Then and now: What your vows really mean

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Planning a Vow Renewal Ceremony: A Step-By-Step Guide · Pick a Date · Choose the Site · Consider Vows · Find an Officiant · Invite Guests (Or Not).

A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups , religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vows by a couple, presentation of a gift offering, rings, symbolic item, flowers, money, dress , and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or celebrant.

Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers, or readings from religious texts or literature are also commonly incorporated into the ceremony, as well as superstitious customs originating in Ancient Rome. Some cultures have adopted the traditional Western custom of the white wedding , in which a bride wears a white wedding dress and veil. This tradition was popularized through the marriage of Queen Victoria.

Some say Victoria’s choice of a white gown may have simply been a sign of extravagance, but may have also been influenced by the values she held which emphasized sexual purity. The use of a wedding ring has long been part of religious weddings in Europe and America, but the origin of the tradition is unclear. One possibility is the Roman belief in the Vena amoris , which was believed to be a blood vessel that ran from the fourth finger ring finger directly to the heart. Thus, when a couple wore rings on this finger, their hearts were connected.

Historian Vicki Howard points out that the belief in the “ancient” quality of the practice is most likely a modern invention.