Customs and traditions at a wedding
- What are the rules for greeting young people with a loaf of bread?
- Who greets the newlyweds with a loaf of bread at a wedding?
- Meeting the groom at the bride's house
- How to greet newlyweds at the entrance to a restaurant?
- Options for meeting the bride and groom without a loaf
Before planning the order of the wedding celebration, two families need to consult and find out under what scenario the wedding will take place . If the parents and newlyweds decide to adhere to Christian traditions, then the wedding ceremony of meeting the newlyweds after the wedding and wedding ceremony must take place with bread and salt.
What are the rules for greeting young people with a loaf of bread?
Wedding ceremony - meeting of the newlyweds with a loaf of bread.
A person celebrates the most joyful and significant events in his life in the circle of his closest and dearest people. In this way we share our happiness and good fortune with our dear loved ones and friends. A wedding celebration combines several emotions:
- the joy of creating a new family;
- state of holiday;
- the beauty and originality of traditions and rituals inherent in the birth of the union of two loving hearts.
By observing the centuries-old customs of our ancestors , we thereby pay tribute to our rich history.
Honoring certain traditions, newlyweds must understand the deep meaning that the tradition conveys, the symbolism that can ensure the well-being of a young family .
In order for the ceremony to most accurately comply with the old canons and to be carried out correctly, it is necessary to consult with the clergyman of the temple where the wedding ceremony was held
A spiritual mentor will suggest many points:
- how to properly meet newlyweds after church and the registry office;
- what icons need to be held in your hands;
- what parting words should be said to the newlyweds.
The blessing of the newlyweds takes place on the threshold of the room where the festive feast will take place. Parents arrive there in advance, preparing to meet the newlyweds after a photo shoot and pleasure ride in cars. Guests also come a little earlier to meet the newlyweds and congratulate them on their legal marriage .
Pieces of loaf in the hands of the newlyweds
Both the parents of the groom and the parents of the bride can present bread and salt. The newlyweds may be , for example, in poetry or funny prose. Where else can you joke and laugh, rejoice and wish happiness from the heart, if not at a wedding. You can take advantage of this and set the tone for the entire celebration at the very beginning.
A look into the future
Another ceremony that will take place before the festive dinner is the determination of who will be in charge of the family. A wedding loaf is used for this ritual. This is a richly decorated bread. Salt is often served with it so that the spouses “annoy” each other today and never again.
Previously, bread was baked by women who were successfully married. While kneading the dough, they said prayers. Housewives often sang folk songs. Everything was done cheerfully and with soul. Not a single wedding is complete without this bread. Older people will tell you how to meet young people after the registry office with a loaf of bread and what to say. Usually lovers break off a piece of bread. Whose part is larger will become the leader in the family.
An obligatory element of the ritual is an embroidered towel on which the holy bread lies. They fold it so that the white cloth is under the sole of the loaf, and the patterns hang down on the sides. Previously, girls wove and embroidered towels even before marriage. The brighter and more magnificent the pattern, the better life will be. Now the amulet can be ordered or bought.
Who greets the newlyweds with a loaf of bread at a wedding?
Before the arrival of the newlyweds, the toastmaster organizes the guests, building a “living” corridor. Packages with wheat, buckwheat, coins and rose petals are distributed . It is worth warning those who meet you that it is better to throw solid objects at the level of the young people’s waist, as if covering their life’s path with wealth, prosperity and wishing for a new addition to the family. Flower petals, on the contrary, are thrown upward over the heads of the newlyweds , creating a rain of light and fragrant leaves.
The newlyweds walk along this corridor and at the end, on the threshold of the building, the groom's parents meet the newlyweds. Previously, the girl came to her husband’s house, where she was met by the boy’s parents and all his relatives.
The bride was accepted into the family and blessed with an icon and a loaf of bread
If families decide to adhere to traditions, then when the newlyweds meet, the groom’s mother holds a loaf of bread at the wedding on a beautiful towel, embroidered in wedding traditions, and the groom’s father holds an icon. In addition, the bride's parents can hold a tray with champagne glasses and apple halves for snacking.
