Beech Tree News Network

Who doesn’t enjoy a beautiful wedding? June is the most popular month for weddings in the U.S. My oldest daughter chose to marry in June, and their anniversary is next week (Happy 20th anniversary!).
Wedding ceremonies are steeped in tradition. Some interesting details about weddings are listed below (http://facts.randomhistory.com/interesting-facts-about-weddings.html; http://weddingdaysparklers.com/5-interesting-facts-about-weddings-for-tr... ):
•    The phrase “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe” is symbolic of continuity, optimism for the future, borrowed happiness, fidelity, and wealth or good luck, respectively.
•    The superstition that the bridegroom must not see his bride before the wedding stems from the days when marriages were arranged and the groom might never have seen the bride. There was the chance that if he saw her, he might bolt. Other sources say that to see the bride in her dress is peering into the future, which can bring bad luck.
•    In many cultures, the groom historically often kidnapped the bride, and the groom’s friends would help him, leading to the modern-day groomsmen. At the altar, the groom stood on the bride’s right side so his right hand—or his sword hand—would be free to fight/defend a jealous rival.
•    Flower girls traditionally threw flower petals in the bride’s path to lead her to a sweet, plentiful future.
•    Throwing rice at weddings symbolizes fertility, prosperity, and bounty.
•    A bride is traditionally carried over the threshold either to symbolize her reluctance to leave her father’s home or because evil spirits hovered over the threshold of a house—so she was lifted over the entrance to protect her from the spirits.
•    In the United States, no law or religious dictate says the bride must take the groom’s last name.
•    In 2000, the average age for a woman to marry was 24 years old, and the average age for a man to marry was 28.
•    Las Vegas is the top wedding destination with over 100,000 weddings a year, followed by Hawaii at 25,000 weddings a year.
•    An average wedding in the U.S. has 175 guests.
•    The busiest wedding days in the U.S., in order of popularity, are Saturday afternoon, Saturday morning, Friday evening, and Sunday afternoon. A late afternoon or early evening wedding is generally more expensive than an earlier wedding.
•    More than 40% of couples now plan their weddings together, and three out of four grooms help select items for their wedding gift registries.
•    Seventy-five percent of engaged couples in the United States pay for some or all of their own wedding.
•    An overwhelming 80% of brides choose to have a formal wedding, while the remaining 20% has either a casual ceremony, elopes, or stands before a justice of the peace.
Less formal weddings may be less stressful in some ways. Recently, I saw pictures of an outdoor Tennessee wedding. The couple said their vows in a gazebo as the guests sat on hay bales that were covered with quilts. My parents eloped; they were married in a nearby county about 64 years ago. Their marriage lasted until my father died four years ago.
According to Dave Ramsey, there is “no correlation between the … expense of the wedding and the success of the marriage.” And, Hebrews 13:4 (NIV) says that marriage “should be honored by all.” So, making wedding choices that reflect the couple’s uniqueness is definitely acceptable.