A maid of honor once attended to the bride-to-be for several days prior to a wedding, making sure the bridal wreath was made and helping her get dressed. Bridesmaids of the past also used to walk down the aisle with aromatic bunches of garlic, herbs, and grains to drive evil spirits away (and to help make things smell nice in times when hygiene was a bit different).ġ6.
Victorian bridesmaids were tasked with making party favors out of things like ribbons and flowers and pinning them onto the sleeves and shoulders of guests as they left the ceremony. By the 20th century, this had fallen out of favor, and the bride alone wore white to better stand out.ġ5. In early Victorian times, tradition called for all-white weddings, so bridesmaids-who were supposed to be younger than the bride-wore white dresses with short veils, contrasting with the bride’s more ornate veil and train. (She had to have been married no more than once, and to have a living husband.) She joined the right hands of the bride and bridegroom for the first time at the ceremony.ġ4. In ancient Roman weddings, the matron of honor was a moral role model, known for fidelity and obedience. After the ceremony he stood guard outside the newlyweds' bedroom or home.ġ3. Later, he was moved to the groom's right side (possibly due to jealousy on the part of the groom). Given the likelihood that the bride's family would attempt to retrieve her from her groom or get revenge-or that another suitor would try to take her, or she might try to escape-the best man stood right next to her at the wedding, at the ready with his weapon. Part of the job was to walk carefully: If a bridesmaid stumbled on the way to the altar, the superstition was that she would never marry.ġ2. In medieval times, some bridesmaids made the bride drink and eat a concoction of plum buns in spiced ale to “restore the energies.”ġ1. In some traditions, bridesmaids led the bridegroom to the church and the groomsmen led the bride.ġ0. She’d also help the bride take off her gloves and then hold them during the ceremony.ĩ. The chief bridesmaid might be in charge of the dow-purse (much the way today’s maid of honor would hold the bride’s bouquet). In some early traditions, the groomsmen were called Bride’s Knights, because they helped protect her-and her dowry, and her virginity-or because they assisted in her kidnapping.Ĩ. He was the “best man” for, specifically, the job of stealing the bride from her neighboring community or disapproving family, and he was probably the best swordsman, too.ħ. The tradition of the “best man” is thought to have originated with the Germanic Goths of the 16th century. Another origin story for the bridesmaid tradition is Biblical: When Jacob married Leah and Rachel, each brought her own “maid”-but they were personal servants rather than your typical bouquet-holding bridesmaids.Ħ. Bridesmaids and groomsmen had to dress just like the bride and groom to confuse vengeful spirit presences (or real-life jealous suitors) who might try to harm the newlyweds.ĥ.
Ancient Roman law required 10 witnesses to be present at a wedding, which is considered a precursor to the bridal party tradition.
Whoever caught it would throw her shoe at the men, and the first guy hit would be the one to wed.Ĥ. In Anglo-Saxon times the groom “symbolically" struck the bride with a shoe to “establish his authority.” Brides would throw shoes at their bridesmaids (instead of a bouquet) to see who would marry next. There was a lot of shoe-throwing in the old days. A tradition in medieval England and France was called "fingering the stocking”: literally checking the bride's stockings for signs that the marriage had been consummated.ģ. Witnesses at the marriage bed were once required to get REALLY involved. They’d form a small army to fight off angry relatives so that he could escape with her.Ģ. In a time in which “marriage by capture” was practiced, close friends of the groom would assist him in taking the bride from her family.
#Wedding usher ribbon serial
Jen Doll, author of Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest, reveals what used to be expected of bridesmaids, groomsmen, and even the guests at a wedding.ġ.
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