7 Secular Wedding Traditions That Bring Meaning To Your Big Day

Jean & Bryan Wedding – Candle Lighting Ceremony – Bronx Post Office – by Karen Wise

If we’ve noticed anything after doing weddings for over a decade, it’s that each couple is completely unique and different from the next. How they choose to carry out their wedding ceremony is a beautiful demonstration of this fact. And many couples today desire a secular ceremony to signify their union. Here are seven non-religious wedding traditions that can be used to express your love and commitment to each other.

Unity Candle Lighting Ceremony
We talked about the sacredness of candle lighting in a Greek Orthodox wedding. The tradition doesn’t have to be based in a religion, however. The unity candle lighting ceremony is a beautiful way to honor your big day. Three candles are needed to perform the ritual – one for each partner and one to symbolize the new marriage. Before the ceremony, each set of parents lights a candle. Then the officiant reads a script, addressing the couple and their relationship. Finally, using the two smaller candles, the couple lights the larger candle to seal their union.
Read More

Andrea & John wedding - Bridal Bouquet - Blue Wedding Shoes - The Liberty Warehouse Brooklyn - Photo by Popography

Planning & Inspiration

Something Blue: A Creative Take on Wedding Tradition

by Kate Murphy

Dear Brides-to-Be, you are about to be handed a long list of wedding traditions, which you’ll be expected to take care of. And at the top is “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” The first three clauses of the bridal good luck rhyme are easy to nail – family and friends will be showering you with heirlooms and tokens once the engagement news breaks. But that last one, something blue, can be a little tricky. And what does it even mean exactly?

We did some digging and something blue stands for “purity, love, and fidelity,” principles you definitely want going in to your wedding day. For the bride in need of inspiration for her something blue, here are some of our favorite creative takes on the wedding tradition.
Read More

Planning & Inspiration

Why Do We Believe in “Something Blue” For Our Weddings?

by admin

Hey soon-to-be married ladies and gents! You have most certainly heard this saying before:

Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue,
and a silver sixpence in her shoe.

Aside from the silver sixpence, we still adhere to using these charms for “good luck.” But, how did we come up with these charms for good luck in the first place?

According to Jacobs and Nutt, authors of Folklore, the rhyme appears to originate in 1898 England (so that’s where the sixpence comes from):

In this country an old couplet directs that the bride shall wear:— “Something old, something new, Something borrowed, something blue.” “The something blue” takes, I am given to understand, usually the form of a garter, an article of dress which plays an important part in some wedding rites, as, for instance, in the old custom of plucking off the garter of the bride. “The something old” and ” something blue” are devices to baffle the Evil Eye. The usual effect on the bride of the Evil Eye is to render her barren, and this is obviated by wearing “something borrowed”, which should properly be the undergarment of some woman who has been blessed with children: the clothes communicate fertility to the bride. (page 128)

Tag Archive for: wedding traditions

Planning & Inspiration