Wedding Traditions That Have Disappeared Over the Past Century

ALOT have definitely changed since then lol

Interesting!! A lot has definitely changed over time lol. Thanks for sharing the article!

This is so cool!

I would say a lot has a changed and is so much better!

Apparently I am very traditional... I am more cheap than traditional. But we had a weekday lunchtime wedding with a simple reception and our honeymoon cost the same as the wedding.

A lot surely has changed

Interesting! I like the idea of spending more on the honeymoon and home than the wedding itself. Makes perfect sense.

A reception has always been a requirement. A full dinner is fairly new as cake and punch used to be the norm everywhere. But guests have always been provided some type of refreshments.


Morning weddings used to be the most formal and evening weddings were considered casual.
As long as you're not being rude to your guests or creating inconveniences, do whatever works best for you and your fiance.

View Quoted Comment I'm not sure. I would say there's pros and cons to both the old traditions and the new ones. I agree with the old tradition regarding the house and honeymoon taking priority over a wedding. Many couples these days feel the pressure to go into debt for a wedding. And to each their own.


I would say having a wedding during the weekend is more convienent in todays world for guests to attend rather the weekday.My FH and I plan to marry on a weekday to cut down costs and the only possible guests will be our parents.

Another new 'tradition" that was never seen in years past is being announced at the reception even though you were already introduced 5 minutes earlier at the end of the ceremony and no new guests have arrived.

Traditions and customs are ever-changing AND regionally-specific (or even family-specific). Even that linked list is very much of a particular era, social class, geography, and ethnicity.

This is why I don't buy "but it's traditional!" as a justification that someone else should/should not do something. Example: when people say it's traditional that the groom's family pay for X, Y, and Z as a justification for asking for money that wasn't offered. Or trying to have a Jack & Jill/Stag & Doe/wedding fundraiser outside of the limited areas where they are considered the norm.

And some things are so trendy now that people worry about NOT doing them, even if they don't want to. Like unity ceremonies, bridesmaid proposals, or matching getting ready outfits.

One of the biggest mythical "requirements" of all: that wedding dresses have to be white and everything else is "non-traditional".

View Quoted Comment I agree with this completely. Things that are "done everywhere" according to many may be entirely unheard of in another family or region.
While most wedding traditions stem from the Middle Ages, many so-called modern "traditions" have their origin in Hollywood, whether from a movie or tv show. It sparks a trend and people insist everyone and their cousin does it and that it's been around forever when it just premiered 5 years ago on the Sopranos or Law and Order for example.

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I agree with you (obviously, since you were agreeing with me ) but I had to comment because it's cracking me up thinking about people getting wedding ideas from The Sopranos and Law and Order!

Law and Order has an engagement gala every other week that is a mini wedding but almost unheard of elsewhere in the country.


A friend of mine used to be a wedding vendor until she decided it was too stressful but her mom who worked in another branch of the wedding industry was telling about someone insisted they wanted a full dinner at the reception which was not done in their area (cake and punch was the norm) and thus required extra planning and labor, because they had just seen it in the Godfather or similar (in the 1970s) and it took off from there. So anything can happen.

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I totally blame Hollywood.

According to this article, DH should have bought a home and furnished it for me!

(I bought a condo with my dad's help, and DH and I picked out furniture together long before we were engaged. DH didn't even live with me! ...Actors. Our lives are weird.)

Raise your hand if you look like death warmed over in pure white. (ME. I'm the color of paper.) We can thank Queen Victoria for that one. (It doesn't mean 'purity'. It just signaled that you were rich enough to keep fabric that flippin' clean in an era when that was HARD in a city.) Your wedding dress used to be your nicest dress.

DH and I really dug into what we wanted from tradition, and what we didn't, because of this. Helped us keep the budget down, too!

I think the best thing about tradition is that you can keep it if you find meaning or joy in it, and you can break it if you don't.