Wedding traditions and customs vary from one country to another, but each one is special and celebrates the marriage bond of the newly weds.

Turkey

I Can't Read Your Name, So You're Next!

In Turkey, when a girl gets married, all her female friends write their names inside her bridal shoes. After the wedding ceremony, if someone's name has been rubbed off and can not be read anymore, it means this person is going to get married next.

Arzu Cimitay

Belgium

Wearing White, Giving Flowers, and Throwing Rice

In Belgium, the groom comes to the house of the bride and gives her her a bouquet of flowers. They go to the church and the groom is inside when the father of the bride brings her to her future husband. And at the end, when they come out, the family throws rice on them.

Jolien Debonne from Belgium

Brazil

Important Details of the Wedding Ceremony

A wedding ceremony in Brazil has many important details. For example, the groom can't see the bride wearing her wedding dress before the ceremony. The bride has to use something old, something new, and something that is borrowed. One more detail is that the rings should be engraved: the name of the bridegroom on the bride's ring and vice-versa.

María Celina Brandao

How to Cause a Rainy Wedding Day

If a future bride eats directly from the pot, it will rain on her wedding day.

Renata Pauperio

China

Exchanging Handkerchiefs and Wishing Each Other Good Luck

In China, every new couple needs to go to a park to have a video made before the evening party starts. If a new couple meets in a park, the bride and groom should exchange a new handkerchief and wish each other good luck. It has to be red and have a picture of mandarin ducks. Because ducks always stay together, it means they will stay together.

Conghong Lu

One of the Interesting Things in a Chinese Wedding Ceremony

In traditional Chinese wedding ceremony, a couple always has jokes played on them by their friends or guests. For example, during the ceremony an apple is hung with a thread before the couple. Then people who attend their wedding ask the bride and groom to bite the apple at the same time in order to show they love each other. However, at the moment their lips touch it, one of their friends suddenly pulls it away and the couple's lips meet and they have a big kiss instead of biting the apple before them. Interestingly, this action or behavior always causes a loud laugh.

Cheng Limin

Colombia

The Candle Ceremony

There is a traditional custom in Colombian Christian weddings. After the ring ceremony, the groom and the bride each has to light a candle. This custom has a special meaning. Each lighted candle represents the life of each one. After that, they light another candle together and put out the first candle of each one, leaving only the one that they lit as a couple. This bright candle means that now they are the same body and they are going to share every moment of their lives.

María Lopez

Eastern Europe

Asking the Girl's Father for Permission

In my country, the engagement is an event previous to the wedding. One month before the wedding, the groom asks the girl's father for permission to take the girl out of her family house. He goes to her house early in the morning with a band, if he can afford the expense. All the neighbors come to see the new bride and to tell her something nice.

Stoyan Grigorou

El Salvador

Escorting the Bride to the Church

All the wedding ceremonies around the world try to express different things through different ceremonies. For some reason, in some places in El Salvador, when a wedding is celebrated, the wedding ceremony service starts without the bride. The groom and all the people who have been invited to the ceremony are waiting for her during the service.

When the wedding ceremony service starts, a group of seven men goes to the bride's home. The bride and her family are waiting for seven white cars which escort the bride's car until they arrive at the church. Finally, the bride enters the church and then the nuptial song starts playing.

Walter E. Hernández

Germany

Polterabend -The Evening with Lots of Broken Porcelain

Some days before the wedding, friends and relatives bring old porcelain and kitchenware to throw on the ground in front of bride and groom. This is supposed to grant them a happy, lucky life; that's why this evening event is called Polterabend--the evening with lots of broken porcelain. The German proverb--Scherben bringen Glück--which can be translated as "Broken crockery brings you luck." is derived from this custom. The Polterabend often develops into an informal and casual party.

Ulrike Gahn

India

A Marriage of Two Families, Not Just Two People

According to the East Indian faith, some weddings are arranged and others are love marriages. When a couple are to be wed it is considered a marriage of two families not just two people. The bride traditionally wears red (white signifies death in our culture) and the groom wears a traditional cream colored long coat called an etchkin with a red turban. The father of the bride joins the bride to the groom by handing her one end of a cloth that is held by the groom. The groom leads the bride 4 times around our holy book with the help of the bride's brothers and cousins. After the fourth round the couple are considered married. Priests give blessings and advise the couple on how to live and love in their new lives together. The couple are two bodies with one soul...

