At first glance, you might not think that weddings have changed all that much. A couple has a wedding ceremony with their friends and family with plenty of food and drink. They wear specific kinds of clothing – although with variations due to personal taste – and even the words spoken at the ceremony are very similar to what has always been said.
However, when you start to look a little deeper, you’ll realize that just in the last few decades, weddings have actually changed a lot. Read on to find out more.
Save The Date Cards
If you ask your parents or grandparents about save-the-date cards, they might not know exactly what you mean. That’s because this is a wedding tradition that only started to become popular in the mid-2000s. Before that, guests would first hear about a wedding when they received an invitation. Today, most couples like to send out save-the-date cards first.
The reason is mainly down to the fact that we have friends and family that are spread far and wide. This means they have to take extra time and think more carefully about the logistics of coming to a wedding – especially destination weddings, which are hugely popular. A save-the-date card gives them the time to work out what to do before they have to respond to an invitation.
Having Shorter Ceremonies
When you hire a wedding venue, it’s likely that what you’re imagining is the wedding reception – the party after the ceremony – rather than the ceremony itself. This is the part that you’ve probably spent the most money on, and it’s the part that will be remembered more clearly over the years.
In the past, this was different. The ceremonies were long – perhaps an hour or more – and the reception would have been just a dinner and a little music, before the bride and groom rushed off on honeymoon. There might not even have been a reception at all. Today it’s the other way around, with the ceremony being much shorter and the party lasing all night.
Getting The Bride’s Father’s Permission
This is a very old tradition and one that really goes back to a time when women were considered property. It sounds strange now, but a prospective groom would have to ask permission to marry from the bride’s father before asking the woman herself. The father would have the final say, since he would be giving away (hence this element in a wedding ceremony) his daughter to another man.
This might still happen today, but it’s not taken as seriously. It’s a nod to a tradition, but the likelihood is that the groom – or bride – has already proposed or is about, to no matter what their partner’s father says. Plus, since the father really has no say in who their daughter marries, the answer isn’t overly important (although a yes would be better than a no, of course!).
The Bride’s Family Paying
Following on from one outdated idea, here is another. For centuries, it was down to the bride’s family to pay for the wedding, and again, this was due to the idea of her being property.
However, although this might still happen today, it’s certainly not something that a couple should expect. Firstly, there might not be a bride involved at all – or there could be two. Who would pay in that situation? Secondly, the couple will very often have been living together for a while and already be sharing many bills, so saving and paying for a wedding is something they can do without too many problems.
