochzeit
adj. - Braut-, Hochzeits-

idioms:

• wedding day    Hochzeitstag
• wedding march    Hochzeitsmarsch
• wedding night    Hochzeitsnacht

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - γάμος, γαμήλια τελετή
adj. - γαμήλιος

idioms:

• wedding day    ημέρα ή επέτειος γάμου
• wedding march    το γαμήλιο εμβατήριο
• wedding night    πρώτη νύχτα γάμου

Italiano (Italian)
nozze, nuziale

idioms:

• diamond wedding    nozze di diamante
• golden wedding    nozze d'oro
• silver wedding    nozze d'argento
• wedding day    giorno delle nozze
• wedding march    marcia nuziale
• wedding night    notte di nozze

Português (Portuguese)
n. - casamento (m)
adj. - relativo a casamento

idioms:

• diamond wedding    bodas de diamante
• golden wedding    bodas de ouro
• silver wedding    bodas de prata
• wedding day    dia de casamento (m)
• wedding march    marcha nupcial (f)
• wedding night    noite do casamento (f)

Русский (Russian)
свадьба, годовщина свадьбы, соединение

idioms:

• diamond wedding    бриллиантовая свадьба
• golden wedding    золотая свадьба
• silver wedding    серебряная свадьба
• wedding day    день свадьбы
• wedding march    свадебный марш
• wedding night    брачная ночь

Español (Spanish)
n. - boda, casamiento, matrimonio, nupcias
adj. - nupcial, de bodas, de novios

idioms:

• wedding day    día de la boda
• wedding march    marcha nupcial
• wedding night    noche de bodas

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - bröllop
adj. - bröllops-

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
婚礼, 结婚仪式, 结婚

idioms:

• wedding day    婚礼日, 结婚纪念日
• wedding march    婚礼进行曲
• wedding night    洞房花烛夜

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 婚禮, 結婚儀式, 結婚

idioms:

• wedding day    婚禮日, 結婚紀念日
• wedding march    婚禮進行曲
• wedding night    洞房花燭夜

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 결혼식, 금혼식, 융합

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 結婚式, 結婚記念日

idioms:

• wedding day    結婚式の日, 結婚記念日
• wedding march    結婚行進曲
• wedding night    結婚初夜

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) عرس, , فرح, زفاف, قران (صفه) ما يتعلق بالزفاف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חתונה, טקס-כלולות‬

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wedding	Wedding Gift
Wedding Gown	Wedding Dresses