Traditional and Nontraditional Traditions

Wow that's a mouthful, huh?

When I first started planning my wedding, the only wedding tradition I really knew about was the whole "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue" thing. (I am totally doing this by the way...to some, it may be silly, but it is a must-do on my list.) Other than that though, I had no clue about any other wedding traditions.

I really want to include some other traditions into our wedding so I went into research mode. I started by Googling "wedding traditions" and came up with a bunch of stuff from different countries and religions. Here are some of my favorites that I'm considering incorporating into our special day:

1. The Groom carries the Bride over the threshold to protect her from evil spirits (This is my workout motivation!)

2. In Sweden, the Bride puts a silver coin from her Father and a gold coin from her Mother in her shoes to ensure that she will never be without either (I'm considering hot gluing one of each from each parent on the bottom of my shoes)

3. In Egypt, the Bride's parents do all the cooking for a week after the wedding so the happy couple can relax (how awesome would that be???)

4. If the younger sister gets married first (I'm the baby), the older sister has to dance barefoot at the wedding or risk never getting married (hmmmm....should I make sister Sarah dance barefoot all night long - evil grin)

5. During the ceremony, the Bride and Groom's hands are literally tied together to symbolize commitment. Hence the saying, "tying the knot". (I may use some pretty ribbon or something for this.)

Here's one I don't like: Apparently the English believe that finding a spider on the bride's dress is good luck on your wedding day. When I visited my venue for the first time with Co-MOH L, we saw a huge tarantula. If I find on of those crawling on my dress in October, I might just pass out. No thank you Mr. Tarantula!

And here's a funny one: In Denmark, traditionally brides and grooms cross-dress on their wedding day to confuse evil spirits! Does that mean the bride doesn't even get to wear a gorgeous wedding dress? Boo...

What traditions are you incorporating into your ceremony and reception?