The same wedding idea in 16 places, grouped by region. Each entry is a short portrait; follow the link for the full tradition.
A North Indian wedding meal often includes dal makhani, paneer, breads and sweets, served buffet-style, and the groom's family is traditionally served first. In the South, a sadya or feast is served on a banana leaf, with the host family serving the guests.
Sadya, being writtenThe bou bhat is the meal the groom's family gives for the bride after the wedding, and the biye barir meal at the bride's home includes rice, meat, fish and sweets. Guests are served in rounds.
Bengali cuisine, being writtenIn many Javanese weddings the couple feed each other the dulang, a ritual of feeding each other yellow rice and the delicacies. Large meals are served from stalls, and the guests give an envelope of money.
Javanese culture, being writtenThe wedding banquet in the restaurant has many courses, among them roast chicken, soup and sticky rice, and the couple go from table to table with the glasses. Red envelopes are given to the couple.
Vietnamese cuisine, being writtenThe banquet, usually of eight to ten courses, includes fish for abundance, a whole chicken for the phoenix and dragon, and sweet lotus seeds and dates for children. The couple tour the tables to toast and may change clothes several times.
Chinese marriage, being writtenAfter the ceremony the couple and guests eat noodles, called guksu, a symbol of long life, in the traditional banquet, the jan-chi guksu. Today the hall serves buffet, and the couple exchange cups of wine.
Janchi guksu, being writtenThe supra is led by a tamada, a toastmaster who proposes toasts in a set order, to peace, to the couple, to ancestors and to the absent. The table is covered with khachapuri, khinkali, walnut sauces and wine.
Supra, being writtenA Lebanese wedding meal begins with mezze, followed by grilled meats and sweets, and the cake is cut after the dancing. Guests are offered sugared almonds and the sweet fruit pastes.
Lebanese cuisine, being writtenThe wedding meal includes rice, grilled meat and sweets, and the families distribute sherbet, the sweet drink, as the couple enter. In poor areas, neighbours cook together in the street.
Egyptian cuisine, being writtenThe wedding feast includes the pastilla, a sweet and savoury pie of pigeon or chicken, tagines of lamb and prunes, and mint tea and cakes. Guests are served at low tables.
Pastilla, being writtenCouples feed each other in the gursha, a handmade mouthful of injera with wat, as a sign of love. The meal includes tej, a honey wine.
Gursha, being writtenThe wedding breakfast, the meal after the ceremony, is followed by speeches from the father of the bride, the groom and the best man, and the cutting of the cake. The top tier of the cake was traditionally saved for a christening.
Wedding cake, being writtenThe wedding meal can include many courses over several hours, and sugared almonds, confetti, are handed out in an odd number, five, standing for health, wealth, happiness, long life and fertility. In the south, the tarantella follows the meal.
Jordan almonds, being writtenThe couple cut the first slice of the cake together and feed each other, a moment photographed by every guest. Rehearsal dinners the night before and brunches the day after have become part of the event.
Wedding cake, being writtenMany Caribbean weddings include a rum-soaked fruitcake, black cake, made months ahead and cut at the reception. Curry goat and rice are common in the feast.
Black cake, being writtenThe lovo is an earth oven in which food is slow-cooked under banana leaves and soil for the wedding feast. Tapa cloth and the kava ceremony may be shared with guests.
Lovo, being writtenWritten by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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