Wedding, the sacred ceremony, unites two people through marriage, mentally and physically, supposedly for their entire life. The ceremonies and rituals vary vastly amongst religions, ethnic groups, societies, cultures and countries. The underlying idea is to forge a lasting relationship between the bride and the groom, and make them share sincerely their life’s good and bad, emphasizing mutual fidelity. This unity is solemnized before a gathering under some authority, say a preacher, or a popular leader with prayers and recital of religious texts. Other small wedding ideas include exchanging rings, marriage oaths, gifts, flowers, and dresses.
In following these simple, short and small wedding ideas, developed countries like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom are no exception. They follow the core ceremonies satisfying the bridegroom, the bride and their families, glossing over only the superfluous part of the tradition. Advantages accruing from these simple marriage measures are immense. Economy apart, they involve less time, and labor, altogether adding to the overall comfort and relief of the families concerned. Here, we compare and contrast the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom cultural weddings. Drafting Marriage Planners’ services, you can translate these ideas and make the wedding functions look culturally and socially rewarding. A number of these small ideas, at times, become interchanged amongst countries, driven by inspiration.
Small wedding ideas relate to pre, during and post marriage functions:
Guests invited are mostly limited in all cases, and they are all seated in the hall, waiting for the couple’s arrival.
Preceding celebrations:
As a precursor, American bride celebrates ‘Bachelorette’ party with her bosom pals and maids, whereas a British bride does it as a ‘A Hen Party.’ Likewise, the American groom has a Bachelor’s party preceding the marriage day, while the British groom celebrates the function as ‘Stag do.’
The Wedding:
On the wedding day, American groom stands facing the guests so he is able to glimpse at the bride as she enters in; and in British culture, the groom stands with his back toward the assemblage not having a glance at the bride during her entry into the hall. Further,
bridesmaid enters first and then the bride in American culture whereas, the opposite is followed in British culture. The family members flank the bride and the groom in American tradition during the wedding ceremony, while the British tradition stipulates the wedding party sitting with the guests during the ceremony.
One important small wedding idea practiced in American circles is to spend shorter hours on meals and more on dancing, compared to the British culture where dancing is done after fully enjoying the feast.
Wedding cakes:
American wedding cakes are made spongy, stacking tiers on the top of each other, while fruit cakes with pillars used in between each tier form the main British wedding cakes.
The cake cutting ceremony witnesses the new couple hand-feed each other, occasionally stuffing the cake onto each other’s face in American culture. In the British tradition, people are divided, some preferring the old fruit cakes and some others asking for stacked tiers.
As soon as the bride and groom are named in the dining room, the first dance starts in American weddings, while in British custom, the first dance commences after the meal and the cake cutting ceremony.
The Top Table Seating arrangement:
The American Top Table has the bridal group with man/woman/man/woman seating order. The new couple is to sit in the middle, the best man next to the bride, and the maid of honor beside the groom. But, according to the small wedding idea of the British Top Table seating arrangement, Chief bridesmaid will sit first starting from left followed by groom’s father, bride’s mother, groom, bride, bride’s father, groom’s mother, and best man.
Now, an American bride hurls a bouquet into a gathering of bachelorettes, while the groom raises the bride’s gown to pull off a garter and throw it onto a group of bachelors. The belief is that whomsoever catches the bouquet/garter will become the next bride and groom. In this context, the British practice is different. It keeps six pence in the bride’s shoe for reasons not known.. Apparently superstitious, this custom is unique to the British.
With minor variations, these small wedding ideas are followed in Canada too.
Small wedding idea venues: For solemnizing such marriages, many venues exist across the US, Canada and the UK. While Canada boasts of British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Manitoba, Nunavet, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and others with lots of venues, USA has Alaska, Alabama, California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin, and more offering umpteen venues for your budget. The UK too abounds in such venues.
Venue types:
As are the venues, their sizes and facilities also vary remaining spread out across these countries. They are Beach, Waterfront, Bed and Breakfast, Inn, Boat, Brewery, Chapel, Church, Event space, Barn, Garden, Golf and Country Club, Historic hotel, Winery, and the like.
All these logistics pave easy following of the small wedding ideas in ways beneficial to all strata of society.