"Something" for Every Bride

Weddings have been a part of humanity since we began. They represent a union of families, countries, and cultures. There are many traditions and guidelines we still follow today such as the white wedding dress, trying for a June wedding, and accessories for brides were popularized in the 1800s. Queen Victoria wore a white wedding dress and began the tradition of wearing one, which we still do today (at which point does a trend become a tradition?). In this series, we’ll explore some of the familiar and unfamiliar wedding traditions and superstitions.

Starting with the familiar in this series is the rhyme everybody knows:

Something old, something new,

Something borrowed, something blue,

And a sixpence in your shoe.

Each object has a meaning behind it that facilitates luck for the bride, specifically.

Something Old is an object that’s passed down from a happily married older woman whose husband was still alive (apparently, the luck or magic wouldn’t work if she were widowed). It gives the new bride some of the happiness that the older woman experienced. It also acts as a link to the past.

Something New could be a gift from the groom or her dress, but really can be anything. This object represented the new life and family the bride begins.

Something Borrowed was traditionally an undergarment from a fortunate wife with children. Of course, this was back when having children was a very important thing for women to do. This object can also take meaning from the Old object and give happiness or luck from one to another.

Something Blue represents what the color means: fidelity, purity, and love. Another belief is that it represents the moon, the protector of women. White, while believed to indicate innocence/purity actually represented wealth, as white was not a common color worn before Queen Victoria got married in 1840. But that’s another blog.