Wedding Tradions

Over the next few weeks, I thought I would write about wedding traditions......Where did they come from?

Before the engagement, traditionally, in the days when the man proposed on bended knee, the man asked his "intended's" father for permission to marry his daughter. The father would question the groom to be on his background, upbringing and financial abilites to support his daughter.
Today the couple's decison to marry most likely is made jointly, followed by a trip to the jeweler to get the engagement ring. While a man no longer needs permission, he should have the courtesy to discuss the marriage with the brides parents.
It used to be unacceptable for an engaged couple to be alone without a chaperone. Times have changed, today's major delimma may not be stealing a kiss but whether to tell the parents the couple is living together.
Historically, the cost of giving the wedding traces to the dowry and the bride price, used as encouragement by parents to marry off their daughters. The brides family paid for all the wedding expenses. However in today's world, the bride can probably hold her own with regard to helping with the household expenses. The traditions still holds; after the wedding the groom is responsible for supporting his wire, regardless of the practicalities of the marriage. Some families today divide the expenses of a wedding one third of the expenses, brides family, bride and groom and the groom's parents.