173 Fun Facts About Weddings

In Friends, whose name does Ross say at the altar instead of his bride Emily's?

Rachel: Ross's slip at his London wedding to Emily ended season four on a cliffhanger, and Emily later fled their reception through a bathroom window.

Complete the rhyme for what a bride should wear: 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something…'?

Blue completes the rhyme, known to folklorists as the Lancashire version; the full rhyme ends with a sixpence for the bride's shoe, a coin said to bring the couple prosperity.

What does a groom traditionally carry his bride over after the wedding?

The threshold: carrying the bride over it into the new home is held to bring luck, and the word names the sill at the foot of a doorway.

What does the bride traditionally throw over her shoulder to the unmarried women at a Western wedding reception?

Her bouquet: whoever catches it is said to be the next to marry, which is why the toss is aimed at the unmarried guests.

The 'Red Wedding' massacre is a notorious episode of which TV series?

Game of Thrones: author George R. R. Martin modelled the massacre on two real Scottish betrayals of hospitality, the Black Dinner of 1440 and the Glencoe massacre of 1692.

In which 2002 comedy does Toula's family struggle to accept her fiancé, Ian Miller?

My Big Fat Greek Wedding began as Nia Vardalos's one-woman stage show about her own family; Rita Wilson saw it and persuaded her husband, Tom Hanks, to see it, and the pair produced the film.

What is the general term for the person, religious or civil, who leads a wedding ceremony?

Officiant covers priests, rabbis and judges alike, but a Quaker wedding has none: out of the meeting's silence the couple speak their promises to each other, and everyone present signs the certificate.

'Sunrise, Sunset' is sung at Tzeitel's wedding in which stage musical?

Fiddler on the Roof: Tevye and Golde sing it as Tzeitel marries the poor tailor Motel, the childhood friend she begged for instead of the rich butcher her father had promised her to.

What is the traditional top tier of a wedding cake sometimes saved for?

The couple's first anniversary: many couples freeze the top tier and thaw it a year later, a custom descended from saving cake for the first child's christening.

What does the best man traditionally keep safe until it is needed during the ceremony?

The rings: the best man holds the real ones until the exchange, which is why the bands tied to a young ring bearer's cushion are often only symbolic.

What is the gift-giving party held for a woman shortly before her wedding called?

Bridal shower, a name possibly from a Victorian custom of hiding presents inside a parasol that 'showered' the bride with gifts when it was opened.

Which Hollywood star gave up acting to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956?

Grace Kelly: MGM released her from her contract in exchange for the right to film the cathedral ceremony in colour, which the studio then sent out to cinemas.

In which 1998 comedy does Adam Sandler's jilted Robbie Hart fall for a waitress played by Drew Barrymore?

The Wedding Singer, set in 1985, spawned a Broadway musical in 2006; Sandler and Barrymore reunited for 50 First Dates and Blended.

What is the traditional material for a 25th wedding anniversary gift?

Silver: the 'silver wedding' is traced to the German lands, where a wife was presented with a silver wreath to mark 25 years of marriage.

In a traditional Jewish wedding, what does the groom break underfoot at the end of the ceremony?

A glass: the custom is most often explained as recalling the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem even at the height of joy, and guests answer the crunch with shouts of 'Mazel tov!'

Which 2011 comedy stars Kristen Wiig as Annie, whose life falls apart as her oldest friend gets engaged?

Bridesmaids: producer Judd Apatow asked Wiig for a script idea after casting her in Knocked Up, and she wrote it with Annie Mumolo, earning the pair an Oscar nomination.

Which grain do guests traditionally throw over newlyweds as they leave the ceremony, a symbol of abundance?

Rice: the warning that it swells inside birds and kills them is a myth, yet it spread so widely that a Connecticut legislator proposed banning the custom in 1985.

Which North American landmark has long been promoted as the 'Honeymoon Capital of the World'?

Niagara Falls: Aaron Burr's daughter Theodosia honeymooned there in 1801, and after the Civil War the New York Central Railroad advertised it to newlyweds, building the tradition.

At a German Polterabend on the eve of a wedding, what do guests smash for luck?

Porcelain: at a Polterabend guests break crockery (never glass, which is unlucky) and the couple sweep up the shards together, following the saying 'Scherben bringen Glück', shards bring luck.

What is the meal shared by the wedding party on the evening before the ceremony called?

Rehearsal dinner: it follows the run-through of the ceremony, and by tradition the groom's parents pay, though today either family may host.

In a traditional Hindu wedding, what do the bride and groom walk around as they make their vows?

A sacred fire: the couple circle it as they make their vows, seven times in many traditions and four in others, with Agni, the fire god, held to witness the marriage.

In which city did Elvis Presley marry Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967?

Las Vegas: Colonel Tom Parker staged the ceremony at the Aladdin Hotel for publicity; it lasted eight minutes and was followed by a press conference.

What is the traditional wedding anniversary gift for the 50th year of marriage?

