A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicities, races, religions, denominations, countries, social classes, and sexual orientations. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vows by a couple; a presentation of a gift ; and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or celebrant. Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers, or readings from religious texts or literature are also commonly incorporated into the ceremony, as well as superstitious customs.
A white wedding is a traditional formal or semi-formal wedding originating in Great Britain.
A wedding reception is a party usually held after the completion of a marriage ceremony as hospitality for those who have attended the wedding, hence the name reception: the couple receive society, in the form of family and friends, for the first time as a married couple. Hosts provide their choice of food and drink, although a wedding cake is popular.
A wedding cake is the traditional cake served at wedding receptions following dinner. In some parts of England, the wedding cake is served at a wedding breakfast; the 'wedding breakfast' does not mean the meal will be held in the morning, but at a time following the ceremony on the same day. In modern Western culture, the cake is usually on display and served to guests at the reception. Traditionally, wedding cakes were made to bring good luck to all guests and the couple. Nowadays, however, they are more of a centerpiece to the wedding and are not always even served to the guests. Some cakes are built with only a single edible tier for the bride and groom to share, but this is rare since the cost difference between fake and real tiers is minimal.
A bachelorette party or hen night is a party held for a woman who will soon be married. While Beth Montemurro concludes that the bachelorette party is modelled after the centuries-old stag night in the US, which is itself historically a dinner given by the bridegroom to his friends shortly before his wedding, Sheila Young argues that its British counterpart evolved from a number of earlier pre-wedding traditions for women whose origins are obscure but which have been around for at least a century in factories and offices across the UK. Despite its reputation as "a sodden farewell to maiden days" or "an evening of debauchery", these events can simply be parties given in honor of the bride-to-be, in the style that is common to that social circle.
Wedding photography is a specialty in photography that is primarily focused on the photography of events and activities relating to weddings. It may include other types of portrait photography of the couple before the official wedding day, such as a pre-wedding engagement session, in which the photographs are later used for the couple's wedding invitations. On the wedding day, the photographer(s) will provide portrait photography as well as documentary photography to document the different wedding events and rituals throughout the day(s).
Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of small and/or large-scale personal or corporate events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, weddings, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. It involves studying the brand, identifying its target audience, devising the event concept, and coordinating the technical aspects before actually launching the event.
Personal wedding websites are websites that engaged couples use to aid in planning and communication for their wedding. The websites are used to communicate with guests about their wedding and inform them of the location, date, time, and gift registry. Each wedding website is different, and a couple has to pick what is best for them. The websites can be free but may sometimes cost a fee. However, most couples find that the website fee is less costly than hiring a wedding planner, as wedding planners can cost as much as 15% of the total wedding cost as of 2008. Criticism of wedding websites include that invitations from websites are too informal for the occasion.
Whose Wedding Is It Anyway? is an American reality TV show on the Style Network. Season 1 began in 2003, Tuesdays, 10 p.m. Each episode runs 60 minutes and follows two different couples who plan their weddings in different states and sometimes a destination wedding in a foreign country.
Wedding Dash is a series of strategy casual video games by PlayFirst. It was released on October 18, 2007 as a spin-off to the Diner Dash series of games.
Wedding TV was a woman's lifestyle television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom. Separate versions of the channel were available in Poland and Italy. The channel claims to be the first TV channel of its kind, concentrating on love, life, relationships and weddings. The focus of the channel is primarily weddings and brides though there are programmes on fashion, beauty, celebrities and travel.
In the United States and Canada, weddings follow traditions often based on religion, culture, and social norms. Most wedding traditions in the United States and Canada were assimilated from other, generally European, countries. Marriages in the U.S. and Canada are typically arranged by the participants and ceremonies may either be religious or civil.
The wedding industry in the United States is the providers of services and goods for weddings in the U.S., taken as a whole. Every year in the United States, there are approximately 2.5 million weddings. The United States wedding industry was estimated to be worth about $70.5 billion as of 2022.
A vőfély is the Master of Ceremonies before, during and after a traditional wedding in Hungary. He wears a ribboned hat so he can be easily identified.
A green wedding or an eco-friendly wedding, is any wedding where the couple plans to decrease the ecological impact of their special event on the planet. Couples plan their weddings by integrating eco-friendly alternatives, such as eco-friendly invitations, flowers, dresses, photography, and more.
The Knot Worldwide, formerly XO Group, The Knot Inc, and WeddingWire, Inc, is a global technology company that provides content, tools, products and services for couples who are planning weddings, organizing a celebration, and navigating pregnancy and parenting. In 2019, The Knot Worldwide was created by a merger between predecessors XO Group Inc. and WeddingWire, Inc.
David Tutera's Celebrations is an American reality television series on WE tv starring David Tutera, a wedding planner for celebrities. In the show, women send videos to Tutera asking for help planning their events. After selecting the woman, he goes to help them, and puts his own touch to the plans, creating a "dream event" for each woman. He makes his alterations with just three weeks before each woman's event.
A marriage proposal planner is a professional event coordinator who specializes in planning marriage proposals. A proposal planner is a relatively new profession in the wedding industry. Proposal planners suggest marriage proposal ideas, scout proposal locations, negotiate rates with vendors, draw up contracts, hire photographers, create romantic setups, acquire permits, and help clients choose engagement rings. Proposal planners interview the proposer and ask questions about the couple. They then use those answers to create a unique proposal idea.
Lover.ly is a virtual wedding planner and media platform that allows brides, grooms, and enthusiasts to discover wedding ideas, receive tips, purchase wedding products, evaluate whom to hire for their weddings, and share their findings. Their virtual wedding planning app uses AI and chat technology to service their customers. They have a database of editorial content that uses a proprietary tagging program to aggregate content from wedding blogs, wedding magazines, as well as retailers, brands and vendors, creating relevant searchable content. Lover.ly was launched in 2012 in New York City.
