wedding traditions

Wherever you go, marriage is sacred. But different cultures have their own unique ways of preparing for and celebrating the happy couple’s nuptials. Here QUIZ, retailers of occasion dresses, tell Vows & Venues a few weird and wonderful wedding traditions from around the world.

1.    China

As China is a large nation, wedding and bridal traditions can depend on which region you’re from. Tujia brides must cry for an hour a day every day for a month in the run-up to their wedding. After ten days, the bride’s mother joins her in crying daily before being joined by her grandmother. As the other women join in, it’s seen as an expression of their joy.

Picture a British wedding and some familiar images come to mind – a white dress, vows we all know by heart, a toast to the bride and groom, and confetti in the air as the happy couple drive away in a ‘just married’ car... the great wedding traditions.

That kind of vignette has been the closing shot to many a film and has been ingrained in British culture for more than a century.

But all those wedding traditions are under threat according to a survey by group travel experts Red7.

The survey, which polled 2,002 respondents in the UK, showed that attitudes to weddings are seriously changing.

There has been a dramatic shift in terms of wedding traditions and trends in recent years. In fact, 55% fewer couples have had church weddings in the last five years than 40+ years ago, according to new research from jewellery insurance provider Protect Your Bubble. 

The research also revealed a sharp decline in the number of couples expecting the brides’ parents to cough up for the cost of the wedding and those choosing to live separately until their wedding day, which were down 68% and 78% respectively over the same period. 

However, some traditions that had previously waned in popularity in recent decades appear to be making a comeback. 

Wherever you are in the world, weddings are always a great day, full of love, laughter, and much celebration. While you will probably attended enough weddings to know what to expect from the day, there are some wonderful country-specific traditions that you may not be familiar with if you have only been to a wedding in the UK.

Whether you find yourself at a wedding somewhere else in the world, or are simply looking for wedding inspiration and want to incorporate some unique practices into your own, experts at language app Babbel (Babbel.com) have shared a list of marital traditions from eight countries around the world to give you some insider info.