Engagement rings are worn on the left hand. After the ceremony, the same rings are placed on the right hand. Engagement rings are commonly plain gold bands; rarely, if ever, ‘the big rock’ of a diamond. An early wedding tradition involved driving the bride’s furniture to her future home in a cart, with driver and musicians. At the threshold, the bridegroom greets her with a jug of beer; she gave him a pair of shoes, a shirt she spun and wove, and a key to her bridal chest.
The wedding eve party, called ‘Polterbend‘ (rumbling night), is held in which the couple is teased and dishes broken. Friends and family, and even the couple purchase cheap china (unless they already have some.) Only the couple has the privilege to toss the china down the stairs the night before the ceremony. Each guest might bring a special food. This occasion continues until the early hours of the morning and may be followed by a breakfast at the bride’s parents home.
A wedding contract called ‘Heiratsvertrag‘ (previously ‘Fraktur’) is made, a precursor to prenuptial agreements.
The church where your wedding takes place may be at a different location from the civil wedding. InNorthern Germany, when a bridal pair are going to church, it is the custom, before they leave the house, to throw a firebrand on the threshold over which they must pass.
‘Roping the couple‘ is a tradition in which red ribbons and garlands of flowers are placed across their exit; the bridegroom must buy their ransom with money or the promise of a party.
It is bad luck to try on someone else’s crown, or take her own off before midnight, when it is replaced by a bonnet. The bridegroom, best man, and bridesmaids then dance around the blindfolded bride. She must catch a bridesmaid (the next to marry). Married women then tie the bridal bonnet on this maid, who must dance with all the bridegroom’s male relatives around three lit candles on the floor. If they are not extinguished by the end of dancing, the marriage will be smooth.
At the newlywed home, the couple share a bite of bread, symbolizing they never will be short of food. In some regions, the bride is pushed into the kitchen at once, as a housewife, she must first put salt in the soup. A more common tradition among newlyweds involves the groom carrying the bride across the threshold of their home.