Курсовая работа: Old and new wedding customs and traditions in Great Britain and the USA
The host sendsinvitationsto the wedding guests, usually one to two months before the wedding. Invitations may most formally be addressed by hand to show the importance and personal meaning of the occasion. Large numbers of invitations may be mechanically reproduced. Asengravingwas the highest quality printing technology available in the past, this has become associated with wedding invitation tradition. Receiving an invitation does not impose any obligation on the invitee other than promptly accepting or declining the invitation, and offering congratulations to the couple.
While giving any gift to the newlywed couple is technically optional, nearly all invited guests who attend the wedding choose to do so. Wedding gifts are most commonly sent to the bride's or host's home before the wedding day. Gifts are typically not brought to ceremonies or receptions, and any that are will not be opened, but rather placed aside for later delivery to the newlyweds' home.
A color scheme is selected by some to match everything from bridesmaids' dresses, flowers, invitations, and decorations, though there is no necessity in doing so.Wedding preparations can be overwhelming and endless it seems. Many brides and grooms by their side have had a meltdown prior to the wedding. If you can relate, you are not alone.
Be encouraged and take heart. Fear not! The best is yet to come. It has been
said that marriage is like making mashed potatoes. First, you peel the potatoes. Secondly, you place them in hot water to boil. Thirdly, you mash them all up together until they become one.
Maybe you are presently being peeled by life's circumstances and wedding preparations up to your eyeballs. Perhaps you are now boiling in hot water and undergoing some emotional stress. Relationally we are all being brought closer together and smoothing out one another's rough edges. The process however can be like crushing grapes to make wine. Nevertheless remember how delicious and intoxicating the wine can be once the grapes are crushed.
Life and love flows in seasons and stages. There are many circular parallels between nature and life itself. Perhaps you are currently enduring the winter season of your relationship and engagement. Realize your love has not died, but rather its roots are going deep and your love's foundation being strengthened. Commitment surpasses romantic notions and fluctuating feelings. Often love is more of a decision than a feeling. Death and life are always occurring simultaneously. Marital love that lasts a lifetime requires that we welcome and embrace a more intense type of relational interaction as we become one. That means you both must be committed to personal growth individually and together. Therefore when some things are identified as harmful to your marriage, you need to humbly repent of them and be willing to die to them. As you die to deadly habits and refine your character, you will resurrect and breathe fresh life into your marriage. The more you die to self, the more you together as one shall love and live.
The bride and groom to be prepared four months for this day collecting wedding invitations and wedding cards from past weddings that they were able to attend. The couple checked and talked about their collection. Then they hired a wedding coordinator also who will then set up everything. Right after, the couple have informed them of the desired appearance and them of their wedding and also asked for inputs and suggestions.
From the discussions they had with the wedding coordinator, they decided to purchase and choose well the wedding stationery to write on their invitations, program, vows and every little good thing that need to be put on writing. The wedding invitations and weddings cards were be prepared first before anything else. Deciding on the wedding’s theme was quite difficult. It lasted for days to finally come up with a final color then the stationery’s look was based on this decision.
The wedding invitations and wedding cards were colored white with red accent. The bride chose that because according to her, white is the symbol for purity while red symbolized their love for each other. They also had their wedding invitations and wedding cards embossed with two doves inside a big heart, which signified that the two of them were joined as one because of love.
Aside from the two doves inside a big heart, the wedding invitations and wedding cards were also scented. The couple said that the scent would make it more elegant and presentable. The couple had laid their hands on every detail of the preparation because they wanted to make sure that everything went with what was planned and every guest would feel very special. Moreover, wedding invitations and wedding cards were personally delivered by the two lovebirds for they wanted to make sure that the invitations were directly given to the people they invited for their wedding. Then the lovely couple were very much excited and prepared really hard for this day to arrive. And my wish for them is that, just like the fairytales we’ve read, may they live happily ever after and love each other for the rest of their lives.
Wedding party is not the party you have where you drink and have fun. A wedding party is a group of people involved in your wedding preparations, people you can count on for help and not just to look good by your side during the wedding. They consist of a Maid of Honour, Best Man, Bridesmaids and Groomsmen. I could have an entire group of ten girls as my bridesmaid and Josiah could have ten groomsmen, but really – do we need all of them? If we were to measure friendship or closeness with that, we could have over 50 bridesmaid and groomsmen. So, the question is – how do we determine who is to be of what role?
A Maid of Honour’s role is to help the bride out in times of need, help with
planning and coordination, ensure that the bride is not stressed out. My initial perception of a Maid of Honour (MOH) is one that would help with the make-up and ensuring that I feel good and calm down during the wedding dinner, boy was I wrong. A MOH is an all rounder and does not emit stress so things would run smoothly on the day itself. I chose Amber, whereas Josiah chose his brother Johansen as his one and only Best Man who doubled up as Groomsmen. I had my sister in law Joyalene as my bridesmaid and my married sister loosely known as bridesmaid as she was married – I didn’t know if she was allowed to be one. My brother in law Kelvin was also loosely known as groomsmen that night for helping out at the reception with my sister and facilitation of guests.
Selecting the wedding party could be tedious at some point. You may want to appoint your best buddy as the Maid of Honour and Best Man (BM). Preferably someone who has seen you grow up, not necessarily friends who have known you for less than a year, because it surely doesn’t beat a person who knows you inside out. You need to identify the strengths of your MOH / BM. He or she may be good at work or could be a great friend but may suck at wedding planning, or it could be the other way around, or both. Josiah and I were lucky to have an all-rounder wedding party. Dealing with the wedding party requires a lot of trust and patience on your end. You just have to let go when the time comes and leave it all to their hands. Be alert at all times if you foresee anything that could possibly go wrong. Listen to advices from your family members and friends on all matters including your selection of wedding party. You can’t let one person ruin your wedding dinner. If you see a potential for that, quickly remedy it before time runs out. Your wedding party should not be more concerned about themselves before you for that special day. You as the wedding couple should always take good care of their welfare, ensure they have food, look good effortlessly and most importantly have fun. More importantly, a wedding party is to make you both look good with them keeping their decency. If they embarrass you at any point, it becomes your mistake, not theirs.
