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Crys Stewart, editor of
Wedding
Bells magazine offers inspirations for personalizing a wedding by adapting
wedding customs from around the world:
Update the Quaker tradition of having every guest
sign the register as witnesses by requesting that guests sign a calligraphic
poster of your wedding vows.
In
Britain, it's considered good luck if a charwoman appears and begs a coin from
the bridal couple on their way to their reception. Celebrate your joy with a
donation to your favorite charity. Have your best man send it on your wedding
day.
Follow the Bermudian tradition of using a tiny
evergreen tree as a cake topper. Plant the tree in your backyard after the
wedding.
A new take on the Scottish tradition of the groom
gifting his bride with an engraved "wedding spune" is to give the
mothers of the bride and groom silver serving-spoons engraved with your initials
and your wedding date.
Symbolically
binding the bridal couple immediately after the ceremony is an ancient rite
that's honored around the world: in Africa, some tribes will tie the bride's and
groom's wrists together with plaited grasses; in the Philippines and Mexico, a
white silken rope is looped around the couple. A new interpretation of this rite
has the bride and groom simply joining hands, rather than the bride taking the
groom's arm, when walking back down the aisle.
At Muslim weddings, the groom gives symbolic
gifts (anything from a rose to livestock) to his bride, and the bride's family
gives symbolic gifts to the groom. A groom of Scottish descent recently
translated this tradition for his wedding by giving his bride a sash in his
family's tartan, which he helped her put on during the ceremony to symbolize his
welcoming her to his family. Symbolic gift-giving works well in a variety of
wedding ceremonies and venues.
In Fiji, the groom gives his bride's father a
gift symbolizing wealth and status. A Canadian groom might want to pay his
respects to the bride's father and kick off a good relationship by asking
him out for lunch or dinner.
The German tradition of giving kerchiefs to
wedding guests so that they can wrap up leftover food to take home can be
updated by having your caterer send leftover reception food to a needy shelter
or open kitchen.
Carry a special personal memento on your wedding
day. A charming Belgian tradition has the bride embroidering her name and
wedding date on a handkerchief which she keeps with her throughout the ceremony
and reception. Later, she frames it, to be kept for her daughter and future
generations to add their own names and cherish on their wedding days.
Many French wedding ceremonies include the
charming tradition of having the groom walk his mother down the aisle just prior
to the main procession.
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