Nicky Dale

Iran

Tradition of the "Grinding Girl"

In my country Iran, there are many different traditions associated with marriage which should be very strictly observed, otherwise bad luck is sure to ensue soon. For instance, on the night before the marriage ceremony, three or four unmarried girls hold a clean white cloth on the heads of the bride and bridegroom while they are sitting on a sofa or on the ground. Then one of the girls start to grind two big nuggets of sugar together. As she does that, she asks God to repel all evil spirits from the life of the newly married couple. Before this, the families of the girl and the boy should make sure that the "Grinding Girl" is very trustworthy and decent. This will also provides the young unmarried girls with the chance to get married in the coming years!

Mahmood Azizi

Japan

A Wine Ceremony Symbolizes Dedication

A Shinto wedding has a typical ceremony. A couple drinks Japanese rice wine in front of a priest. First, the bride drinks the wine from a small cup. Next, the bride passes the cup to the groom and he also drinks the wine from the cup. They try to drink wine three times. This ceremony means that they promise to be dedicated to each other.

Maki Kubo

Korea

Tossing the Bridal Bouquet and Giving nuts and Jujube

Many young people get married western style in Korea. That is, women wear a short dress, and men wear a new western suit. The bride throws her wedding bouquet back over her shoulder, and the girl who catches it is the one who is going to get married next. After the wedding ceremony is finished, the bride and groom change into Korean traditional clothes and bow to their parents and elder relatives. Then, the parents and older relatives give them many nuts, Jujube, and some money. Nuts and Jujube mean they will have children, and they wish the bride and groom a happy marriage.

Kim Young Lee

They'll Have Daughters and Sons

If a bridegroom smiles a lot in a wedding, he will get a daughter as a first child. If a bride takes some nuts, she will get a lot of sons. (Traditionally, the parents of a bridegroom throw nuts and plums to a bride after a wedding. At that time, a bride takes nuts or plums in her shirt.)

Minjung Song

Mexico

A Bouquet for the Virgin Mary

In Mexico at a Catholic wedding ceremony, the bride offers her bouquet to the Virgin Mary and leaves it at the foot of the statue in order to thank her and ask her for a good life and for her blessing. This is a solemn moment at the end of the ceremony. After that, she meets her groom and they receive the priest's blessing and that means the ceremony is finished.

Miriam Mostkoff

Nepal

A Pinch of Red-Coloured Powder on the Bride's Forehead

One of the important events in our traditional wedding is that the groom puts a pinch of red-coloured powder on the bride's forehead. This symbolizes that they are now husband and wife. This red color on the woman's forehead differentiates whether she is married or not.

Milan Gurong

Saudi Arabia

Good Luck for the Bride

In Saudi Arabia, when men and women want to get married, they prefer to buy new clothes and throw out old ones. They say this is a new life, so the couple need new clothes. On the wedding night, the man dresses in white clothes and a long cover called a Bisht, and the woman dresses in white. At the end of the wedding, the man goes with his father and relatives to his marriage room and sits to drink some coffee for a few minutes. Then they leave.

Then the woman comes with her mother and relatives and do the same thing. This removes the stress of the man and the woman, so they are together to start a new life. The morning after the wedding, the man gives a gift to his wife.

Abdullah Al-Subaiei

Spain

Spanish Marriage

If a groom's friend cuts a piece of the groom's tie, he'll get married soon. If the bride wears something blue, she'll have a happy marriage. If the groom sees the bride's dress, she'll have bad luck during the ceremony.

Carmen Caffarena

Taiwan

Tests and Games for the Bridegroom

In Taiwan, a bridesmaid and best man are not necessary in a traditional wedding because usually the parents will play these roles. The bride and groom can not see each other the day before the wedding. Friends will design some games or tests and the groom has to pass them before he can take his wife to get married. For example, friends will ask the groom about the bride's private things. If he answers correctly, he can go on to the next game, but if he doesn't pass the game, he has to give money to everyone and then he can go to the next step of the game playing.

Wan-Pei Chang (Vania)

Venezuela

Promises to Love and Take Care of Each Other

The most important and unforgettable event of someone's life is marriage. In Venezuela, the groom has to promise his bride to love her his whole life and to take her forever. The bride also has to repeat the same commandments. It is popular for the couple to sing the promises to each other. This moment is really beautiful. In addition, the couple receives a list of commandments.

Sonia Dale