Whilst browsing twitter today one of my followers tweeted this lovely wedding fact

‘In Ancient Rome a kiss was legally binding. A public kiss between two betrothed people meant as much as the exchange of rings'.

This got me thinking about where today’s wedding customs originated and why we include them in our weddings today?

Diamonds are a girls best friend!

Apparently due to old traditions we wear our engagement and wedding rings on our left hand as was this was believed to be directly linked to the heart. This is also why we wear our wedding band on the inside of our engagement ring as its closer to our hearts!  How beautiful!

Diamonds as the favourite precious stone for engagement rings only really became popular in 1920s America when the jewellers DeBeers began advertising. Even today many countries opt for other precious stones as the focal point of their engagement ring.

A precious gem which has always been linked with marriage is our favourite, the pearl. In Ancient Rome and Greece pearls demonstrated the wealth of its wearer and it was believed that if a bride wore pearls she would be happy in her marriage with few tears.

You must now kiss the bride!

Another tradition we can thank the Ancient Romans for is the kiss at the end of a marriage ceremony. As mentioned, in Roman law a kiss was legally binding therefore when newlyweds share their kiss at the altar today they are really binding their agreement.

What’s all the clatter about?

Why do we ring the church bells before the bride enters the church? Probably even stranger is the tradition of tying cans to the bumper of the wedding car or clinking the champagne flutes before the speeches. Its all due to ancient traditions that believe that noise wards away evil spirits.

If you know the reasons behind any other popular wedding traditions, we'd love to hear them! Simply leave us a comment.