On the day of the wedding, the bride is not supposed to wear any gold, until after her wedding ring is slipped out. Wearing gold during or before the wedding is thought to bring bad luck.
Old Church traditions forbade marriage during Lent and Advent. Marriage was also avoided in the months of May and August. May was to be reserved for the veneration of the Virgin Mary, and August was thought to invite bad luck and sickness.
Sunday marriages (with the exception of the months mentioned above) are believed to be luckiest. In the Veneto region of Italy, the groom walks to the bride’s house and, together, he walks with the bride and the whole wedding party to church. On the way, town residents would watch the group walk by and present the bride with many challenges. For example, they put a broom on the ground and if she bride noticed it and picked it up to put it away she was considered a good housekeeper. Then, she might come across a crying child, the couple is supposed to quiet him and make him smile; this would mean that they will be good parents. Coming across a beggar, means giving generously and is equaled to having a good heart.
The bride arrives to the wedding mass last. In the meantime, the groom waits in front of the church as his best men tease him about the bride, “Did you tell her that you’re getting married today?” and “I don’t think she’ll come”! Her lateness, depending on the number of minutes, would have a different meaning to the groom.
In Northern Italy, the groom brings the bouquet of flowers to the wedding. In fact the color and style of the bouquet is supposed to be a surprise to the bride. This signifies a present from the grooms.
The Reception The best man greets everyone coming to the reception with a tray of liquor. Sweet liquors are served to the women and strong drinks served to the men before any food. The purpose of this is to give everyone an opportunity to toast the bride and groom. A common toast would be “Per cent’anni” (for a hundred years).
All the men at the reception kiss the bride for good luck — and to make the groom jealous.
The bride carried a satin bag (la borsa) in which guests placed envelopes containing money. The money helped toward the expenses of the wedding which was financed by the bride’s family. During the reception, this purse was usually guarded by the bride’s grandmother (nonna) or mother (the holder of the bag can vary).In some weddings the bride hangs on to the satin bag and all the men who dance with the bride put money in the sack. At some weddings, primarily in Northern Italy, the best man would cuts the groom’s tie into little pieces. The pieces are then put onto a tray and sold to the guests. The proceeds are given to the couple to help pay for the band. It’s a good idea for the groom to bring a cheap tie in anticipation of this custom. Italian weddings have always emphasized food. Strongly linked with family life, food is the focal point of the festivities. The elaborate wedding of the bride and groom brings together the friends and relatives of both families in a celebration of their new relationship.
In ancient Rome, a loaf of wheat bread was broken over the heads of the bride and grooms to ensure a fertile and fulfilling life. Guests would eat the crumbs for good luck.
A multi-course dinner follows often as many as 14 different courses (sometimes even more)!
Rafi Michael
http://www.articlesbase.com/marriage-articles/italian-wedding-traditions-91395.html
Does anyone know of any Italian wedding traditions?
My fiance is Italian and I thought it would be nice to incorporate some aspect of an Italian tradition into the wedding. His family aren’t the wedding planning type and I’m finding it difficult to get any info out of them!! Does anyone know of any traditions off the top of their heads?!
Serve italian wedding soup. I know it has meatballs and you could easily find a recipie online if your caterer doesn’t know it.
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This question was asked about a week or so ago…do a search of your question and see what everyone wrote.
I didn’t mean my answer to be rude…but I just remembered the previous question having around ten answers or so…so if you were to just type in "Italian Wedding traditions" under the search part of this page, you’d have even MORE answers…
No need for people to give me the thumbs-down.
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I’m from the Northeast. I’m not Italian, but I know lots of them. I’ve been to a few Italian weddings too.
Number one tradition, be married in a Catholic Church w/ the Full Mass.
Jordan Almonds as favors. Although, I’ve never seen that done.
One thing I can tell you about Italian weddings, you better have food. And lots of it.
In the Northeast, a typical Italian wedding will have a full cocktail hour, open bar, champagne toast, salad and pasta course, intermezzo and then entree (something a buffet or craving stations too) This is all followed by wedding cake w/ a full dessert table (Italian pastries and cookies, cheesecake, etc) w/ coffee and sometimes espressos and cappiciano’s.
Food is key, I’d say.
You can’t have a traditional Italian wedding and serve hot dogs and hamburgers or even plain chicken breast w/ mash potatoes and veggies. Just would be out of place!
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In my family they put the bride and groom up on chairs and dance them to the music. (i think it originates from a festival where they dance a saint) The Tarantella song/dance is another tradition. Jordan almonds can be added to a favor (kind of like a decoration on the favor) Find out what specific family traditions he has. That will be better than a generic italian tradition that the family may or may not follow.
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Definitely great Italian food for the meal – a veal dish, ravioli or tortellini, and some amazing Italian pastries.
For favours, Jordan almonds – or at the last Italian wedding I was at, they were thrown by family members at the bride and groom as they entered the reception site.
Great Italian music to dance to!
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I am Italian, but you know years ago, there were Italian dances but now it is the modern world and most weddings of couples of Italian descent are the same as any other wedding. You could do a Tarrantella dance very similar to the Tora Havanagela of Jewish weddings. The most important thing about an Italian wedding is lots of good food and drink. If you have a cocktail hour, try to incorporate some Italian dishes, and the wedding cake could have a canolli filling with chocolate chips and citron…other than that, the Italian culture has come into the 21st century and is very modern. I went to Italy and I could not get over how modern people are there…unbelievable.
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For Italians, a Sunday wedding is the luckiest day. To keep evil spirits away the groom sometimes carries a piece of iron in his pocket. Releasing white doves is another Italian tradition.
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Certified Wedding Specialist (www.eleganzaintima.com)