Venue, setting and decoration
The mandap and the chuppah, the tent, the yurt, the courtyard and the decorated room.
The setting of a wedding says as much as the ceremony. The mandap, the chuppah, the church aisle, the village courtyard, the yurt, the beach, the registry office and the banquet hall each shape who comes and what is done. Decoration, whether flowers, lights, cloth or painted walls, turns an ordinary space into a wedding.
Sacred and temporary spaces
A Hindu mandap is a small canopy with four pillars, built for the day around the fire. A Jewish chuppah is a cloth held over four poles, open on all sides like Abraham's tent. In Central Asia families may erect a yurt or a tent for the guests, and in the Gulf and North Africa a large tent or a hotel hall fits hundreds. In parts of West Africa the compound itself is decorated, and in rural Greece the village square hosts the dance.
Decoration
Marigolds, jasmine and mango leaves decorate Indian weddings. In Japan the shrine and a red umbrella shape the setting. Moroccan weddings use brass trays, lanterns and the amariya. In Scandinavia birch branches stand at the church door, and in Ireland and Britain flowers and ribbons mark the church path. Tuscany, Santorini and Bali have become destination wedding settings, and local families have built a business around them.
What is changing
Couples marry in gardens, barns, museums and on beaches, and some hold ceremonies online. Legal rules about where a wedding may be held vary: in England and Wales venues must be licensed, while in some US states a couple can marry almost anywhere. Heritage sites and religious buildings also set limits on decoration.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Background on Venue, setting and decoration (kind of custom). Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇯🇵 Onomichi, JapanRibbon Chapelリボンチャペル
A glass-walled wedding venue in Onomichi with twin staircases that symbolize the bond of marriage.Setting · The ceremony
🇬🇭 Ghana and 2 moreKente clothnwentoma
Hand-woven silk and cotton strips from Ghana that mark weddings and graduationsAttire · The ceremony
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreMandapaमण्डप (maṇḍapa)
The pillared pavilion that serves as the stage for Hindu wedding rituals and temple gatherings.Setting · The ceremony
🇨🇾 Cyprus and 2 moreMarriage in Cyprus
A destination for civil and religious weddings that allows interfaith couples to marry outside their home laws.Vow · The ceremony
🇮🇳 IndiaShamianaশামিয়ানা (Bengali), شامیانہ (Urdu)
A South Asian ceremonial tent with removable walls used for wedding feasts and outdoor gatherings.Setting · The wedding feast
🇨🇳 Shanghai, ChinaShanghai Marriage Market人民公园相亲角 (Rénmín Gōngyuán Xiāngqīn Jiǎo)
Parents pin written profiles of their unmarried children to strings in a Shanghai parkBetrothal · Finding a match
🇬🇧 London, United KingdomFleet marriage
Secret weddings performed in London's Fleet Prison before the law required church ceremonies.Vow · The ceremony
🇺🇦 Chernivtsi, Ukraine and 1 moreVyshyvanka DayДень вишиванки
The annual celebration where people wear embroidered shirts to show national unity and identitySetting
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 3 moreCivil ceremony
A secular marriage rite performed by a government official at a licensed venue.Vow · The ceremony
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Ribbon Chapel: メルビル, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kente cloth: ZSM, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Fleet marriage: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Mandapa: Rajendran Ganesan, CC BY 2.0, source
- Shanghai Marriage Market: Jpbowen, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shamiana: Badri Seshadri, CC BY 2.0, source
- Vyshyvanka Day: Vasily Andreevich Tropinin, Public domain, source