07-06-2018
Trying to choose a topic for a first blog post is pretty daunting and a little bit scary. So where do you start?! I have the genre, but what to discuss? Weddings – I know that. But what do you want to hear about them?
After staring at a screen for what seems like forever I've decided to go back to basics. Back to old school. Back to the traditions.
We all know the 'rule'; the Groom shouldn't see the Bride before the ceremony in her dress. The majority of us adhere to it. Taking huge measures; staying in separate hotels, arriving at the venue at different times, coordinating with Ushers and Bridesmaids to keep one away from the other. But where does it come from?
This tradition originates from the time when arranged marriages were the norm in most cultures. When the pairing off of a couple was classed as more of a business deal than a symbol of love. The Father of the Bride would choose a man he thought had the most to offer; wealth, land, a good family name (the chiselled jaw and piercing eyes weren’t top priority surprisingly!). The families worried that if the Groom saw the Bride before the wedding he wouldn’t find her attractive and therefore call off the wedding (or the “business deal”) bringing shame on the family.
So why do we still follow this tradition? Nowadays it’s completely normal in most cultures for us to live with our partners, even have children with our partners before marriage, so how would seeing the Bride the night/morning before alter anything? Will this be a tradition we keep or as time and relationships progress, will this just be another old-school tradition that time forgets?
I think the progression of time has altered the way we perceive this tradition. We want to present ourselves in a way that hasn’t been seen before; the hair, the make-up, the dress. The fact that we now know our partners before our wedding day (sometimes we know too much about our partners!), we still want that air of mystery. Still want them to look at us the way they looked at us the very first time we met. The Bride wants that 'wow'...
So what do you think: will you be following this tradition? Did you follow this tradition? Or is it time we created some new traditions that in years to come, people will be writing blogs about. It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds and one thing I am certain of it that it’ll be a lot of fun on the way.