Then the newlyweds drink champagne and break the glasses for good luck. By the fragments you can determine who will be the first-born - a boy or a girl. If there are more large fragments, then a son will be born, if there are more small ones, then a daughter. After this, the young people bow to their parents , thanking them for their care and science, and their parents say parting words and congratulations. The parents' speech should not be too long so as not to tire those present, since there will still be an opportunity to say words of congratulations during the banquet.
Photo of a meeting between young people and a loaf of bread
If the celebration will be celebrated in the groom’s house, or the newlyweds, after the registry office and a small buffet, are leaving for a wedding tour, then meeting the bride and groom with a loaf at the entrance is the optimal scenario for the ceremony. The presence of an icon in this ritual is mandatory, since it is a symbol of faith and unity of the older and younger generations, a symbol of the parents’ blessing for a happy family life for their children . The young man's parents should hold the icon; as a rule, this is the groom's father. It was the father's blessing for marriage that was considered important in Christianity.
When entering into marriage, a young family strives to live separately, so it becomes unimportant whose parents hold the loaf at the wedding, and who will greet the newlyweds after the registry office with an icon and bread and salt
All this can be discussed in advance and a plan for carrying out the ceremony that is most convenient for everyone can be found.
When the newlyweds approach their parents, the groom’s mother serves a loaf of bread with a parting speech. The mother-in-law brings bread and salt, wishing happiness in family life. The young break off a piece of bread, salt it and feed it to each other, symbolizing care in family life, and salt is used so as not to salt each other in the future.
What to do with the loaf after the newlyweds meet? After the ceremony, the groom's mother brings the loaf into the banquet hall and places it on the newlyweds' table. The bride and groom can cut it and treat each invitee to a piece of the wedding loaf, as if sharing their happiness and joy. Guests can take a piece of loaf home to share it with their family, passing on a piece of happiness from the bride and groom. Young people can also take the loaf home and eat it themselves.
Mother of the groom with a loaf of bread
Instead of a house - a restaurant
Nowadays the festive lunch is held in cafes or restaurants. The guy's relatives should be standing at the entrance to the establishment. The main thing here is that the groom’s mother knows how the mother-in-law greets the newlyweds after the registry office or wedding, because a lot here depends on her. How she greets her daughter-in-law is how their future life will turn out. This is one of the few customs that has an echo in modern weddings.
At first, parents presented the gift immediately after the official part. As soon as the young people appeared on their doorstep, they were greeted with icons and bread and salt. Then the guests feasted and had fun. Traditionally, the newlyweds were welcomed by the groom's parents, since the young wife was supposed to go live in his house. And although today the wedding scheme has changed somewhat, this ritual has not lost its main essence.
Images of the Mother of God and Jesus Christ from mom and dad - this is how the newlyweds are greeted after the registry office. The guy's parents accept their daughter-in-law into their family. The native girls stand behind along with the guests, since from now on the daughter has moved to another house.
Meeting the groom at the bride's house
As a rule, this ritual is preserved at many weddings, however, there are couples who do not want to conduct a bride price. If the ceremony is carried out, then this episode of the wedding can become one of the brightest moments of the holiday. After all, the bridesmaids and friends of the groom take part in it, and this is a competition between young people in resourcefulness , sparkling humor, and an element of the groom’s “struggle” for his beloved appears. In addition, the bride's parents meet the groom with bread and salt.
This beautiful ritual of wishing happiness to the newlyweds, prosperity and success in all endeavors is an important psychological aspect for newlyweds
The bride's friends prepare various competitions and jokes for the groom and his friends to create an original meeting. After passing all the tests, the groom wins a place next to his beloved , completing the wedding ritual. While waiting for her betrothed, a girl can decorate the room with balloons, flowers, candles and rose petals. This will create a romantic atmosphere and a special aura of tenderness and love.
The bride takes a bite of a loaf
Morning of the bride with her bridesmaids
The bride can invite her bridesmaids to come early in the morning to watch her get ready, drink coffee or champagne, and take pictures. For a morning bachelorette party, it is better to choose not an apartment, but a more glamorous place (especially if the apartment does not have a stylish interior). A hotel room or beauty salon is quite suitable - in a beautiful interior the photos will turn out better and the atmosphere of the bride's morning will be more festive. At this time, the same men's gatherings can take place at the groom's place with his friends.
