The Traditions In Marriage
Watching a programme called Married in Britain on iPlayer a few weeks ago, it was extremely interesting to see the plethora of traditions and customs from different cultures - all requiring an enterprising business to provide the equipment - Wedding photographers, dresses, shoes, hairdressers, cakes, venues, invitations and ring makers.
Because a couple's nationality is not recorded on the marriage certificate it is hard to know how many of the 240,000 marriages each year are immigrants but some London seamstresses told us that the women coming to their shop for dresses were 60% foreign and 40% British
Many foreign couples will have a civil ceremony in a registry office first - you only need proof of identification and an address - but the bride must understand her vows, so there may need to be an interpretor in attendance. This is then followed by a traditional ceremony for their own culture.
Hindu Wedding ceremonies To maintain the proper Hindu wedding traditions, there can be up to thirteen symbolic rituals involved in the greeting of the groom and his family by the bride's family through to the final blessings on the married couple.
The most famous is the wedding knot, where the bride and groom are joined together by a piece of cloth which is tied to the bride's dress and the groom's scarf - or just placed around the shoulders of the bridal couple, followed by the taking of steps around a sacred fire.
Romanian Wedding Traditions Romanians walk through an arch of flowers to a special song and there is a wedding tree that has to be taken care of to symbolise how the groom would care for his wife and the best man has to look after it.
In some parts of Romania it is traditional to kidnap the bride and hold her to ransom during the feast after the wedding. Then, once the ransom has been paid, the guilty party have to consume their prize - invariably copious amounts of alcohol.
Jewish Wedding Traditions At a Jewish wedding, the bride traditionally walks around the groom three or seven times when she arrives at the Chuppah. This symbolises the 3 virtues of marriage: justice, righteousness and loving kindness or the Biblical interpretation that seven denotes completeness or perfection.
Depending on local custom, either at the end of the ceremony or after the bride has received the ring, the groom breaks a lightbulb rather than the traditional glass because it is easier to crush and makes a more impressive sound. He has to crush it with his right foot after which the guests shout "Mazel tov!" ("Congratulations").
One explanation of this custom is that it is a reminder that despite the joy, Jews still mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Probably the most famous Jewish custom is The Horah - a circle dance where the bride and groom are lifted on chairs.
Turkish and African Marriage Traditions In the Turkish community, the wedding season peaks in October with two or three every week in the UK. In Turkey, weddings usually take place in villages where there is no orchestra so for thousands of years they have had just a drum and a flute and that tradition goes on for marriages in the UK.
For Africans, the drum rhythms speak too and a wedding is a once in a lifetime event for Africans so they want it to be the best. Traditional attire and music to represent what Africa is all about.
Brazilian Wedding Traditions Rain and the sharing of sweets are both regarded as good fortune at Brazilian weddings and the honeymoon will be funded by guests paying cash to cut pieces from the groom's tie.
However they celebrate, we wish all the brides and grooms a happy and prosperous life together.
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