Now everyone knows what a wedding is - unless you're literally from another planet! It is interesting, though, to know the origin of the word and the meaning behind it to know why we do things nowadays. I also find that to be truly non-traditional it's best to find out the origin of traditions in order to make our own new ones - which is a blog post topic for another day.
For today, let's look at the original meaning of "wedding": 'to pledge oneself, covenant to do something, vow; betroth, marry or unite' or the Anglo Saxon word "wedd", which meant a man would vow to marry a woman and give money to the brides father. Back when women were property of men. Some cultures still have a dowry, and some men still think they own women, though I am not getting into that today!
Did you know that was the original meaning of the word?
If we look at today's meaning of a wedding, it very generally means using a day to celebrate the start of a marriage, including all the aspects that come with a wedding day, such as the ceremony, the party and celebrations. The word 'wedding' encompasses it all.
Why is it important to know this? If you are getting married and having a wedding, you will want to know what you are getting into, after all.
Not to mention the fact that you don't want to agree to a wedding day if it still has the old meaning attached to it - I jest of course - but maybe confirm with your partner / fiancé / betrothed before you start planning your wedding day. You know, just in case.
All said and done, if you have happened upon my website and blog, you will see that I am a non-traditional Celebrant. I am keen to help you celebrate in a fun, personalised and authentic way on your wedding day. I am keen to help create new traditions for you as a couple. A starting point for your years of marriage ahead, if you will!
To do this, I research parts of the ceremony such as old traditions (and new ones), words and symbolic rituals to help you discover the perfect parts for your ceremony.
One day, people can look back and find the meaning of the word wedding and it will also include "a fantastic day to celebrate the beginning of love joined together as family"
It's exciting that nowadays we can create our wedding day to mean exactly that. Which is a huge reason why I love being a celebrant!
If you'd like to include me in your wedding day celebrations, get in touch:
(c) T. Ribeiro
I'd love to know your thoughts on today's post, please leave a comment in the box below or head to my website to find out more about your ceremony: Ribeiro Ceremonies