Unique Wedding | Wedding Ceremony | Victorian Wedding Ceremony

Step back in time.... and discover the romance of a Victorian Wedding. Explore this wedding website for all the resources needed for wedding planning. See Victorian wedding dresses and a gallery of wedding photography. On this wedding website read about 19th century engagement traditions and bridal customs. Find ideas for wedding rings, wedding photography and wedding favors. Give the bride a unique bridal shower with one-of-a-kind antique wedding gifts from the Antique Marketplace. Find beautiful antique linens, hand-colored antique bridal prints, and other gifts. This wedding site features everything needed for a romantic Victorian wedding theme!

Unique Wedding: Victorian Wedding Ceremony

"The bride has generally two bridesmaids, and the bridegroom the same number of groomsmen. The bridegroom takes care to provide the wedding ring, and have it in readiness at the proper moment. When the ceremony is over, the question sometimes arises whether the bride is to be kissed by the bridegroom .... Victorian Wedding

the practice is decidedly to be avoided; it is never followed by people in the best society."

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The ceremony of marriage is ordinarily governed by the ecclesiastical formularies of the sect to which the bride may belong, who chooses the clergyman for its performance.

The Wedding Procession:

The bride has generally two bridesmaids, and the bridegroom the same number of groomsmen, but they may be both increased. The marriage is ordinarily performed at 12 o'clock in the day, at the church, which is first entered by the bride resting on the arm of her father, uncle, or whomsoever is to "give her away." Next comes the bridegroom, with the mother or nearest matronly female relative. Then follow the groomsmen and bridesmaids, arm in arm. The immediate relatives complete the procession to the altar, where the bride and bridegroom take their places in advance, with the parents a little behind, and the rest gathered in a group about them.

The Wedding Ring:

The bridegroom takes care to provide the wedding ring, and have it in readiness at the proper moment when called upon to put it on. He then places it on the third finger from, but not counting the thumb of the left hand.

The Wedding Kiss:

Victorian Wedding When the ceremony is over, the question sometimes arises whether the bride is to be kissed by the bridegroom. We should leave its decision to the instinct of affection were we not solemnly warned by a portentous authority on deportment that "the practice is decidedly to be avoided; it is never followed by people in the best society. A bridegroom with any tact will take care that this is known to his wife, since any disappointment of expectations would be a breach of good breeding. The bride is congratulated by all her friends in the church, and elderly relatives will kiss her in congratulation." This is, of course, now settled beyond all peradventure of doubt by the fact that, according to the same authority, "The queen was kissed by the Duke of Sussex, but not by Prince Albert."

The Wedding Receiving Line:

The married pair then return to the bride's house together, taking precedence of all, and, on arrival, assume a standing position at one end of the reception-room and await the coming of the invited guests, who, as they enter, are conducted by the groomsmen to offer their congratulations. The conventional breakfast or lunch closes the ceremony.

From: Bazar Book of Decorum. The care of the Person, Manners, Etiquette, and Ceremonials. 1873

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Victorian Wedding