Gold, the 'golden wedding'; couples reaching fifty years can also request a congratulatory card from the US president or a message from the governor-general in Canada and Australia.

In which country is it traditional for a bride to wear a red wedding dress?

China: red is the colour of luck and joy, and the traditional qungua is embroidered with dragons and phoenixes; many brides now change between a Western white gown and the red outfit during the day.

What De Beers advertising slogan, launched in 1947, permanently linked diamonds to engagement rings?

'A Diamond Is Forever' was written for De Beers in 1947 by a copywriter at the N. W. Ayer agency; Advertising Age named it the slogan of the 20th century, and diamond engagement rings were far less common before it.

What is the name for the canopy under which a Jewish wedding ceremony takes place?

Chuppah: it stands for the home the couple will build together, and it is open on all four sides, as Abraham's tent was open to welcome guests.

Who plays Franck, the flamboyant wedding planner, in Father of the Bride (1991)?

Martin Short plays Franck Eggelhoffer, who sneers at George's worries about cost; he returned for the 1995 sequel and for a 2020 reunion short in which Franck marries a couple by video call.

What traditional role does the "maid of honor" play at a wedding?

Chief bridesmaid: 'maid of honour' first meant an unmarried noblewoman attending a queen, and a married woman filling the wedding role is a matron of honour.

What does "RSVP" on a wedding invitation stand for?

Répondez s'il vous plaît, French for 'respond if it pleases you'; the variant 'RSVP, regrets only' flips the default so that silence is taken as acceptance.

Where did Prince William and Catherine Middleton marry in 2011?

Westminster Abbey: the couple's florist lined the aisle with six field maples and two hornbeams, turning it into an avenue of living trees.

What does tradition say happens if the groom sees the bride before the ceremony on the wedding day?

It brings bad luck: the rule is usually traced to arranged marriages, when keeping the couple apart until the ceremony gave a groom no chance to back out on sight.

At which castle did Prince Harry and Meghan Markle marry in 2018?

Windsor Castle: in its St George's Chapel Meghan began the walk down the aisle alone, and Prince Charles joined her for the final stretch after her father withdrew.

What traditional African American wedding custom involves the couple jumping over an object?

Jumping the broom took hold among enslaved couples in the American South, whose marriages had no legal standing, and the 1977 TV series Roots revived it as a celebration of heritage.

At an Italian wedding, what are the 'confetti' handed to guests as favours?

Sugar-coated almonds: English took the word 'confetti' from these sweets, once thrown at carnivals, while Italians call the paper kind coriandoli; favours often hold five, one for each wish for the couple.

What does the groom traditionally remove from the bride and toss to the unmarried men?

The garter: guests are said to have once rushed the bride to grab her garters, or scraps of her dress, as lucky prizes, and the groom's toss is told as the tamer substitute.

In which 1997 film does Julia Roberts play food critic Julianne Potter, who schemes to split up an engaged couple?

My Best Friend's Wedding: years earlier Julianne and Michael agreed to marry each other if both were still single at 28, and she has just four days to break up his wedding to Kimmy.

Which Etta James signature song, recorded in 1960, is a perennial choice for a wedding first dance?

At Last: written in 1941 for a Glenn Miller film, it became Etta James's signature in 1960, and Beyoncé sang it for the Obamas' first dance at a 2009 inaugural ball.

What is "eloping" in the context of weddings?

Marrying suddenly and in secret: 'elope' is thought to go back to a medieval word for simply running away; in the Philippines the practice is called tanan.

Which ancient people, famed as soldiers, are credited with the earliest bachelor parties?

Spartans are credited with holding a dinner for the groom on his last night as a single man and toasting him, back in the 5th century BC.

What did 'weddian', the Old English ancestor of the verb 'wed', mean?

To pledge: Old English weddian meant to pledge or vow, and its German cousin wetten still means 'to bet'; only in English did the pledge come to mean marriage.

In the folk explanation, why did early bridesmaids dress just like the bride?

To confuse evil spirits: matching attendants were meant to keep spirits, or jealous former suitors, from picking out the bride, and the groomsmen's matching suits are explained the same way.

What is "mehndi" in the context of Indian weddings?

Henna skin decoration: the groom's initials are traditionally hidden in the bride's design, and an old saying holds that the darker the stain, the more she will be loved in her new home.

What happens to the couple in a modern 'handfasting' ceremony?

The couple's hands are bound with cord or ribbon; the word comes from Old Norse handfesta, 'to strike a bargain by joining hands', and for centuries it named a betrothal or marriage sealed by a handclasp.

Which celebrity couple married at Forte di Belvedere in Florence in May 2014?

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West married at Forte di Belvedere seven months after West rented San Francisco's baseball stadium to propose, its scoreboard flashing a plea to marry him.

In an Igbo wedding, what does the bride do with the palm wine her father hands her?

Carries it to her groom: in the Igba Nkwu, or wine-carrying, she must search the crowd for him while guests try to distract her, and handing him the cup publicly confirms her choice.

