The wedding procession and the arrival at weddings around the world: a comparison by country

Many weddings are a journey. The groom rides to the bride's house on a horse, the bride is carried in a chair, a band marches through a village, a car convoy sounds its horns or a bride walks up an aisle to a march. The procession announces the wedding to the neighbourhood and gives everyone a part to play, and often there is a gate to block, a price to pay or a song to sing before the guests are let in.

Announcing the day

A wedding procession tells the community that a marriage is being made, and invites the neighbours to share the noise and the joy. Drums, pipes, trumpets, firecrackers and singing carry through the streets. Many cultures decorate the vehicle, the horse or the road. Neighbours may line the street, throw petals, or tie ribbons to cars.

The meeting at the gate

Often the procession meets a barrier. In Indian weddings, the groom's baraat is greeted at the bride's door with a milni, the meeting of the two families' elders, and with playful demands from the bride's sisters. In Indonesian Betawi weddings, the groom's party performs a mock fight and an exchange of rhymed verses at the palang pintu. In China, the bridesmaids block the door and ask for red packets and answers to riddles. These games are signs that the bride is valued, and a way to relax two families who have not yet met.

Who walks, who rides

The groom may ride a horse (India, Pakistan), a decorated car, a boat or on foot. The bride may be carried (the amariya of Morocco), walk with her father (the Western aisle), arrive with her mother, or wait inside. Zaffe, the Arab wedding procession of drums and dancers, leads the couple into the hall in Egypt, Lebanon and across the region. Brides in some regions are accompanied by a female relative who carries the dowry, or by children carrying flowers.

How it is changing

Traffic, noise rules and cost have shortened or changed many processions: a baraat may be allowed only for an hour, or a horse replaced by a car. Mega-venues sometimes recreate the street procession inside the hall, with a stage. Concern for animal welfare has led some cities to restrict the use of horses or elephants. Couples increasingly plan their own entrance, to a chosen song, whatever the older customs say.

The wedding procession and the arrival around the world

🇮🇳 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: Baraat

🇵🇰 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: Baraat

🇮🇩 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 written

🇨🇳 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: Pyebaek

Compare all 16 places

Traditions to start with

BaraatThe groom's wedding procession.

Hausa traditional marriageThe Moroccan bridal chair.

Palang pintuThe Betawi gate game.

Also part of it, and being written: Zaffe (The Arab wedding entrance.), Powhiri (The Maori welcome.), Wedding march (Music for the procession.), Sedan chair (A carried seat.), Callejoneada (The Mexican street procession.).

Questions people ask

Why does the groom arrive on a horse?

In North India the horse recalls the groom as a prince or warrior coming to claim a bride, and it carries a sense of luck and celebration. Many families now use a car or a decorated carriage.

Why is the door blocked?

The mock blocking is a game that tests the groom's goodwill and gives the bride's family a chance to show affection. Payment is symbolic and shared out among the bride's friends.

Is a baraat allowed in every city?

Not always. Some places limit noise, road closures and animals, so organisers usually check with the local authority.

Who walks the bride down the aisle?

Most often her father or both parents, but any person the bride chooses may do so, or she may walk alone.

About 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.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Epithalamium: Lorenzo Lotto, Public domain, source

Jirtig: Alzain Mohammed, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Poruwa ceremony: A Derivative Work by MediaJet ,, CC BY 2.0, source

Shinto wedding: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Mantilla: Museu Valencià d'Etnologia, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Eastern Orthodox marriage: VitVit, CC BY 3.0, source

Laavaan: Ashish 100, CC BY 2.0, source

Rushnyk: Pavlo Boyko, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Palang pintu: Gunawan Kartapranata, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Zuria: Kurt Bauschardt, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Weddings in ancient Rome: Meister der Aldobrandinischen Hochzeit, Public domain, source

Huipil: Gift in memory of Elizabeth Ege Freudenheim, No restrictions, source

Baraat: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pnglife/, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Gaye holud: Arr4, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Hausa traditional marriage: Bembety, CC0, source

Yajna: Chainwit., CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Ayyavazhi wedding: Vaikunda Raja, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Anastenaria: Artkostov, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Sa'yee: Aiman titi, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Bridal bouquet: James Vick's Sons (Rochester, N.Y.); Henry G. Gilbert Nursery and Seed, No restrictions, source

Chuppah: me, Public domain, source

Golu: Ksiva21, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Navajo wedding ceremony: Neeta Lind, CC BY 2.0, source

Wedding veil: David Ring, CC0, source

Mystery of Crowning: Shakko, CC BY-SA 3.0, source

Călușari: El bes, CC BY 3.0, source

Turoń: Museum: The Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Kraków, CC0, source

Jeju Chilmeoridang Yeongdeunggut: by karendotcom127, CC BY 2.0, source

Tamagushi: Urashimataro, Public domain, source

The wedding procession and the arrival