Registration of Marriage This process is rather simple. First, Josiah and I went to Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) at Taman Maluri, Cheras at 8.30 a.m., based on our both IC addresses that are located within Kuala Lumpur. I heard that if your spouse’s IC address is in another state, you may have to register in that state. I think it cost us something like RM 10.00 to register. We provided copies of our identification cards and passport photos. It was a short process. They gave us a few dates two months after our application on three days available and we chose a Friday.
2.2 The Ceremony
A wedding ceremony may take place anywhere, but often a church,courthouse, or outdoor venue. The ceremony is usually brief, and is may be
dictated by the couple's religious practices. The most common non-religious form is
derived from a simpleAnglicanceremony in theBook of Common Prayer.
The bride usually wears a white, off-white, silver, or other very light-colored dress, particularly at her first marriage. Brides may choose any color, although black is strongly discouraged by some as it is the color of mourning in the west. The wedding party may form a receiving line at this point, or later at a reception, so that each guest may greet the entire wedding party. At the wedding reception drinks, snacks, (or often a full meal at long receptions) are served while the guests and wedding party mingle. Often the best man and/or maid of honor toast the newlyweds with personal thoughts, stories, and well-wishes; sometimes other guests follow with their own toasts. Champagne is usually provided for this purpose. In a symbolic cutting of the wedding cake, the couple may jointly hold a cake knife and cut the first pieces of the wedding cake, which they feed to each other. In some sub-cultures, they may deliberately smear cake on each other's faces, which is considered vulgar elsewhere. If dancing is offered, the newlyweds first dance together briefly. Often a further protocol is followed, wherein each dances next with a parent, and then possibly with other members of the wedding party. Special songs are chosen by the couple, particularly for a mother/son dance and a father/daughter dance. In some subcultures, adollar dancetakes place in which guests are expected to dance with the one of the newlyweds, and give them a small amount of cash. This practice, as is any suggestion that the guests owe money to the couple, is considered rude in most social groups as it is contrary to basic western etiquette.
In the mid-twentieth century it became common for a bride to toss her bouquet over her shoulder to the assembled unmarried women during the reception. The woman who catches it, superstition has it, will be the next to marry. In a similar process, her groom tosses the bride's garter to the unmarried men, followed by the man who caught the garter placing it on the leg of the woman who caught the bouquet. While still common in many circles, these practices (particularly the latter) are falling into less favor in the 21st century.
A civil ceremony can take place at a Register Office or other premises approved by the local authority for marriages (a hotel or stately home for example). For a marriage in approved premises, you will need to make your arrangements at the venue in question before booking the registrar and giving your notices of marriage. There are fees (which are set by individual authorities) payable for this option. If you would like your marriage at a register office, you should first contact the Superintendent Registrar of the district where you wish to marry. Once you have booked your ceremony at either the register office or other premises, you will need to give a formal notice of your marriage to the Superintendent Registrar of the district(s) where you live. A fee is payable for giving each notice of marriage.
If you wish to be married in the Church of England or Church of Wales you should first speak to the vicar to arrange your ceremony. Ordinarily you are not required to give notice of marriage to a superintendent registrar at the register office unless the vicar specifically requests you to do so in writing.
If you wish to marry by religious ceremony other than in the Church of England or Church of Wales you should first arrange to see the Minister or other person in charge of marriages at the building to arrange your ceremony. However, the Church or religious building in question must normally be in the registration district where you or your partner live. Once you have booked your ceremony, it will also be necessary to give formal notice of your marriage to the Superintendent Registrar of the district(s) where you live. A fee is payable for giving each notice of marriage. You may also need to book a Registrar if the church does not have an authorised person to register the marriage or that person is unavailable.
The state of matrimony, as understood by us, is a state ennobled and enriched by a long and honorable tradition of devotion, set in the basis of the law of the land, assuring each participant’s equality before the law, and supporting the common rights of each party to the marriage. There is assumed to be a desire for a life-long companionship, and a generous sharing of the help and comfort that husband and wife ought to have from each other, through whatever circumstances of sickness or health, joy or sorrow, prosperity or adversity, the lives of these parties may experience. Marriage is therefore not to be entered upon thoughtlessly or irresponsibly, but with a due and serious understanding and appreciation of the ends for which it is undertaken, and of the material, intellectual and emotional factors which will govern its fulfillment. It is by its nature a state or giving rather than taking, of offering rather than receiving, for marriage requires the giving of one’s self to support the marriage and the home in which it may flourish.
It is into this high and serious state that these two persons desire to unite.
There are many factors which determine the validity of a marriage. Assuming, though, that the notary public is duly appointed and commissioned at the time of the ceremony, that both the bride and the groom are qualified to be joined in marriage, that the couple have obtained the required marriage license, and that the marriage ceremony is performed in Florida, the marriage would be "legal and binding." Florida law will presume a marriage to be legal until otherwise shown. An attorney may be able to provide more specific information, if required.
A notary public or other authorized person may not perform a marriage ceremony without a marriage license issued in accordance with the requirements set forth in Chapter 741 of the Florida Statutes. Florida law further provides that a marriage license may not be issued unless: