Bride & Groom Trivia
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161 free Bride & Groom trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This bride and groom trivia quiz is built for the wedding crowd: showers, rehearsal dinners, hen and stag nights, the long table at the reception, or the couple themselves. Every question is about the customs a bride and groom actually go through, and where each one came from: the engagement ring, the white dress, the veil, the vows, the best man, the bridesmaids, the bouquet and garter toss, the cake, the honeymoon and the anniversary gifts. If you want a broader quiz on marriage and famous weddings, our weddings trivia page covers that. The easy questions are the ones everybody at the table can shout: which finger the ring goes on, what a groom's attendants are called, what a British bride wears that an American calls a pacifier of a different kind. Then it gets into the good stuff: why the best man stands on the groom's right, which queen made white dresses fashionable, when 'a diamond is forever' was coined, why Gretna Green had blacksmith priests, and which royal cake was the first one you could actually eat all of. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry for the tradition before publishing, and the sentence that supports it is stored with each question.
30 of 161 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Where is a wedding band traditionally worn in Western culture?
Fourth digit, left side
The instruction goes back to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
Q 02What is the Latin name of the mythical vein said to run from the ring finger to the heart?
Vena amoris
Vena amoris, Latin for 'vein of love', was the name given to the vein supposedly running from the fourth finger straight to the heart, the reason given for the ring finger.
Q 03Whose 17th-century work disproved the idea of a special vein of love?
William Harvey
William Harvey: his 1628 De Motu Cordis described the circulation of the blood, showing every vein returns to the heart, so no finger has a special vein of love.
Q 04In which century did the first well-documented diamond engagement ring appear?
15th
The 15th century: Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave Mary of Burgundy a diamond ring in 1477, the first well-documented diamond engagement ring.
Q 05Which company's marketing campaign made diamonds synonymous with engagement rings?
De Beers
Before World War II only about 10% of American engagement rings had a diamond.
Q 06In what year was the slogan 'a diamond is forever' introduced?
1947
1947: N.W. Ayer copywriter Frances Gerety wrote 'A Diamond Is Forever' for De Beers that year, nine years after the campaign began in 1938.
Q 07Before World War II, roughly what share of American engagement rings contained a diamond?
10%
About 10%: when De Beers hired N.W. Ayer in 1938, only roughly one in ten American engagement rings contained a diamond, the gap the campaign set out to close.
Q 08How many months' salary did De Beers' 1980s American ads say a ring should cost?
Two
Two months: the 1980s De Beers 'two months' salary' ads set the American benchmark, while the same campaign said one month in Britain and three in Japan.
Q 09Britain's 1942 wartime 'utility' wedding rings were limited to which gold standard?
9 carat
9 carat: from 1942 Britain's wartime 'utility' wedding rings had to be 9-carat gold and weigh no more than two pennyweights, about three grams.
Q 10Grooms in the United States did not commonly wear a wedding band until when?
The early 20th century
The early 20th century: double-ring ceremonies, pushed by jewelers from the 1920s, became the American norm during World War II when servicemen wore bands as reminders of home.
Q 11In which two Nordic countries do brides wear engagement and wedding rings together on the left hand?
Sweden and Finland
Sweden and Finland: there both partners exchange plain engagement bands, and at the wedding the bride adds a second ring on the same left-hand finger.
Q 12On which hand does an Eastern Orthodox bride wear her wedding ring after the ceremony?
Right
The right hand: in Greek and Russian Orthodox custom the wedding ring is worn on the right hand, the engagement ring having sat on the left beforehand.
Q 13In Western tradition, a man traditionally asks whom for permission before proposing?
Her father
Q 21The first documented royal bride to wear white was Philippa of England, in which year?
1406
1406: Philippa, daughter of Henry IV, married Eric of Pomerania at Lund that year in a tunic of white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine.
Q 22Before the Victorian era, which colour of wedding dress was popular in Finland?
Black
Black: Finnish brides, like many across Scandinavia, commonly married in a best black dress through the 19th century; white only took over in the 20th.
Q 23Chinese and Indian brides traditionally wear which colour for luck?
Red
Indian wedding saris are usually red with golden brocade.
What was the colour of the flammeum, the veil worn by Roman brides?
Her father: asking for a daughter's hand descends from customs in which her father's consent was required for the match; today it is usually a courtesy.
Q 14Folk tradition in Scotland, Ireland and Finland lets women propose on which day?
A leap day
A leap day, 29 February: Irish legend credits St Brigid with winning the concession, and in Finland a man who refused owed the woman enough fabric for a skirt.
Q 15What is the traditional posture of a Western man proposing marriage?
Genuflecting on one knee
The ring usually comes out of a small velvet box.
Q 16Who did the proposing when Britain's young monarch got engaged in October 1839?
The bride, the reigning queen
As reigning monarch she had to; she did it five days after Albert arrived at Windsor.
Q 17Queen Victoria's white-dress wedding, credited with starting the trend, took place in which year?
1840
1840: Victoria married Prince Albert on 10 February 1840 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace; engravings of her white satin gown spread the fashion.
Q 18Queen Victoria's wedding dress was trimmed with lace from which English town?
Honiton
The order was a big boost to Devon lace-making.
Q 19What did Queen Victoria wear on her head instead of a tiara at her wedding?
A wreath of orange blossoms
Orange blossom was a symbol of fertility.
Q 20Prince Albert was Queen Victoria's what?
First cousin
First cousin: Victoria's mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was the sister of Albert's father, Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Deep yellow
Deep yellow: the flammeum took its name from flamma, flame, and was dyed a saffron yellow to match; the Flaminica Dialis wore one daily.
Q 25The Romans connected the verb 'to be married' with which word?
Cloud
Nubere and nubes: the bride was 'clouded over' with her veil.
Q 26According to old custom, a bride's veil was believed to protect her from what?
Evil spirits
Evil spirits: in Roman and later European folk belief the veil hid the bride from malevolent spirits and the envious evil eye on her wedding day.
Q 27Why did ancient bridesmaids dress exactly like the bride?
To confuse evil spirits and jealous suitors
To confuse evil spirits and jealous suitors: identically dressed attendants served as decoys, so no ill-wisher could tell which woman was the bride.
Q 28What is the chief bridesmaid called if she is married?
Matron of honour
Matron of honour: a married chief bridesmaid takes the title 'matron', a word for a married woman, while an unmarried one is the maid of honour.
Q 29In the US, which two wedding-party members usually sign as official witnesses?
Maid or matron of honour and best man
The maid or matron of honour and the best man: by custom they sign the marriage licence as the two witnesses many states' licences call for.
Q 30What colour did Queen Victoria's bridesmaids wear at her wedding?
White
White: Victoria's twelve bridesmaids wore white dresses she designed herself to match her own gown, and white bridesmaids became the Victorian fashion.