Wedding traditions of Europe
Rice and confetti, the veil and the white dress, Polish oczepiny, Greek koumbaro and the Irish handfast. 143 traditions on EveryShaadi so far.
Countries
๐ฆ๐ฑ Albania 1๐ฆ๐ฉ Andorra 1๐ฆ๐น Austria 9๐ง๐พ Belarus 7๐ง๐ช Belgium 2๐ง๐ฆ Bosnia and Herzegovina 2๐ง๐ฌ Bulgaria 7๐ญ๐ท Croatia 4๐จ๐ฟ Czechia 2๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark 7๐ช๐ช Estonia 1๐ซ๐ฎ Finland 5๐ซ๐ท France 25๐ฉ๐ช Germany 25๐ฌ๐ท Greece 16๐ญ๐บ Hungary 5๐ฎ๐ธ Iceland 5๐ฎ๐ช Ireland 15๐ฎ๐น Italy 14๐ฝ๐ฐ Kosovo 0๐ฑ๐ป Latvia 3๐ฑ๐ฎ Liechtenstein 2๐ฑ๐น Lithuania 3๐ฑ๐บ Luxembourg 1๐ฒ๐น Malta 1๐ฒ๐ฉ Moldova 2๐ฒ๐จ Monaco 1๐ฒ๐ช Montenegro 1๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands 10๐ฒ๐ฐ North Macedonia 5๐ณ๐ด Norway 7๐ต๐ฑ Poland 17๐ต๐น Portugal 6๐ท๐ด Romania 4๐ท๐บ Russia 17๐ธ๐ฒ San Marino 0๐ท๐ธ Serbia 7๐ธ๐ฐ Slovakia 2๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia 2๐ช๐ธ Spain 11๐ธ๐ช Sweden 8๐จ๐ญ Switzerland 5๐บ๐ฆ Ukraine 11๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom 60๐ป๐ฆ Vatican City 0
Cities and towns
London 4Rome 4Hamburg 3Vienna 3Amsterdam 2Athens 2Barcelona 2Berlin 2Copenhagen 2Dublin 2Galway 2Hanover 2Krakรณw 2Lisbon 2Madrid 2
On the calendar
June, the Western wedding monthSeptember and October wedding peakShrovetide, the old Irish wedding time2/22 and other repeated datesLag BaOmer, weddings resumeMay, the month of brides in BrazilKrasnaya Gorka, the first wedding SundayPokrov, the autumn wedding seasonLentHoly Week and the TriduumAdventOrthodox Great Lent
๐ฒ๐ฐ Galiฤnik, North MacedoniaGaliฤnik Wedding Festivalะะฐะปะธัะบะฐ ัะฒะฐะดะฑะฐ (Galiฤka svadba)
A recreated traditional wedding in a North Macedonian village that turns a local rite into an annual festival.Feast custom ยท The ceremony
๐ซ๐ท FranceGarter toss
The groom removes the bride's garter and tosses it to unmarried men at the reception.Play ยท Reception, dance and gifts
๐ฌ๐ง United KingdomBlackening
A messy pre-wedding prank where friends cover the couple in sticky substances and parade them through town.Play ยท The weeks before
๐ฎ๐ช Ireland and 3 moreBachelor's Day
The custom that lets women propose to men on Leap DayBetrothal ยท Engagement and betrothal
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Garter toss: MorningTea, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Galiฤnik Wedding Festival: IvanaKrstik, CC BY-SA 3.0, source