What is a "ketubah" in a Jewish wedding?

A marriage contract: the rabbis made the ketubah a protection for the wife, fixing a sum the husband owes her if he divorces her or dies before her.

Which of Henry VIII's queens was beheaded in 1536, little more than three years after marrying him?

Anne Boleyn was arrested in May 1536 and tried before a jury that included Henry Percy, the man she had once been secretly betrothed to; she was beheaded on 19 May.

Whose 1477 betrothal to Mary of Burgundy is the first well-documented use of a diamond engagement ring?

Archduke Maximilian of Austria, later Holy Roman Emperor, married Mary in Ghent in August 1477; the match brought the Burgundian Netherlands to the Habsburgs.

In Pride and Prejudice, whose marriage proposal does Elizabeth Bennet refuse before Mr Darcy's first?

Mr Collins takes her refusal for mere coyness, then within days proposes to her friend Charlotte Lucas, who accepts him for the security of a home.

In the Irish legend behind leap-day proposals, which saint persuaded Saint Patrick to let women propose?

Bridget, in the legend, complained to Patrick that women waited too long for proposals and won them leap day; a man who refused was expected to buy the woman gloves or a silk gown.

On an Irish Claddagh ring, what quality does the crown atop the heart stand for?

Loyalty: the heart stands for love and the hands for friendship; worn on the right hand with the heart pointing outward the ring says the wearer is single, and turned inward on the left hand, married.

The 12-carat oval gemstone in Diana's engagement ring, later Catherine's, was mined in which country?

Sri Lanka: the 12-carat Ceylon sapphire, circled by 14 diamonds, was given to Diana in 1981, and William proposed with the same ring on holiday in Kenya in October 2010.

Meghan Markle's engagement ring's large central diamond was sourced from which country?

Botswana: Harry had the stone set between two smaller diamonds from his mother Diana's collection, in a ring made by the court jewellers Cleave and Company.

Which actor did Elizabeth Taylor marry twice, in 1964 and again in 1975?

Richard Burton: the pair fell in love on the set of Cleopatra while she was married to Eddie Fisher; they wed in 1964, divorced in 1974 and remarried the following year.

Glamour magazine's 'engagement' recipe, reputed since the 1980s to prompt proposals, is for which dish?

Roast chicken: a Glamour fashion editor gave the lemon-and-herb recipe to her assistant in 1982, whose boyfriend proposed a month later, and the magazine named it 'engagement chicken' when it printed it.

In the Chinese betrothal custom guo da li, in what quantities does the groom's family give gifts?

Even numbers, because good things come in pairs: traditional gifts include wine, oranges and tea, and the bride's family returns a portion of them to the groom's side.

Napoleon's engagement ring for Joséphine, auctioned in 2013 for about $949,000, pairs a diamond with which gem?

Sapphire: the pear-shaped sapphire and diamond sit side by side in a 'toi et moi' setting; Osenat had estimated the ring at around $20,000 before it sold for nearly fifty times that in 2013.

When bride's and groom's cakes were served together, the groom's was traditionally what?

Darker, smaller and fruity: the groom's cake was a rich fruit cake, often soaked in liquor, set beside the white-iced bride's cake; the two-cake custom is now kept up mainly in the American South.

In which 1967 film does Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin burst into a church to stop Elaine marrying another man?

The Graduate: Benjamin bars the church doors with a large cross and flees with Elaine aboard a city bus, where the film ends as their elated smiles slowly fade.

In a Hindu wedding, what does the groom apply to the parting of the bride's hair?

Sindoor: the groom applies the red powder for the first time at the wedding, his wife then wears it daily, and by tradition a widow stops wearing it.

Wearing the wedding ring on the left hand follows a tradition set by which liturgical text?

The Book of Common Prayer: its 1549 marriage rite told the groom to put the ring on the woman's left hand and to give her coins along with it as 'tokens of spousage'.

A gimmel ring, named from the Latin for 'twin', consisted of what?

Two interlocking bands: in the 16th and 17th centuries an engaged couple each wore one hoop, and the pair were rejoined at the wedding for the wife to wear as a single ring.

Traditionally, what gift material is recommended for a fifth wedding anniversary?

Wood for the fifth: an 1858 almanac already recommended paper for the first year, wood for the fifth and tin for the tenth, and twentieth-century commerce filled in the rest of the list.

Unlike a 100th-birthday card, the monarch's message for a UK couple's 60th wedding anniversary must be what?

Applied for: a 100th-birthday card is arranged automatically from UK pension records, but a 60th-anniversary message is sent only on application, with a copy of the couple's marriage certificate.

Which word names the noisy mock serenade of pots and pans once sprung on newlyweds in rural America?

Shivaree, a reshaping of French charivari: the din of kettles and pans was thought most fitting for matches the neighbours found ill-suited, such as a second marriage or a wide gap in age.

Which Christian tradition has no marriage vows in its traditional wedding ceremonies?