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How to greet newlyweds at the entrance to a restaurant?
If the celebration is planned to be celebrated not at home, but in a restaurant or cafe, then the scenario of the ceremony of welcoming the newlyweds changes in accordance with the location of the celebration. Meeting in a cafe is not much different from meeting at home or in front of a restaurant. The threshold of the room symbolizes the threshold to a new life called “family”.
Meeting guests in the banquet hall is one of the important moments of the wedding celebration. It is impossible to gather all the invitees at exactly six o'clock in the evening - some will come earlier, some later. To prevent guests from wandering around the restaurant halls, you should organize an aperitif table for them. It usually contains bottles of light alcohol and snacks on skewers. You can also familiarize guests with the building plan:
- show where the toilet is;
- smoking room;
- what to do with children;
- where to put gifts.
Meeting young people with ribbons at the doorstep
If you decide to do without a bride price
At the request of the bride and groom, the time of the ransom, which both decided to refuse, can be spent on sleep, getting ready for the wedding, a beauty salon or a photo shoot. This is probably why young people are increasingly refusing home-grown entrance tests for their beloved - anyway, everything has already been decided, this couple will get married, and there is no point in organizing a free show for neighbors in the unsightly entrance of an old Khrushchev-era building.
The simplest, most worthy and very short-term alternative to ransoming the bride is that the groom, at the head of the wedding cortege, drives up to the bride’s house (at this moment you can honk all the cars), goes up to her apartment and asks the beloved’s parents for permission/blessing to marry their daughter. It is clear that the moment is symbolic , because it has already been discussed for a long time, but it is still beautiful - you can present the future father-in-law with expensive cognac, and the future mother-in-law with a chic bouquet of flowers and a box of elite chocolate. After this, the groom goes into the bride’s room, kneels down and gives her a wedding bouquet, the happy lovers go down to the cars - a farewell victory car horn blows, and the entire cortege heads to the registry office.
Photo of the wedding procession at the bride's house
Possible events after the registry office
No matter how long the preparation for the wedding lasts - a month or a year - no one and nothing guarantees that everything will go as planned. This does not mean that you need to abandon your wedding plan and let everything take its course. You can’t expect that after registration we’ll “figure something out” if you don’t want the holiday to turn into chaos. There is no need to “reinvent the wheel”; you need to look at the experience of other couples or the advice of wedding planners.
The wedding after the registry office can continue with the following events:
- Wedding. Many newlyweds who perceive marriage not as a “stamp in a passport” decide to seal their union not only before the state and the public, but also before God. Although the church does not depend on the state to perform the wedding ceremony, newlyweds need to formalize their relationship. Therefore, usually, they go to the wedding immediately after registering the marriage at the registry office.
- Buffet. It is held near the registry office somewhere in nature. This option is especially relevant when all the guests are invited to the painting, and other events are still planned before the festive banquet (a walk after the registry office, a photo shoot, etc.). Keeping guests hungry all this time is wrong and can lead to negative reviews and sentiment.
- Laying flowers. A tradition passed down from Soviet times, when newlyweds, after registration, go to lay flowers at memorials to soldiers who died in the Second World War. This is a tribute to memory and respect to the deceased parents, grandfathers and great-grandfathers. Most couples still include this moment in their wedding plan.
- A walk through the city's attractions and a photo shoot. Depending on the capabilities and interests of the newlyweds, the route and scale of the walk may be different.
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In addition to these, one might say, traditional solutions, some weddings are distinguished by original ideas of where to go after the registry office. Among them:
- The work of the bride and groom. It is not always possible to invite all your colleagues to the celebration, but you need to respect them with attention. If the wedding falls on a working day, you can visit your colleagues, drink champagne with them and receive gifts from them.
- Orphanage. To some, the choice of such a place may seem quite sad, but sometimes couples prefer not to lay flowers at monuments, where they will simply wither, but to help children deprived of parental care. Such a trip can be symbolic for a couple.
READ ALSO: Is it necessary to have witnesses present at the registry office?