Marriage ceremonies have been conducted as long as couples have been in love, and including some of these old traditions is a meaningful way to celebrate your new union. We’ve compiled a list of unique wedding customs from around the world to give you more options beyond the well-worn unity candle, including ways to put your own personal twist on the celebration!
Greece: Wedding crowns
All customary Greek weddings will include stefana, or wedding crowns, as part of Greek Orthodox tradition. During the marriage ceremony, the priest will bless the bride and groom before crowning the couple. The crowns symbolize the nobility of marriage as the couple are christened the “king and queen” of their new household. Traditionally, the stefana are joined together by a ribbon to emphasize that the newlyweds have become bound together by their vows.
How to incorporate it into your wedding?
Modern wedding crowns are thin, delicate bands that are often designed with nature motifs. If the symbolism of stefana is something you want to incorporate in your wedding, consider replacing your tiara with a set of crowns or even fashioning your own from flowers for an informal interpretation.
Germany: Cutting the wedding log
In Germany, an old custom called Baumstamm Sägen has newlyweds saw through a log together. While woodworking is not something most brides imagine including in their wedding, the act is more romantic than you’d think. The log represents the first obstacle the couple must overcome in their marriage, so working together to cut the log signifies the pair’s willingness to tackle any challenges that may lie ahead.
How to incorporate it into your wedding?
Feel free to personalize your log ceremony for a truly memorable wedding! Recruiting loved ones such as fathers or close friends to help steady the log adds even more meaning to the ritual.
Engage your guests in the fun by having them write tidbits of marriage advice on the log or decorate it before they cheer you and your spouse on during the actual cutting event.
Scotland: Tying the knot
Scottish couples exchanged vows by joining hands during the middle ages to 17th century. This handfasting ritual has been adapted into modern Celtic weddings through binding of the couple’s hands with ribbons, cords, or garlands.
How to incorporate it into your wedding?
Handfasting is a highly customizable ceremony: royal couple William and Kate had a satin cloth draped over their clasped hands, while other couples tightly bind their handhold with elaborately braided cords. Performing handfasting using materials from each spouses’ past such as graduation cords or cloths treasured by the family is an easy way to personalize the ceremony.
Belgium: Rose ceremony
A Belgian tradition dictates that a bride should present a single rose to her mother as she walks down the aisle. Then at the end of service, the bride will offer a rose to her new mother-in-law, signifying that the two families have come together as one.
How to incorporate it into your wedding?
There are lots of ways to incorporate this romantic tradition into your wedding: consider having the groom join in on the ritual, including the fathers, or keeping the roses ceremony a secret as a touching surprise.
Another way to celebrate this union is to involve the guests in the ceremony. Pass out different colored flowers to signify guests of either bride or groom, and announce a moment during the ceremony for everyone to cross the aisles and exchange flowers as a colorful way to symbolize the mixing of families.
North America: Jumping the broom
In many cultures of the world from West Africa, Wales, England, and North America, newlywed couples cemented their ceremony by jumping over a broomstick, marking a new beginning. In America, the custom was adopted as an informal marriage ceremony for slaves, who could not legally wed. In modern weddings, jumping the broom represents the legitimacy and dignity of the marriage ceremony.
How to incorporate it into your wedding?
If you’d like to save the broom a keepsake, ask guests to write well-wishes or tie ribbons on the handle to create a special memento you can hang up as a reminder of your wedding.
Australia: Unity Bowl
Australian wedding ceremonies may include the unity bowl tradition: guests are given stones to hold during the ceremony, and can channel blessings for the marriage into the rock. At the end, the stones are collected into a glass jar which the couple can save as a reminder of the support they received from their family and friends on their special day.
How to incorporate it into your wedding?
Make the tradition even more special by inviting guests to decorate or write well-wishes on their stones. Different colors or sizes of the stones could be used to represent different family members, ages, or other demographics of your guests as a visual representation of your wedding.
You could even ask guests to bring a stone of their own to create a one-of-a-kind unity bowl, or substitute stones with seashells, bottle caps, or white decorative shapes like hearts.
Japan: Celebrate with a drink
The traditional Japanese ceremony includes a custom of sharing sake, or rice wine, between the bride and groom and then their parents. For the Japanese, the act of sharing sake held as much meaning as handfasting to the Scottish in solidifying a formal bond.
How to incorporate it into your wedding?
Rice wine may not be a staple in most families, but the tradition of sharing a drink to cement bonds and celebrate the union is a universal one. Try substituting a drink that’s meaningful to your relationship, whether it’s the wine you drank on your first date or from a vineyard you’ve visited together.
By now you’ve hopefully found some inspiration to make your wedding ceremony one both you and your guests will cherish for a long time. The most important tip we can offer is to keep the wedding true to yourself — the ceremony means different things to different couples around the world, so it’s important that you adopt traditions or create new ones to suit your ceremony.
If you’re still in the wedding planning stages, check out our wedding ceremony ideas page for expert advice and guides to creating the perfect ceremony for you and your spouse.
