All over the world each country celebrates the wedding day with some special and characteristic rituals that others may find strange and peculiar. Here are photos of some interesting wedding traditions from different cultures around the world.
A Pakistani bride’s hand are adorned with henna during the mehndi ceremony a few days before her wedding. The henna is meant to bring good luck to the marriage.
A Korean bride and groom wear traditional wedding clothes. The custom of the bride wearing a hanbok and groom wearing gwanbok dates back 2,000 years.
Moroccan brides wear an elaborate kaftan and heavy jewelry. The bride and female guests decorate their hands with henna.
Male guests wear traditional Highland outfits of kilts, jackets, and hose to weddings in Scotland.
In a Yoruba wedding in Nigeria, the groom and his friends prostrate themselves to the bride’s family before the bride is presented under a veil.
In Bolivia, a wedding party enjoys a meal next to Lake Titicaca. The bride and groom’s heads are doused with confetti and flower petals after the wedding ceremony.
In the United States, unmarried female wedding guests participate in the tradition of bouquet toss. Catching the bouquet is believed to bring good luck in getting engaged soon.
A Japanese couple perform the ritual of drinking 9 cups of sake during their wedding at a Shinto shrine.
An Ethiopian couple dons crowns and robes that symbolize marriage as a special covenant before God.
A Chinese bride is presented to the groom’s family in a traditional red wedding carriage.
Mass weddings in India relieve families of financial strain associated with a traditional dowry and large wedding. These brides wear white instead of the traditional Indian red wedding dress as they belong to the Christian minority population in Punjab.
In France, the traditional wedding cake is croquembeuche, a majestic tower of cream puffs.
A bride and her parents assemble for their street wedding procession in a small town in Mexico.
Uigher brides often wear two different dresses, a white, western-style dress for the first day’s “cafe event” and a traditional Uigher dress on the second day when she greets the guests as a married woman.
Men in Afghanistan dance to the beat of the dhol during a wedding celebration in downtown Jalalabad. Afghan women often celebrate separately in the home of the bridal party.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the bride and groom offer tea to family elders in a traditional tea ceremony.
A Russian bridal couple releases a pair of white doves to represent their union and love in St. Petersburg.
We couldn’t resist including this picture of a wedding party at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Macau, the new gambling capital of the world. Hardly typical for this former Portuguese colony in China, it features French maid wedding attendants. Is it the start of a new tradition?
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