Many of the wedding cutoms and traditions in use today many originated during the Elizabethan period, rings and vows were exchanged then as now. Many women, more so than the groom, view their wedding day as one of the most important days of their life this is also a view handed down through the ages. With an Elizabethan wedding the most surprising diffrence was that the woman had very little if any option and say in who she was married off to. Elizabethan weddings, on balance, were more of a business arrangement based on a more prosiac view of strengthening your social position rather marrying for the modern view of having a family and for love. You would often marry off your children to increase your farm size.
Surprisingly men were often treated in a similar manner and it wasnt unheard of to set eyes upon your partner, groom or bride, for the first time on your wedding day ! Although this was a feature of Elizabethan weddings it tended to happen more in the weddings of children from the nobility and upper classes. Although it happened that you first saw your prospective wife on the wedding day more often than not a small painted picture would be sent over to the prospective partner for approval, if you were lucky.
An interlocking set of three rings, often viewed as a Victorian feature, were worn by the Bride, Groom and the witness during the engagement period these would then be produced on the day of wedding for the bride to wear during the ceremony. Herbs and strong smelling flowers were a favourite of Elizabethan weddings, due mainly to the charming fact that most peole only washed once a year and in the spring and were starting to smell thereafter. A point to note, most weddings were completed in the first two months after April, which is when they would have had their annual bath.
Elizabethan weddings also called for a dowry to to be given to the Groom, as you may know a dowry is an item or items of value given to the new husband. Adowry could be anything form a property to money to cattle often it was reffered to a 'marriage portion'. The woman to be married once she was married became the property of the man and he had full rights over her,(Elizabethan womens rights) a distasteful view that is only now starting to change some 500 years later.
With reagrds to the Dowry, a portion was to be given to the husbands family for effective safe keeping, this would then gurantee that if her husband should die first, not unknown for the times, the widow will not be pennyless - these are the times with no welfare state and if you had no money then life was very hard. The age of at which males and females could marry was rather low by todays standards, the girl could be married at 12 and boys at 14 - just slightly older though this didnt happen frequently, Surprisingly this was only banned in England around 1923.
On the morning of your Elizabethan wedding all the people with a vested interest would gather at the brides house, people like bridesmaids, friends, musicians and even the groom with his entourage. Once altogether the group would set off for the church where the wedding is to take place. Once the ceremony had been completed then a feast (prepared with these) would be held in honour of the groom and bride, pretty much like today there'd be dancing drinking and maybe a few (drunken!) games taking place. These party's would contimue long into the night even when the groom and his new wife have gone.
As today your future wedding plans were made with the local church in your village or town, couples would have to annouce their bann's, or intention to undertake an Elizabethan marriage, in the church in publicon a Sunday, for it to be considered legal, thats custom that continues upto this day. Should anyone have any objections to the proposed marriage going ahead then that was the time to object.
Elizabethan weddings were very solemn events once at the church, often there were no pews for the assembled guests so everyone had to stand the Christian Orthodox church maintains this custom today.
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