Spanish Wedding Culture and Traditions

The spanish bride usually wears a white wedding dress of fiancee although the last tendency are cream colors. Also, in the civil ceremonies, suits of another colors are used allthough minoritary. The veil is usually part of the dress, although it is hardly used to cover the face. Bride's mother shows the dress to her family a day before, groom should not see it. Usually one of the shoe should be lightly over the other to be a luckily married couple. The groom wears jacket suits that range from the smoking to suits of very modern cut, the classic colors are gray, brown and sometimes white cream. Necktie are in very few occasions pajarita.

Ceremony:

The celebration begins in house of the groom where the friends and relatives are going to gather him, here the parents of the groom invite to the assistants to a small snack. When coming out of house the friends of the groom usually burn rockets ( fireworks) to celebrate it.

Also it is possible that in the first place the fiance takes shelter in the house of the godmother of the wedding (that can habitually be the mother of the fiance or the godmother of baptism) and then they go to the fiance home.

From here the retinue goes to house of the bride or to the church, depending on the customs of each zone.

The godfather will be with the relatives and friends of the fiancee at brides house. Bride and groom find them and together they go to the church. The bride will go of the arm of her godfather and the groom with the godmother. For longer distances a special car is hired, may be limousine or a horses car. Exiting from brides house the friends newly use fireworks to celebrate the wedding.

If the bride is waiting at the church then the groom goes directly there.

At the ceremony bride and groom gives one another the rings and usually ( but not ever) they interchange the "arras" ( a sort of coins). Catholic ceremonies last about ' of hour and assistents may take also communion. Civil ceremonies are much shorter ( about ' of hour) and are directed by the town major.

Once finished the ceremony and pictures taken with friends and relatives in the church, the newly married couple goes out of the church, their friends and relatives are waiting for them to throw rice over both in a sort of luck desire. Finally friends celebrate the wedding again with fireworks and rockets.

All together they go to the restaurant or special wedding celebrations local, a typical spanish wedding is formed by around 200 or 300 people.

All kinds of food and drinks are served, mostly begining with light food like jamon, aperitives, cheese, etc. Then a normally composed of seafood (prawns, Norway lobsters, etc) dish is served and after a meat dish.

The nuptial cake is served, the couple has to cut this cake and give each other a piece.

Depending of zones, the friends of the groom makes a joke with him like making him to look for money in to a sand box or water, putting him a disguise, etc usually it 's something related with his job or hobbies. Same is made with the bride and his friends, cutting the panty's league was a must in every wedding.

The celebration continues long time in the night with music and dance, the kind of music depends on the zone, but it is usaualy modern music.