Eastern Orthodoxy: its marriage service has no vows or oaths because the Church treats it as a sacrament and not a legal contract; the couple are blessed and crowned instead.

What is the name for a wedding forced on a couple by the bride's parents, typically because of a pregnancy?

A shotgun wedding: the phrase imagines the pregnant bride's relatives holding a gun on the reluctant groom until he says his vows, and it now covers any marriage hurried along by a pregnancy.

In the Church of England, what is the public notice of an intended marriage, read out on three Sundays, called?

The banns: they are read aloud so that anyone who knows of an impediment to the marriage can object, a step the Lateran Council of 1215 made compulsory.

Why does a sheet of tissue traditionally cover a wedding invitation?

It kept engraved ink from smudging: engraved invitations were slow to dry, so a sheet of tissue was laid over the text, and the habit survived after printing methods changed.

Which pair play the divorce mediators who sneak into strangers' receptions in Wedding Crashers (2005)?

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn play John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, whose carefree scheme comes apart when John falls for Rachel McAdams's Claire and insists they stay on.

Whose daughter's wedding do the Wedding Crashers gatecrash, leading to a fateful weekend invitation?

The US Treasury Secretary's: Christopher Walken plays Secretary Cleary, and John, smitten with his daughter Claire, overrules Jeremy and accepts a weekend at the family compound.

Which Wet Wet Wet cover from Four Weddings and a Funeral spent 15 weeks at UK number one?

'Love Is All Around', a Troggs cover, stayed at number one for 15 weeks in 1994, one short of Bryan Adams's record, until the band grew tired of hearing it everywhere and had the single withdrawn from sale.

In Four Weddings and a Funeral, shot in just six weeks, who plays Carrie, the American who captivates Charles?

Andie MacDowell: money was so tight that the extras wore their own wedding clothes, yet the film went on to become the highest-grossing British picture of its day.

Mamma Mia! (2008) was filmed mainly on which Greek island?

Skopelos: its clifftop chapel of Agios Ioannis hosted the wedding scene, but Donna's Greek villa was a set built on the 007 stage at Pinewood, with real trees watered daily to keep them growing.

Charles and Diana married in 1981 at which London church?

St Paul's Cathedral, chosen because it seats more guests and allowed a longer procession through London than the usual royal venue; about 750 million people watched on television.

In her 1981 vows a nervous Diana muddled Charles's names, putting which of his middle names first?

Philip: she called him 'Philip Charles Arthur George', and the groom slipped too, promising her 'thy goods' where the vow says 'my worldly goods'.

Which British label made Diana's 1981 wedding gown?

Emanuel: Elizabeth and David Emanuel guarded the design so closely that they also made a spare wedding dress, ready as a stand-in if the real one was revealed before the day.

Which Archbishop of Canterbury conducted the marriage at Kate Middleton's royal wedding in 2011?

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012, married the couple; the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, preached, opening with words of Catherine of Siena, whose feast day it was.

William and Catherine first met in 2001 while studying at which university?

St Andrews: both arrived in 2001, he switching from history of art to geography, and they shared a student flat with friends from their second year.

Meghan Markle's 2018 wedding dress was designed by Clare Waight Keller for which fashion house?

Givenchy: Clare Waight Keller, its first female artistic director, gave the veil flowers from all 53 Commonwealth countries, and the embroiderers washed their hands every 30 minutes to keep it spotless.

Which American bishop delivered the sermon at Harry and Meghan's wedding?

Michael Curry, then presiding bishop of the US Episcopal Church, gave a 14-minute sermon on the power of love that quoted Martin Luther King Jr.

Which song did the Kingdom Choir sing at Harry and Meghan's wedding?

'Stand By Me': Karen Gibson's Kingdom Choir sang Ben E. King's 1961 hit as the couple sat, and the performance won the London gospel group a record deal with Sony.

On the morning of his 2018 wedding, Prince Harry was given which dukedom by the Queen?

Duke of Sussex: the Queen conferred it that morning with two lesser titles, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel, so Meghan became a duchess the moment she married him.

Queen Victoria married Prince Albert at which venue?

The Chapel Royal, St James's Palace: for her gown Victoria passed over fashionable Brussels lace and ordered English Honiton lace, reviving the flagging lace industry in Devon.

Instead of a tiara, Queen Victoria wore a wedding wreath made of which flowers?

Orange blossoms also trimmed her dress, and the tiara was not all Victoria gave up: she declined to marry in her royal robes, choosing a fashionable satin gown instead.

Which Roman priest presided over confarreatio, the solemn patrician wedding rite?

The Pontifex Maximus: he presided with the priest of Jupiter before ten witnesses while the couple shared a cake of far, the grain that gave the rite its name.

Under Roman 'usus' marriage, how could a woman avoid her husband's legal control?

By staying away three nights a year, the trinoctium: under the Twelve Tables a year's cohabitation created manus, so an annual three-night absence kept a wife under her father's authority instead.

What does the Hindu wedding ritual 'Saptapadi' literally mean?

