Wedding Traditions

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My long career of selling jewelry brought me into contact with a lot of brides-to-be, who purchased their wedding jewelry from me, especially matching jewelry for the bridesmaids and jewelry for the bride’s trousseau. I also learned a lot about wedding traditions over the years. Recently, I read some interesting things about wedding traditions. I had always heard that from Roman days, the tradition of wearing the wedding ring on the fourth finger of the left hand was based on a MISTAKEN idea that a vein runs from that particular finger to the heart. Have you ever heard of that? However, in ancient Egypt, gold rings were used as money, so when the groom placed the ring on the brides finger, it meant that he was showing her that he trusted her with his wealth. Hmmmm. I had not heard of that tradition, have you? Then, with other cultures, the ring, since it was round, symbolized endless, eternal devotion. I had not heard of that before either. I like that idea the best though. It just goes to show that wedding rings have been around for a LONG time. Another tidbit was that the choosing of the best man and the ushers was based on the ancient barbaric days when men captured women they married, because they needed friends to FIGHT OFF the family of the captured bride. That was a new idea for me. What wedding traditions do you know? Did you have a large wedding or small? I had a small wedding, but we did exchange rings and I wore a garter, which I still have, along with the lavender gloves that I wore when I got married in 1959.