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Order and Tradition of The Church Wedding Ceremony
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The wedding car,
decorated with floral arrangements, collects the bride, who is
accompanied by her father or godfather. The groom arrives
separately, accompanied by his mother or godmother. First
to arrive at the church must be the groom
his mother. They should wait for the bride at the church
altar(rather than waiting for outside the church which many people seem
to do today). The same applies to the guests, who must all
wait for the bride inside the church.
A Church Wedding Ceremony in Brazil.Picture by Afonso Lima
The
Bride's Entrance
The bride arrives at the
church, accompanied by her father, and enters the church at
the sound of the wedding march or other music chosen for the
entrance. If there are bridesmaids, paiges or children accompanying
her, they enter behind the bride, being careful not to
tread on the tail of the dress (which is quite
a frequent accident). The father of the bride offers his left
arm, except in cases where a military saber is hung
on the left side, in which case the right arm is offered.
Positioning
Once the bride has
arrived at the altar the positioning from left to right. looking toward
the altar is as follows: the groom's mother, the bride, the groom and
the bride's father. The witnesses of each are positioned on
the corresponding side (if are on behalf of the bride they are
positioned to the left and if they are the groom's witnesses they go to
the right). It is a tradition that the relatives and guests
at church are seated in pews on their
corresponding side, ie the relatives of the bride on the left and those
of the groom on the right (although it is a practice little carried
out). Usually one leaves this type of positioning for very formal
weddings.
The
Wedding Ceremony
In very formal weddings,
the bride's father and the groom's mother may be located to one side of
the altar, instead of next to the bride and groom. During the ceremony
the priest asks for the rings to be placed on the left ring finger,
this being the third finger by counting the finger after the
thumb as the first. Both the rings and the 13
wedding coins, or Arras
are given in the following order: husband to wife and then wife to
husband.
When it comes to the
rings, either they are both held by the best man, or
alternatively the best man holds the bride's ring and the maid of honor
holds the groom's ring until they are required in the actual ceremony.
Often a small child under 11 will act as the "ring bearer"
but this is nearly always by name only - the actual rings will
still be held by the adults for safekeeping.
The
Arras or 13 Wedding Coins
The Arras are 13 coins
which are particularly used in Hispanic wedding ceremonies.
The delivery of the coins symbolizes the interchange
of the goods that both spouses are going to share. But also, there are
other theories. One of them says that the Arrras are given by
the groom as a reward for the virginity of his bride. Others
relate it to the custom of the marriage dowry that was
contributed to the marriage. A widespread custom is that,
instead of buying the 13 coins, the
groom's mother gives them or they are passed down the line from parents
to children as a family tradition. The 13 coins
are held by the groom's mother before being given to the
bride.
Leaving
the Church
After the marriage
ceremony has been completed and the couple have been pronounced man and
wife, the order of walking back down the aisle is firstly the married
couple arm in arm, followed by the bride's father and groom's mother
and the bridesmaids and paiges. At the exit of the church, the bride
and groom can wait to greet the guests and family. When the bride and
groom actually leave the church, the inevitable tradition
of wedding rice
rains down (although in some cases flower petals or other customs are
employed). If during the wedding, the services of a stills
photographer or video photographer is employed, they should
be as discreet as possible, and ensure that they do not make
any noise or hassle during any part of the proceedings. After
being rained upon by the rice or rose petals, the new spouses
exit together in the wedding car, probably clanking along the
way wth the cans dangling behind.
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