Wedding ceremony participants , also referred to as the wedding party , or the bridal party , are the people that participate directly in the wedding ceremony itself.
Depending on the location, religion, and style of the wedding, this group may include only the individual people that are marrying, or it may include one or more brides , grooms (or bridegrooms ), maids of honor , bridesmaids , best men , groomsmen , flower girls , page boys and ringbearers .
Bride
A bride is a woman about to be married or newly-wed.
The word may come from the Teutonic word for "cook". In Western culture, a bride may be attended by one or more bridesmaids or maids of honor.
Her partner, who becomes her spouse after the wedding, is referred to as the bridegroom (or groom) if male.
Attire
In Europe and North America, the typical attire for a bride is a formal dress and a veil. Usually, the dress is bought only for the wedding, and never worn again. For first marriages, a white wedding gown is usually worn, a tradition started by Queen Victoria's wedding. Through the earlier parts of the 20th century, Western etiquette prescribed that a white dress should not be worn for subsequent marriages, since the wearing of white was mistakenly regarded by some as an ancient symbol of virginity, despite the fact that wearing white is a fairly recent development in wedding traditions. Today, Western brides may wear white, cream, or ivory dresses for any number of marriages; the color of the dress is not a comment on the bride's sexual history. White wedding dresses are uncommon in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese traditions, because white is the color of mourning and death in those cultures. Until the middle of the 19th century, the bride generally wore her best dress, whatever color it was, or if the bride was well-off, she ordered a new dress in her favorite color and expected to wear it again.
In addition to the gown, the bride often wears a veil and carries a bouquet of flowers, a small heirloom such as a lucky coin, a prayer book, or other token. In Western countries, the bride may wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.”
History
The term bride appears in combination with many words, some of them obsolete. Thus "bridegroom" is the newly married man, and "bride-bell," "bride-banquet" are old equivalents of wedding-bells, wedding-breakfast. "Bridal" (from Bride-ale ), originally the wedding-feast itself, has grown into a general descriptive adjective, the bridal ceremony. The bride-cake had its origin in the Roman confarreatio , a form of marriage, the essential features of which were the eating by the couple of a cake made of salt, water and spelt flour, and the holding by the bride of three wheat-ears, a symbol of plenty.
The cake-eating went out of fashion, but the wheat ears survived. In the Middle Ages they were either worn or carried by the bride. Eventually it became the custom for the young girls to assemble outside the church porch and throw grains of wheat over the bride, and afterwards a scramble for the grains took place. In time the wheat-grains came to be cooked into thin dry biscuits, which were broken over the bride's head, as is the custom in Scotland to-day, an oatmeal cake being used. In Elizabeth's reign these biscuits began to take the form of small rectangular cakes made of eggs, milk, sugar, currants and spices. Every wedding guest had one at least, and the whole collection were thrown at the bride the instant she crossed the threshold. Those which lighted on her head or shoulders were most prized by the scramblers. At last these cakes became amalgamated into a large one which took on its full glories of almond paste and ornaments during Charles II's time. But even to-day in rural parishes, e.g. north Notts, wheat is thrown over the bridal couple with the cry "Bread for life and pudding for ever," expressive of a wish that the newly wed may be always affluent. The throwing of rice, a very ancient custom but one later than the wheat, is symbolical of the wish that the bridal may be fruitful.
The bride-cup was the bowl or loving-cup in which the bridegroom pledged the bride, and she him. The custom of breaking this wine-cup, after the bridal couple had drained its contents, is common to the Jewish faith. It is treaded under foot. The phrase "bride-cup" was also sometimes used of the bowl of spiced wine prepared at night for the bridal couple. Bride-favours , anciently called bride-lace, were at first pieces of gold, silk or other lace, used to bind up the sprigs of rosemary formerly worn at weddings. These took later the form of bunches of ribbons, which were at last metamorphosed into rosettes.
The bride-wain , the wagon in which the bride was driven to her new home, gave its name to the weddings of any poor deserving couple, who drove a "wain" round the village, collecting small sums of money or articles of furniture towards their housekeeping. These were called bidding-weddings, or bid-ales, which were in the nature of "benefit" feasts. So general is still the custom of "bidding-weddings" in Wales, that printers usually keep the form of invitation in type. Sometimes as many as six hundred couples will walk in the bridal procession.
The bride's wreath is a Christian substitute for the gilt coronet all Jewish brides wore. The crowning of the bride is still observed by the Russians, and the Calvinists of Holland and Switzerland. The wearing of orange blossoms is said to have started with the Saracens, who regarded them as emblems of fecundity. It was introduced into Europe by the Crusaders. The bride's veil is the modern form of the flammeum or large yellow veil which completely enveloped the Greek and Roman brides during the ceremony. Such a covering is still in use among the Jews and the Persians.
Groom
A bridegroom (usually shortened to groom ) is a man who is about to be married, or who has just been married.
The word bridegroom is dated to 1604, derived from bride and the archaic goom , from Old English guma , "boy".
A bridegroom is typically attended by a best man and groomsmen.
The style of the groom's clothing depends upon the time of day, the location of the ceremony, the style in which the ceremony is performed, and whether the groom is a member of the armed forces. In most parts of the world, active-duty members of the military and some law enforcement agencies wear their military uniforms instead of civilian clothing.
Western traditions usually have the groom wearing a suit of an appropriate level of formality to the occasion and the time of day. In the US, the groom usually wears a dark-coloured suit (daytime) or tuxedo (evening) during the wedding ceremony. British tradition requires groom, male ushers and close male family to wear morning suits. In Scotland, a full evening suit is customarily worn for evening ceremonies, often comprising a kilt.
Bridesmaids
The bridesmaids are members of the bride's wedding party in a wedding. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman, and often a close friend or sister. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Traditionally, bridesmaids were chosen from unwed young women of marriageable age.
The principal bridesmaid, if one is so designated, may be called the chief bridesmaid or maid of honor if she is unmarried, or the matron of honor if she is married. A junior bridesmaid is a girl who is clearly too young to be marriageable, but who is included as an honorary bridesmaid.
Often there is more than one bridesmaid: in modern times the bride chooses how many to ask. Historically, no person of status went out unattended, and the size of the retinue was closely calculated to be appropriate to the family's social status. Then, as now, a large group of bridesmaids provided an opportunity for showing off the family's social status and wealth.
The required duties of bridesmaids are very limited. They are required to attend the wedding ceremony and to assist
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