WEDDING TRADITIONS

GENEALOGY - Part VI

Have you considered celebrating your wedding in a way that appreciates the long-lived union of generations gone by? Especially, if the marriages have influenced you and your intended?

What started me thinking about this was reading the wedding announcements of my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles lovingly tucked away as mementos of a special day that described items (beyond clothing and Grandma's string of pearls). 

For example:

• One wedding (held in a private home) had decorated the parlor with flowers from the mother's garden. The mother was a master gardener with the local garden club, so, the article named the variety of flowers.     What if you were to weave some of the same type of flowers into your theme?
• In another, the bride and groom exchanged vows in the evening while standing in front of the home's fireplace. Bee's wax candles in crystal candlestick holders belonging to the bride's grandmother provided the lighting for the ceremony.     What if you found "those candlesticks" and made them part of the celebration?

While reading through these clippings, I realized it's possible to find something that would add beauty and significance to any couple's special day. Even beyond that, it may be the beginning of a new, family tradition. Something more than: 

Something Old

Something New

Something Borrowed

Something Blue

As a matter of fact, brides from the late 1800s and early 1900s pinned a small pouch to their petticoat with the following items inside:

•           A piece of bread so the couple would never go hungry,

•           A piece of cloth so they would never be cold,

•           A piece of wood so they would always have shelter, and

•           A single dollar bill so they would never know poverty.

Michelle J. Hoppe's book "Manners for Women" reminded couples that "love alone should not be a foundation on which to base a marriage, it also takes a thorough acquaintanceship, and a certain knowledge of harmony and temperament before marriage. Mutual trust? There can be no love without it. Man and wife must walk side-by-side on the same path of moral purpose and social usefulness."

This book's excerpt, I believe, is the best tradition of all.

Jo Ann V. Glim is a 40 year veteran of  freelance writing and author of the Book "Begotten With Love." To learn more:

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