Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Beyond the Rehearsal Dinner: The Groom's Role in Wedding Custom

By Ann Daniels


Although the focus of wedding festivities is commonly on the bride, the growing popularity of the two ring ceremony has also put other customs & traditions for grooms at center stage.

Wedding rings for men, though quite popular & almost regarded as standard these days, have only been widely used since the 40s when many young couples were separated by World War II.

It was one big step from no men's wedding rings at all to plain gold bands for everyone, and since then many more leaps have been made to result in a diverse and interesting men's wedding ring selection on the market. Today's jewelers offer a great variety of gold rings, platinum rings, tungsten wedding bands, palladium wedding rings, and many other styles of gold, tungsten, or platinum jewelry in varying shapes and designs.

Throwing the garter is a men's wedding reception custom that is sometimes the subject of dispute. Some brides and/or groooms feel that it is tacky & decline to participate, while others make it a silly & risque portion of the wedding reception along with funny dances & games. The best strategy, perhaps, is to find moderation somewhere between the two; for instance, the bride might wear an extra garter nearer to her knee than the real ones, and the groom should take care not to push her skirt too high to get it.

The groom's cake is another fun tradition for weddings and has roots in the southern U.S. -- legend has it that if the single women in attendance were to sleep that night with part of the cake under their pillows, they'd dream of future mates. This is a fun bit of superstition not unlike the bouquet toss, and can be personalized to express the groom's or couples interests in very creative ways.

Clearly, it's not all about rehearsal dinners & bachelor parties anymore-- there are a number of wedding traditions & modern practices that place the groom front and center.




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