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Wedding Information
What Is A Wedding?
A wedding is a civil or religious ceremony at which the
beginning of a marriage is celebrated.
In most societies, a number of wedding traditions or customs have emerged around
the wedding ceremony, many of which have lost their original symbolic meaning in
the modern world. Other wedding traditions are relatively recent. Some elements
of the Western wedding ceremony symbolize the bride's departure from her
father's control and entry into a new family with her husband. In modern Western
weddings, this symbolism is largely vestigial, since husband and wife are of
equal power and status. Recently in some cultures, same-sex weddings have begun
to be celebrated.
The Western custom of the bride wearing a white wedding dress came to symbolize
purity in the Victorian era (despite popular misconception and the hackneyed
jokes of situation comedies the white dress did not actually indicate virginity,
which was symbolized by a face veil). Within the "white wedding" tradition, a
white dress and veil would not have been considered appropriate in the second or
third wedding of a widow or divorcee. The specific conventions of Western
weddings largely from a Protestant and Catholic viewpoint, are discussed at
"White wedding."
Engagement
An engagement is an agreement by a couple to enter into marriage at some future
time, usually accompanied by a formal or informal announcement to friends and
family. Following this agreement, the couple is said to be "engaged to be
married," or simply "engaged." A male partner in an engagement is called a
fiancé and a female is called a fiancée (same pronunciation for both; from the
French se fiance, to become engaged). Though some describe engagement as the
modern successor to the act and state of betrothal (an "exchange of vows
[troth]" to be married), the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and would
be often understood as interchangeable, today.
More on Marriage:
For more free legal information on Family Laws, please use the
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