Seven steps: the couple take seven steps together, each with a vow, and under India's Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 a marriage that includes the rite is complete on the seventh step.

At a Jewish wedding's bedeken the groom veils the bride, said to recall which biblical woman who veiled herself on meeting Isaac?

Rebecca: Genesis has her cover her face on first seeing Isaac, and at the veiling the bride is often blessed with the words Rebecca's family spoke as she left home to marry him.

What is 'yichud', which follows the ceremony at an Ashkenazi Jewish wedding?

The couple being alone together: straight after the ceremony the newlyweds retire to a private room for a few minutes, and some rabbinic opinions hold this seclusion is what completes the marriage.

In a Japanese Shinto wedding, what do the bride and groom share in the san-san-kudo ritual?

Sake: in san-san-kudo ('three-three-nine times') the bride and groom each take three sips from each of three cups, and the shared drink seals the marriage.

In an Islamic marriage, what is the 'mahr'?

A gift from the groom to the bride: the mahr, in money or property, belongs to the wife herself and not to her family, and a husband owes a fair sum even when none was fixed in advance.

What is the name of the Islamic marriage feast?

Walimah, the feast hosted by the groom after the nikah, which the Prophet's tradition encourages even with a single sheep; khitbah is the proposal stage and zifaf the couple's send-off.

Mendelssohn's 'Wedding March' was written in 1842 as incidental music for which play?

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Mendelssohn wrote the overture at 17 in 1826 and the full incidental music, including the march, in 1842 for a Potsdam production; a royal wedding in 1858 made it a staple.

Whose 1858 wedding to Prince Frederick William of Prussia made Mendelssohn's 'Wedding March' a bridal favourite?

Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal, walked out to Mendelssohn's march and brides copied her; the tale that Wagner's music played her in is doubted, since the organist's record names a Handel march.

Wagner's 'Bridal Chorus' comes from which 1850 opera?

Lohengrin, premiered at Weimar in 1850 under Liszt; the chorus is sung after the ceremony as Elsa is led to the bridal chamber, and the marriage collapses before the act is out.

Which Baroque composer wrote the Canon in D that is now a wedding processional favourite?

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706): the Canon's date is unknown, and it lay in obscurity until a 1968 recording by Jean-François Paillard's chamber orchestra made it famous.

Which vocal group took Laura Nyro's 'Wedding Bell Blues' to number one in 1969?

The 5th Dimension: the song fitted them neatly, since singer Marilyn McCoo was engaged to bandmate Billy Davis Jr. with no date set, so on television she sang its plea to 'Bill' straight at him.

Billy Idol said 'White Wedding' was inspired by whose wedding?

His pregnant sister's: Idol has said her wedding simply gave him the idea, and that the bitter story he spun from the title is not about her; the song appeared on his 1982 debut album.

Which group took 'Chapel of Love' to number one for three weeks in 1964?

The Dixie Cups, a New Orleans trio, hit number one with a song its co-writer Phil Spector had recorded with Darlene Love a year earlier and then shelved.

English couples began fleeing to Gretna Green in 1754 after a new marriage law required what of under-21s?

Parental consent: Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act made it a condition in England, but the Act did not apply in Scotland, where a couple had only to declare their wish to marry before witnesses.

The blacksmiths who married runaway couples at Gretna Green were nicknamed the 'priests' of which tool?

The anvil: Gretna's 'anvil priests' needed no licence, because Scots law let almost anyone officiate once a couple declared themselves married, until an Act of 1939 required a minister or registrar.

A bachelor party is known by what name in Australia?

A buck's night in Australia, where 'buck' replaces the British 'stag'; in parts of Canada the couple may instead hold a joint 'stag and doe', selling tickets to raise money for the wedding.

A bachelorette party is called what in the UK and Ireland?

A hen night, or hen do: 'hen party' first named any women-only gathering, tea and gossip included, and only later narrowed to a bride's send-off.

The flower girl tradition is traced to which ancient society, where girls carried herbs and sheaves of grain?

Rome: Roman flower girls carried sheaves and herbs as tokens of fertility for the couple, and only later did scattered petals take their place.

Who played the title role in the original 1950 Father of the Bride?

Spencer Tracy, Oscar-nominated as Stanley Banks; MGM opened the film 12 days after co-star Elizabeth Taylor's real wedding to Nicky Hilton and built its publicity around the match.

Muriel's Wedding is set in which fictional Australian beach town?

Porpoise Spit, the dead-end beach town that Toni Collette's ABBA-loving Muriel flees for Sydney, where she renames herself and chases the glamorous wedding of her daydreams.

In Bride Wars, at which New York hotel have the two friends always dreamed of marrying?

The Plaza: Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway play friends who both book June weddings at the Plaza on the same day after a clerical error, and turn on each other.

Wealth transferred from the bride's family to the groom's is called what?

Dowry: India outlawed giving or taking one with the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, yet the law was widely judged ineffective and the practice carried on regardless.

