Marriage customs in America

Traditional American weddings are solemn, warm and not luxurious. The wedding is held at the woman's home, and only parents, relatives and closest friends are invited to attend, and the expenses are paid by the woman's parents. People attending the wedding give some gifts appropriately, such as practical items such as cooking utensils or tableware, which are not expensive. Americans don't value gifts, but value friendship.

Due to historical reasons, the United States is called the "national melting pot", with whites accounting for the vast majority, as well as blacks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Arabs, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, China, Indians and so on. Americans come from complex sources, and wedding forms vary greatly.

Traditional American weddings are solemn, warm and not luxurious. The wedding is held at the woman's home, and only parents, relatives and closest friends are invited to attend, and the expenses are paid by the woman's parents. People attending the wedding give some gifts appropriately, such as practical items such as cooking utensils or tableware, which are not expensive. Americans don't value gifts, but value friendship.

Young men and women in America have many opportunities for contact, free communication and love. The feelings of young men and women have developed to the point where they can get married. More and more unmarried couples sign "marriage contracts" in law firms before weddings. The main content of this contract is about the money and property of both parties, and even makes detailed provisions on how many children to have after marriage, how to share the child support, what family affairs each party undertakes, and how many servants to hire. Some contracts even stipulate the conditions for divorce in advance, for fear of conflict.

Before the wedding, unmarried couples invited their usual close friends to get together, and friends congratulated them on starting a new life. In this kind of party, most hosts will prepare some drinks and some dishes, and friends will also bring some wine and dishes. American food is colorful, beautifully packaged and easy to carry, so it is easy to prepare a sumptuous banquet with a little money. At the party, the host and friends ate and laughed freely, and then sang and danced together after eating and drinking. This kind of farewell party to single life costs little and the atmosphere is very warm, which shows the intimacy between the host and the guest.

On the wedding day, the bride and groom, accompanied by relatives and witnesses, went to the local court for marriage registration. A judge read out the prepared congratulations to the newlyweds, and the bride and groom each took the oath. Then, the witnesses of both parties sign the marriage certificate, indicating that the marriage has achieved legal effect and has been recognized by both relatives and society. Finally, the bride and groom exchange wedding rings and put them on each other's ring fingers.

After the marriage registration ceremony, the newlyweds drove to the woman's house to attend the wedding reception. Parents, relatives and friends of both sides met there. When the newlyweds appear at the wedding reception, the groom wears a full dress, and the bride's dress can be described as "new, old, borrowed and blue". "New" means that the bride's white wedding dress is newly made, which means the beginning of a new life; "Old" means that the wedding dress on the bride's head was used by her mother, which means that she will never forget the kindness of her parents, especially her mother. "Borrowing" means that the handkerchief in the bride's hand is borrowed from her close girlfriend, indicating that although she is a daughter-in-law, she will not forget her girlhood friends. "Blue" means that the ribbon worn by the bride is blue, which symbolizes her loyalty to love.

The specifications of the wedding banquet and the types of food are determined according to the cultural traditions of the bride and groom, the love and economic conditions of the bride's family. Most wedding banquets in America are simple and affordable, and they don't pay attention to ostentation and extravagance. There are steaks, ham, sausages, seafood, boiled vegetables, cold vegetables, sliced bread, cheese and so on for guests to eat. These foods are placed on the long table in the center of the hall. Disposable cups, plates, knives and forks are placed at one end of the table. Guests pick up a set of tableware in turn, choose their favorite food on the long dining table, get together for dinner and chat in twos and threes, or take turns to go to the newlyweds and say some blessings to them. The atmosphere is relaxed and pro-Zhengzhou wedding planning. In the corner of the hall, there is a wine table with beer, wine, brandy and other drinks on it. Americans pay attention to etiquette when drinking, what kind of wine to drink and what kind of cups to use. Don't joke about breaking the rules. Guests choose their favorite wine or other drinks, and the service staff will add what wine according to which cup you use. At American wedding banquets, there are two kinds of dishes that are generally not lacking, because these two kinds of dishes are generally loved by Americans. One is a fruit or vegetable salad and the other is a roast suckling pig.

There will be a ceremony to cut cakes for the newlyweds in the middle of the banquet. The wedding cake is colored. According to the traditional custom, the bride and groom cut the cake together with a knife. First, they give each other a piece of cake, and then they cut the cake into countless small pieces for the guests to enjoy. After the guests finished eating the cake, the bride stood on a chair in the middle of the hall and threw a bunch of flowers at the unmarried girls. It is said that whoever gets this bouquet of flowers will be the next bride. After the cake-cutting ceremony, the wedding reception continued.

When the banquet lasted for more than four hours, the bride found that the guests didn't have much to talk about and their enthusiasm for conversation decreased, so she deliberately turned everyone's attention to the gifts her friends gave her and the groom. She took out the gifts, opened them one by one, and praised them from time to time to thank the giver. Suddenly, the guests rushed to watch the gifts and make comments. The atmosphere of the banquet came alive again.

After the wedding banquet, the newlyweds bid farewell to the guests, who sprinkled rice grains on them and wished them a full house of children and grandchildren in the future. The newlyweds drove away in a warm atmosphere, and the whole wedding process ended here.

After the wedding, the newlyweds travel somewhere and spend their honeymoon. Nowadays, there is a big gap between American honeymoons, which mainly depends on the time, hobbies and economic conditions of newlyweds. It is an American habit that the cost of honeymoon trip should be borne by the man. In the United States, it can be said that time is money, so it is rare for newlyweds to really enjoy a month's time.