Marriage and Weddings - American Culture

Family Tradition

The United States is "a melting pot" of cultures each with their own unique Marriage Customs and Traditions. There has been a set of Customs and Traditions generally accepted as common to Marriage in The United States unless the marriage is a Common Law Marriage.

Dating is the accepted pre-engagement practice between couples. Families generally establish requirements for the details of acceptable activities, time of day, single or group dating etc. The age, personality and maturity of dating children generally drive the conditions set by parents if the children are still at home.

Love between the couples is believed to be a prerequisite to marriage.

Proposal of marriage by the man and acceptance by the woman results in an Engagement. Couples enter into marriage with the belief that the relationship is permanent. The engagement is marked by the gift of an Engagement Ring from the man proposing to the woman accepting.

A Marriage License is required by all States including a Blood Test and a prescribed waiting period.

A Wedding Rehearsal Dinner is usually celebrated between the immediate families of spouses in the late afternoon the day before the wedding. The Groom's Family traditionally provides for this celebration.

A Bachelor  Party is held for the Groom and usually sponsored by The Best Man the night before the Wedding. 

A Bridal Shower is usually sponsored by The Bride's Maid. It has become very popular now for The Bride's Maid to also sponsor a Bachelorette Party for the Bride. 

The Wedding Ceremony is most often performed as part of a religious ceremony each with its own specific customs and traditions. On the day of the wedding the Groom does not see the Bride until the actual ceremony. As Custom would have it from Victorian Times: the Bride wears Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and a Sixpence in her shoe.

Rings are exchanged to mark the permanent commitment of the new spouses to each other.

A Wedding Reception is usually held after the ceremony for all family and friends to celebrate. The Bride's Family usually provides for this celebration.

A Honeymoon is taken by the Bride and Groom to a secret place where they go off for their first night together in Marriage. It is thought that the Honeymoon Custom was established to avoid the European Custom Charivari where family and friends banged on pots and pans outside the couple's bedroom their first night of marriage.