The first dinner jacket is traditionally traced to 1865 and which future king?

Edward VII, as Prince of Wales, is credited with ordering a short evening jacket from Henry Poole & Co; the style was taken up at Tuxedo Park, New York, in 1886, which is why Americans call it a tuxedo.

Which French word names the flower a groom traditionally wears on his jacket lapel?

Boutonnière: the flower is traditionally pushed through the lapel's buttonhole, on the same side as a pocket handkerchief, which is why the British simply call it a buttonhole.

A croquembouche, the traditional French wedding cake, is a cone of choux puffs bound with what?

Threads of caramel: the choux puffs are stacked into a cone and glued with hard caramel, often wrapped in spun sugar; the name means 'crunches in the mouth'.

In English folklore, the 'something old' a bride wears was a charm to baffle what threat?

The Evil Eye: an 1898 folklore study says its usual effect was to leave a bride barren, and the full rhyme is first found in print in a Staffordshire newspaper of 1876.

In which shoe should the bride's lucky sixpence traditionally be worn?

The left: the sixpence line was a later Victorian addition to the rhyme, and the coin is meant as a token of prosperity, or as a ward against harm from frustrated suitors.

Jesus's first miracle, turning water into wine, took place at a wedding in which town?

Cana in Galilee: the story, told only in the Gospel of John (chapter 2), has Jesus turn water into wine after his mother notes the hosts have run out.

Marriage licenses have been required since 1639 in which US state?

Massachusetts: the Bay Colony's dissenters objected to marriage being governed by Church of England canon law, so from 1639 they wrote civil rules of their own, with licensing or registration.

Which country was first to give legal effect to same-sex marriage, on 1 April 2001?

The Netherlands: four same-sex couples married at Amsterdam's City Hall at midnight as 1 April 2001 began, with mayor Job Cohen officiating; Denmark had been first with registered partnerships.

Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kris Humphries after how many days of marriage?

72 days: she filed for divorce ten weeks after the televised wedding, but the split was not finalised until 2013, so ending the marriage took far longer than the marriage itself.

In Bermuda, what is traditionally placed on top of the wedding cake?

A cedar sapling: Bermudian couples top the cake with a small cedar tree, which they plant afterwards so that it grows along with the marriage.

What are the ribbon-joined crowns placed on a couple's heads at a Greek Orthodox wedding called?

Stefana: the sponsor, or koumbaros, swaps the two crowns, joined by a ribbon, three times over the couple's heads; the crowning is the heart of the Orthodox rite.

Groomsmen were once called 'bride-knights', said to be a survival of which early custom?

Marriage by capture: in the folk explanation a man called on friends to help 'lift' the bride from her family, or to defend her from rival kidnappers, and those helpers became the bride-knights.

Who served as maid of honour at the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine?

Pippa Middleton, the bride's sister; the groom broke with royal custom too, naming his brother Harry as best man where royal grooms had traditionally had two 'supporters'.

After their 2011 wedding, William drove Catherine away from Buckingham Palace in Prince Charles's classic car of which make?

Aston Martin: the open-top DB6, a 21st-birthday present to Charles from the Queen, had been decked out by the best man and friends with ribbons, balloons and a 'Just Wed' number plate.

What did Princess Elizabeth need, besides money, to buy the fabric for her 1947 wedding dress?

Clothing ration coupons were still required in post-war Britain, and the government allowed her 200 extra. Brides-to-be posted her hundreds more, which had to be returned because giving them away was illegal.

In Friends, whose name does Ross say during his London wedding vows instead of his bride Emily's?

Rachel is the name Ross blurts out, and the season ends with the registrar asking Emily whether he should go on. The next episode is titled 'The One After Ross Says Rachel'.

Which Oscar-winning Hollywood star retired from acting at 26 to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco?

Grace Kelly had won the Best Actress Oscar for The Country Girl about a year before the April 1956 wedding. Her last feature, High Society, reached cinemas that July.

When Yuri Malenchenko married from orbit in 2003, in which US state was his bride standing?

Texas law permits a marriage with only one party present, so Ekaterina Dmitrieva said her vows at Johnson Space Center. The groom was 240 miles above New Zealand.

In which Charles Dickens novel does the jilted Miss Havisham refuse to take off her wedding dress?

Great Expectations has her stop every clock at twenty to nine, the minute she read the letter that jilted her. She even goes on wearing just one shoe.

Which Cleopatra co-star did Elizabeth Taylor marry twice, first in 1964 and again in 1975?

Richard Burton accounts for two of her eight marriages to seven men. Their first ceremony took place in Montreal only ten days after her divorce from Eddie Fisher.

Which Taylor Swift album is named for the moment in a wedding when objections are invited?

Speak Now has a title track about crashing an ex-boyfriend's wedding at the words 'speak now or forever hold your peace'. Swift wrote the whole album without a co-writer.

Which 2009 comedy follows three friends retracing a Las Vegas bachelor party after losing the groom?

