Marriage
... customs of the past. Some rituals may be quite simple; some may involve hundreds of people and feasts lasting for several days. All wedding rituals usually have two things in common: a ceremony held in public with witnesses, and legal requirements that must be fulfilled The wedding may be preformed by an person who had the legal qualifications to do so, such as a judge or an official, and no religious involvement is required unless the couple desires it. Our word "wedding" derives from the Anglo-Saxon "wed". The "wed" was the price paid by the groom for the bride or, more commonly, the security placed by the family of the groom with the family of the bride when they were betrothed by agreement between the families. Thus, the "wedding" became the ceremony of the pledging of the troth of the bride to the groom and the posting of th...