🇮🇳 India
The baraat is the groom's procession, in which he rides a mare, often a white one, to the wedding, with a band and relatives dancing in front. It ends with the milni, in which the two families meet and exchange garlands.
Read: BaraatThe wedding procession and the arrival: compared across 16 places
The same wedding idea in 16 places, grouped by region. Each entry is a short portrait; follow the link for the full tradition.
South Asia 2Southeast Asia 2East Asia 2Central Asia and the Caucasus 1Middle East 1North Africa 1Sub-Saharan Africa 2Europe 1North America 2Latin America and the Caribbean 1Oceania 1
South Asia
🇵🇰 Pakistan
The barat is the groom's party that travels to the bride's family, led by drummers and by relatives who dance. The bride is formally sent off, the rukhsati, with the Quran held over her head.
Read: BaraatSoutheast Asia
🇮🇩 Indonesia
At a Betawi wedding in Jakarta the groom's party is stopped at the palang pintu, the gate, where two champions trade rhymed verses and a mock martial-arts fight in silat before they are let through. The ritual ends with a recital of the Quran.
Betawi people, being written🇵🇭 Philippines
In a Filipino church wedding the groom and both sets of parents walk in the procession, followed by the principal sponsors, and children carry the rings and the coins. At the reception, guests pin money on the couple during the money dance.
Culture of the Philippines, being writtenEast Asia
🇨🇳 China
The groom collects the bride from her house in a car convoy, formerly in a red sedan chair, and her bridesmaids block the door until he gives red packets and answers questions. Firecrackers are set off on arrival to announce the couple.
Sedan chair, being written🇰🇷 South Korea
In the traditional Korean wedding the groom brought a wooden wild goose, a symbol of lifelong fidelity, to the bride's family, and the old rites took place at the bride's house. After the wedding the bride is brought to the groom's home in a ceremonial procession.
Read: PyebaekCentral Asia and the Caucasus
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
The bride's farewell, in which she is sung to by her friends in a song called synsu, takes place before she leaves her family. She is escorted by relatives to the groom's yurt or home in a decorated convoy.
Kazakh culture, being writtenMiddle East
🇱🇧 Lebanon
The zaffe is a loud and festive entrance in which drummers, a mizmar player, dancers and perhaps a sword dancer lead the couple into the venue. It is also performed in Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
Zaffe, being writtenNorth Africa
🇲🇦 Morocco
The bride is carried into the hall on the amariya, a decorated platform held on the shoulders of four men, with musicians and the neggafa leading the entrance. She is presented to the guests and may be carried round the room.
Read: Hausa traditional marriageSub-Saharan Africa
🇬🇭 Ghana
In the knocking ceremony, called kookoo ko, the groom's family arrives at the bride's house with gifts and a spokesperson, and the two sides trade formal speeches. The bride's family tests them with a delay before the girl is brought out.
Culture of Ghana, being written🇿🇦 South Africa
A Zulu wedding includes umembeso, the exchange of gifts and blankets between the two families, and the groom's party arrives singing and dancing in a high-stepping style. Songs and dance mark each stage of the visit.
Zulu people, being writtenEurope
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
The bride travels to the church by car or carriage with her father and walks up the aisle to a processional, and the groom waits at the front. In Scotland, small bands of local children may be tossed coins, a custom called the scramble.
Wedding march, being writtenNorth America
🇺🇸 United States
The traditional Western wedding march, with the Bridal Chorus from Wagner's Lohengrin, begins the processional, and the couple leave to the Mendelssohn Wedding March. Attendants walk in pairs, followed by the bride and her father.
Bridal Chorus, being written🇲🇽 Mexico
In many Mexican towns a callejoneada, a procession with a band through the streets after a wedding, leads the guests from the church to the party. Colourful papier-mache figures, the mojigangas, dance in front.
Callejoneada, being writtenLatin America and the Caribbean
🇧🇷 Brazil
In many Brazilian weddings the bride arrives after the guests and the groom, to a song chosen for the entrance, the entrada da noiva, and walks to the altar with her father or both parents. Couples are usually accompanied by padrinhos and pages, and some leave in a decorated car or carriage.
Wedding, being writtenOceania
🇳🇿 New Zealand
A Maori wedding may include the powhiri, the welcome ritual for visitors on to a marae, with a call, speeches and the pressing of noses in the hongi. The groom's party is formally welcomed onto the marae.
Powhiri, being writtenAbout this page
Written 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.