The Hangover was inspired by a real night: producer Tripp Vinson went missing from his own Las Vegas bachelor party and woke up in a strip club facing a very large bill.

Which New York Yankees legend married Marilyn Monroe at San Francisco City Hall in January 1954?

Joe DiMaggio and Monroe had dated for two years, yet the marriage was brief: she filed for divorce after only nine months.

Which twice-divorced American socialite did King Edward VIII give up the British throne to marry?

Wallis Simpson married him in June 1937 at the Château de Candé in France, lent to them for the occasion by the French millionaire Charles Bedaux.

Which fantasy series stunned viewers with the 'Red Wedding', a massacre of Robb Stark and his bannermen?

Game of Thrones staged it in the episode 'The Rains of Castamere', named after the song the musicians strike up just before the slaughter begins.

In The Office, beside which natural wonder do Jim and Pam hold their wedding?

Niagara Falls is where the whole office follows them, but the pair slip away first and are married by the captain of the Maid of the Mist tour boat.

Which pop star's 2004 Las Vegas marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander was annulled after 55 hours?

Britney Spears had the marriage annulled on a petition stating that she 'lacked understanding of her actions'.

Which crooner's 'Love and Marriage' became the theme song of the sitcom Married... with Children?

Frank Sinatra introduced the song in a 1955 television production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and his recording reached number five on the Billboard chart.

Which composer wrote the 1786 comic opera The Marriage of Figaro to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte?

Mozart based it on a Beaumarchais comedy that picks up the plot of The Barber of Seville several years on, during a single 'day of madness' in Count Almaviva's palace.

Which Alanis Morissette hit lists 'rain on your wedding day' among life's cruel little twists?

Ironic is often teased because its mishaps are bad luck rather than irony. Morissette has said she and co-writer Glen Ballard were 'not doggedly making sure that everything was technically ironic'.

In British English, the meal served after a marriage ceremony is traditionally called the wedding what?

Breakfast, in a popular story, recalls couples breaking a fast kept before a pre-Reformation nuptial Mass. The tale is doubtful, since the phrase is not recorded before the 1830s.

In which British territory did John Lennon and Yoko Ono marry in March 1969, as a Beatles single recounts?

Gibraltar gets a line in 'The Ballad of John and Yoko', and Franco's government objected to the lyric 'Gibraltar near Spain'. The couple then staged a week-long bed-in in Amsterdam.

Which yellow spice is rubbed on the couple as a paste in a ritual before Punjabi weddings?

Turmeric paste, mixed with flour and mustard oil, is rubbed on the face, arms and legs by married women of the household while a red cloth is held overhead.

During which circle dance at Jewish weddings are the bride and groom raised aloft on chairs?

Hora dancers lift the pair on separate chairs while the two hold a handkerchief between them. The same hoisting is copied at bar and bat mitzvahs.

In Spanish and Latin American wedding ceremonies, what do the traditional tokens called 'las arras' consist of?

Thirteen coins stand for the twelve months of the year plus one for the poor. Another reading makes them Jesus and his twelve apostles.

Which carved wooden utensil did Welsh suitors traditionally present as a gift of romantic intent?

A spoon decorated with symbols of love was meant to show off the carver's skill. The earliest dated Welsh example, from 1667, is displayed at St Fagans museum near Cardiff.

At Yoruba weddings in Nigeria, what do guests 'spray' over the dancing couple as a show of generosity?

Banknotes are showered over the dancers in a custom called money spraying. Nigeria's 2007 central bank law treats it as currency abuse, and offenders have been prosecuted.

In which country's 'blackening' custom are the bride and groom captured, covered in sticky mess and paraded?

Scotland keeps the custom alive mainly in the rural north-east, the Highlands and the Northern Isles. Friends often drive the pair around on an open-backed truck, banging pots and pans.

Carved wooden pairs of which bird, a symbol of fidelity, are traditionally used in Korean wedding ceremonies?

Ducks of the mandarin kind are the model, and the carved pair is known simply as wedding ducks. They also stand for peace and plentiful offspring.

What name is given to a groom's wedding procession in the Indian subcontinent, often led by its own band?

Baraat grooms once rode in on a mare, a chariot or even an elephant, and usually carried a sword. Vintage cars are now a common stand-in.

At Russian wedding feasts, guests shout 'Gorko!' until the newlyweds kiss; what does the word mean?

Bitter is the guests' complaint about the wine after the first toast, and only a long kiss from the newlyweds is supposed to take the taste away.

In a Japanese Shinto wedding, the bride's tsunokakushi headdress is said to hide which symbols of jealousy?

Horns of anger and jealousy are what the folded cloth is said to conceal, presenting a more virtuous bride. The headdress arose in the Edo period, worn by women visiting Buddhist temples.

What name is given to the public announcement of an impending marriage read out in a parish church?

Banns give anyone the chance to raise a legal impediment before the wedding. The Catholic Church made them general in 1215 to stamp out clandestine marriages.

Which French-derived word for the clothing a bride brings from her former home originally meant 'a bundle'?

