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An old Irish tradition has the couple being pelted with pots and pans (ouch!) in honor of their new domestic life.

Wheat greets the newlywed couple rather than rice in France to help bless the couple with prosperity as well as many children.

This ancient ritual dictates that the groom's father tosses red dates at his new daughter-in-law to bring fertility.

In Italy, newlyweds are showered with sweets and sugar coated nuts. (Rumor has it that the word "confetti" was actually derived from the root for the Italian word "confectionery")

In Morocco, figs, dates and raisins are thrown in place of rice to encourage a "fruitful" union.

East Indian Wedding Tradition - Brides and their attendants have their hands and feet painted with henna the day before the wedding.

French Wedding Tradition - The couple drinks the reception toast from an engraved two-handled cup - the coup de mariage.

Spanish Wedding Tradition - Brides carry orange blossoms to represent happiness and fulfillment.

Hawaiian Wedding Tradition - Couples exchange leis and seal their union by rubbing noses.

German Wedding Tradition - The groom carries grain in his pocket for wealth and good fortune.

Philipino Wedding Tradition - Sponsors pin the bride's veil to the groom's shoulder to represent their union.

African Wedding Tradition - Brides and grooms exchange kola nuts, which symbolize their commitment during hard times.

Irish Wedding Tradition - When married, a Claddagh ring is moved from the right hand to the left hand with the crown facing outward.

Chinese Wedding Tradition - The bride serves tea with sugar to the groom and his family to represent a wish for sweet relations.

Passed on from the time of the ancient Greeks, this custom is definitely not one with a romantic beginning. In ancient Greece, brides were often stolen and were not willing participants in the wedding ceremony. It was common for the groom to have to carry a struggling bride over the threshold and into the marital home. Today, brides are (hopefully!) more willing participants in the tradition.

Early farmers would tell you that a bride’s tears at her wedding were good luck and would bring rain for their crops. In later years, the belief was that a bride who cried at her wedding would never shed another tear about her marriage.

Early bridesmaids’ bouquets were not things of beauty; they were generally rather plain looking and gave off a strong odor. The reason? They were made of pungent herbs like garlic and thyme, not flowers! The smell helped scare away evil spirits and fairies away from the newlyweds. The groom also wore a few sprigs in his lapel. A tradition in the bridal bouquet was to include one non flowering plant, such as ivy. This would later be planted to signify the growth of the marriage.

The circular shape symbolizes eternal love, but the custom of ring giving goes back to business practices in ancient Egypt. In those days, giving a ring was a way to secure a binding, important agreement. Also, the ancients believed that love traveled to the heart through the vein in the third finger of the left hand, where couples to this day wear their wedding rings.

Garter throwing developed from an old English custom called "flinging the stocking". After the wedding, the attendants invaded the newlywed’s chambers and the ushers grabbed the bride’s, the bridesmaids and groom’s stockings. They took turns flinging the stockings at the bride and groom on their bed. Whoever’s stockings hit the bride or groom, would be the next to wed.

In early agricultural societies, where people’s survival was dependent upon the success of their crops, it was believed that a bride and groom brought good luck to whatever they touched on their wedding day. So they showered the couple with their grain seeds in the hope that it would bring a larger harvest. Nuts, wheat and yes, rice, were showered on the couple.

When you choose bridesmaids’ dresses that are styled similarly to your wedding dress, or when the groom and groomsmen choose matching tuxedos, you probably think you are doing so just to maintain the theme and style of your wedding. Hundreds of years ago, there was another reason why the bride and groom and their attendants dressed alike. Often, the bride and groom had to walk to the church together and they would be accompanied by their friends. There was always a fear that somebody – a rejected suitor or unhappy male relative – would spot the couple and put a curse on them. Therefore, the groom’s friends wore clothes almost identical to his and the bride’s friends dressed similar to the bride. The "disguises" tricked those with evil wishes for the couple and the bride and groom then had a much better chance of living happily ever after.

The ritual of the bride and groom taking a ceremonial "bite to eat" together dates back to the early Romans, who believed the bride and groom were not legally wed until they ate together. Instead of cake, a priest would break a loaf of bread over the bride’s head and everyone would share the crumbs. It was the Roman way of passing luck and fertility between guests and the newlyweds. In Elizabethan England, a stack of little cakes was piled up and the bride and groom had to kiss over the stack without knocking it over. Then the stack fell, guests pelted the couple with the cakes and then ate them. Today’s tiered wedding cakes are said to have been invented when an imaginative baker decided to cover the stack of cakes with icing.

Back in the so-called good old days, a marriage had little to do with love. It was simply a business agreement between the parents of the bride and the parents of the groom, sometimes arranged when the newlyweds were small children. The business agreement was secured with (what else?) money. Money the groom's family paid for the bride determined by the size of the bride's dowry. According to the legend, the first shower took place when a poor miner fell in love with a young maiden whose father was against the match and refused to provide a dowry. A bride could not marry without a dowry, but lucky for the miner he had a wealthy friend. The friend "showered" the bride with enough gifts to start her own home.