Do you feel lucky, bride? Well do you?
By TwistieI’ve long been amused by the various traditions concerning luck and lack thereof for brides and grooms. Some make a certain amount of sense, such as a sunny day for the wedding being a sign of luck. Others make little or no sense. Why is it considered lucky, after all, for brides to kiss chimney sweeps? I have no clue.
Just for fun, here are some ways to make your own luck on your wedding day…though I disclaim any responsibility for bad luck incurred or good luck not delivered by following or failing to follow any of these helpful hints, particularly those which directly contradict one another:
It’s good luck if you drop the wedding ring, because that allows the bad luck to be shaken out.
It’s bad luck to drop the wedding ring. Whichever of you drops it will be the first to die.
It’s good luck to wear a silk wedding gown.
It’s bad luck to see yourself in your completed bridal finery before the wedding.
It’s good luck to wear white, which symbolizes joy or blue, which symbolizes fidelity.
It’s bad luck to wear anything black or to wear purple on your wedding day because these colors are associated with mourning and indicate early widowhood.
It’s good luck to wear a veil previously worn by a happy bride.
It’s bad luck to wear your veil with your gown before the wedding day.
It’s good luck for a bride to place a gold coin in her right shoe before walking down the aisle. By walking on gold, she’s assuring prosperity for the marriage.
It’s bad luck to allow the bride to cross the threshold of her new home without being carried. (One assumes this is because the gold coin in her shoe will finally trip her. )
It’s good luck for a bride to meet and kiss a chimney sweep on her way to the church.
It’s bad luck for her to meet up with a clergyman, police officer, lawyer, or doctor on the way to the church. No information was readily available on whether that changed if she kissed any of them.
It’s good luck for the bridal party to see a black cat, a grey horse, or an elephant on the way to church.
It’s bad luck for a pig to run across the path of the bridal party on their way to church.
It’s good luck to feed the cat before you go to your wedding, or if the cat sneezes.
It’s bad luck to marry on the same day - or even in the same year - as your sister, lest both marriages be unhappy.
It’s good luck if your wedding day is sunny, or if it snows.
It’s bad luck if your wedding day is windy, or if it rains.
It’s good luck if a baby cries during the wedding ceremony.
It’s bad luck if the bride cries at any point in the day other than during the ceremony itself.
And if the bride reads the entire ceremony before it happens, the wedding will not take place, so I’m told. Is this because she sees what she’s letting herself in for?
May 17th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Haha. Clearly some of these have been around for a VERY long time. I doubt many will see pigs running across the street…
May 17th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
You’re not wrong, la petite chou chou! As for me, I’m holding out for that elephant.
May 17th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Hmm…good luck to drop the wedding ring, because it shakes out bad luck. Interesting. Some of those are cute.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:54 am
Actually, it’s good luck if anyone kisses (or shakes hands with) a chimney sweep. Remember the song “Chim Chimeree” from “Mary Poppins”? “Good luck will rub off if I shakes hands with you/Or blow me a kiss/And that’s lucky too!”
May 18th, 2007 at 9:47 am
I was always told that it was good luck if it’s rainy when you get married, not sunny. Weird…
May 18th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I’m with Jess — people keep telling me it’s good luck if it rains on the wedding day. Although maybe that’s because I’m getting married outside…
May 18th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Interesting, Jess and Ladyjenbug. I had never heard that version…then again, dropping the wedding ring can be both good and bad. I would imagine a lot of these vary by local custom.
Still, I wish I’d seen an elephant on the way to my wedding! Good luck or not, that would have been cool.
May 18th, 2007 at 11:51 am
my mother made me put a sixpence in my shoe - something old, something blue, something borrowed, something blue, a silver six-pence in your shoe. this was why I kept shifting my weight during my wedding (last week!) … sixpences are actually not small coins! someone suggested we could tape it to the bottom of the shoe (where the shoe rises up to the heel so it doesn’t tap) but no one brought tape, natch.
May 18th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
According to my (Italian) mother, in Italy, it’s good luck if it rains on your wedding day. Of course, she also says it’s good luck if a bird poops on you, so I’m not so sure how much I believe her!
May 18th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I know a woman from Iran who also said it is good luck to have a bird poop on you. THAT could explain why I usually have bad luck!! I’ve never been crapped on by a bird!
May 18th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
In New Zealand, rain on any significant occasion is good luck; it means the ancestors are with you. (It rains quite a lot here . . )
May 19th, 2007 at 2:29 am
Well I had a bridal shower tonight and my grandmother told me that however many ribbons I break opening gifts is how many kids I’ll have! I’m not superstitious at all, but I was careful to only break one since I have two more showers to go!
May 21st, 2007 at 12:37 pm
I know my cats will agree that it’s good luck to feed cats before a wedding. Before a rainstorm. Before putting your shoes on. Before having lunch. Before going to the market. It’s always good luck to feed the cats!
June 12th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
So if it is good luck when a bird poops on you… I must be blessed because I was sitting outside and a bird decided to go to the bathroom right on my engagement ring!!! Oh the luck!