Trousseau is a diminutive of the Old French 'trousse', a bundle. Medieval English borrowed the same word for a bunch of keys, but that sense died out.

Which wedding word ends in an altered form of 'guma', the Old English word for 'man'?

Bridegroom began as Old English 'brydguma', the bride's man. In the 16th century the ending was reshaped by confusion with 'groom', then a word for a lad or servant.

The word 'bridal' comes from an Old English term for a marriage feast that joined 'bride' with which drink?

Ale lent its name to whole festivities in old England, so a 'bride-ale' was the wedding party itself. Mowers had a scythe-ale and sheep-shearers a lamb-ale.

Which precious stone, the birthstone of July, gives its name to a couple's 40th wedding anniversary?

Ruby marks forty years on the traditional list. American jewellers lengthened that list in 1937, when their trade association published an expanded set of gifts.

Which 1967 US Supreme Court case struck down state laws banning interracial marriage?

Loving v. Virginia was a unanimous ruling for Richard and Mildred Loving, whose prison sentences had been suspended on condition that they leave the state.

Which term describes a marriage in which a royal's lower-ranked spouse and children inherit no titles?

Morganatic comes from the Latin for the 'morning gift', the groom's present on the day after the wedding, which was all such a bride could expect to receive.

Which painter signed the Arnolfini Portrait, long read as a record of a marriage, on the wall above its mirror?

Jan van Eyck wrote 'Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434' ('Jan van Eyck was here') on the painted wall, which led some art historians to treat the panel as legal proof of a wedding.

What is the Sikh wedding ceremony called, in which the couple circle the Guru Granth Sahib during four hymns?

Anand Karaj means 'blissful ceremony'. Its four hymns, the lavan, were composed by Guru Ram Das and are sung as the bride and groom walk.

Which TLC reality series is filmed at Kleinfeld Bridal in Manhattan?

Say Yes to the Dress launched its first spin-off in 2010, which moved the cameras to Bridals by Lori, a shop in Atlanta, Georgia.

Which sitting US president gave away his niece Eleanor at her 1905 New York wedding to a future president?

Theodore Roosevelt stood in for his late brother, and the date was fixed for 17 March because he was already due in New York for the St Patrick's Day parade.

In which stage musical does the dustman Alfred Doolittle sing 'Get Me to the Church on Time' before his wedding?

My Fair Lady sends Alfred on one last spree with his friends, and the song is his plea that they still deliver him to the ceremony. Stanley Holloway introduced it in 1956.

In which Shakespeare comedy does Claudio denounce his bride Hero in front of the stunned wedding guests?

Much Ado About Nothing turns on Don John's trick: his man Borachio meets Margaret, taken for Hero, at the bedroom window. The friar at the ceremony believes the bride innocent.

In the southern African custom of lobola, which animals traditionally make up the payment to a bride's family?

Cattle remain the unit of account even when cash changes hands: families agree a price per cow, then multiply it. Nelson Mandela is reported to have paid 60 cows for Graça Machel.

Which Unification Church founder personally matched most of the couples at his mass 'Blessing' weddings?

Sun Myung Moon held the first Blessing in Seoul in 1961 for 36 couples. By 1982 the ceremony had reached New York, where one was staged at Madison Square Garden.

In Greek myth, which goddess, left off the guest list for the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, threw a golden apple?

Eris, in the best-known telling, inscribed the apple 'For the fairest'. The quarrel it started among three goddesses led on to the Trojan War.

Which US president remains the only one to marry in the White House, wedding Frances Folsom in 1886?

Grover Cleveland's bride was 21, which still makes Frances Folsom the youngest First Lady in history. He was only the second president to wed while in office.

On the American frontier, what name was given to the rowdy mock serenade of pots and pans aimed at newlyweds?

A shivaree might see the bride wheeled about in a wheelbarrow or cowbells tied under the wedding bed. The word is a worn-down form of the French 'charivari'.

Which Greek god of marriage ceremonies was addressed in the songs sung as a bride walked to her groom's house?

Hymen was painted from the Renaissance onward as a young man in a garland of flowers, holding a burning torch. Most ancient writers made him a son of Apollo and one of the Muses.

Which Flemish master painted The Peasant Wedding, a barn feast in which nobody can agree who the groom is?

Pieter Bruegel hung a paper crown above the bride, but the groom is anyone's guess: critics have proposed a man in a dark coat, a rich couple's ill-bred son, and even the man pouring the beer.

In which Victorian novel is the heroine's wedding to Mr Rochester halted by news that he already has a wife?

Jane Eyre gives its heroine a warning first: shortly before the ceremony, a strange woman creeps into her room at night and rips the wedding veil in two.

Which 1967 film ends with Benjamin Braddock snatching Elaine Robinson from her own wedding and fleeing by bus?

The Graduate has Benjamin bar the church doors with a large cross to trap the guests inside. On the bus, the pair's ecstatic smiles slowly fade into uncertainty.