10 Best Italian Wedding Traditions You Can Use On Your Wedding Day
By Eivan’s Wedding Team 
There is so much history, myth and superstitions involved in the Italian culture. All these make an Italian wedding stand out from the rest. Each country boasts of its rich heritage and Italy is no exception!
Incorporating the Italian traditions to your destination wedding is cool. A touch of Italy will make your big day special and personalized. Your guests will also learn something about this beautiful culture.
Here is a breakdown of the best 10 wedding traditions.
Engagement
The wedding planning starts after the proposal. Italian grooms will serenade their partners before presenting the ring. A diamond ring is special to Italians.
It is believed to carry flames of love symbolizing eternal love and a promise of marriage. The engagement is sealed with a deep kiss. There is no engagement party to celebrate this occasion. Instead, the couple plans a meeting for both families to know each other and disclose their wish to marry.
Wedding planning
With the marriage approved by both families, wedding planning begins. Italian superstitions play a huge role in planning an Italian wedding. Sunday is the best wedding day as it brings good luck, fertility and prosperity. Italians believe Friday is the day the evil spirits were created.
Tuesday is believed to bring bad luck causing non-ending fights. Saturday is considered the best day for widows who want to remarry. If the bride wears gold the day before the wedding, it brings bad luck, green brings good fortune.
La Serenata
Italians are romantic people. The night before the wedding the groom serenades the bride from outside her window. To spice it up, friends and family know in advance, only the bride remains in the dark.
If the bride wakes up to the sweet melodies of her loved one, it is an acceptance of the marriage. She lowers down a basket of bread, cheese, prosciutto to mark her acceptance.
The wedding budget
Italians love to help with the wedding budget. Italians brides carry a satin bag called la borsa at the wedding reception for guests to place money in. Daring brides wear it around their neck for male guests to droning their money in exchange for a dance.
The wedding dress
The wedding gown is always an important aspect of any wedding. Italian traditional wedding dress can be white or black in color. White hasn’t always been the color of choice. In Tuscany, a black wedding dress with a white hat is more like it.
It is rude for anyone else except the bride to wear white and customary for the bride to wear a bridal veil during the wedding ceremony. It is custom in Venice for the Italian brides to save their best dress for their first dance as a wife.
Getting to the ceremony
The journey to the church for both the bride and groom involves some daily challenges. For example, a fallen broom on the way, a crying baby to test their skills before marriage. A groom carries a piece of rusted iron to ward off evil spirits from envious people.
The groom is responsible of buying his bride a bridal bouquet that he presents on the wedding day. The bride’s bouquet remains at the church entrance for the bride to pick it when she arrives. The groom waits at the altar as the bride and her father walk down the aisle and gives her away to the groom.
The marriage ceremony
Bridal parties are less important in Italian weddings. The most important witnesses are the maid of honor and the best man. They tie a ribbon across the church doorway to let people know there is a wedding taking place.
Wedding rings
The maid of honor and the best man are responsible for buying the rings as a sign of honoring the couple.
The exit
As the newlyweds exit the church, rice and shouts of best wishes shower them. The rice symbolizes fertility like in Chinese and Greek traditions.
A pair of doves is also released into the air after the wedding ceremony. It symbolizes peach, love, happiness and harmony.
At the end of the ceremony, they break a wine glass determine how long the couple will stay happy. The broken pieces accounts for the number of years the couple will be happy together.
The wedding reception
Italian celebrations are all about fun, food and drinks. A lot of food, drink and desserts are ready for the big day. The guests enjoy appetizers as they wait for the newlyweds to arrive. Don’t miss out on the Venetian hour! A huge dessert table is present with variety of cakes, pastries and other desserts.
Dancing is also a great part of the reception with traditional songs filling the air. Guests will shout their good luck wishes to the couple with some yelling “Bacio! Bacio!” (kiss! Kiss!) and clink their wine glasses with silverware until the couple kiss. Guests also yell, “Evviva gli sposi” (hurray for the newlyweds).
Italian weddings go for grand tiered cakes. The wedding cake table is full of candies of different flavors – like sugar coated confettata.
Confetti and Bomboniere
Italy’s confetti is not the normal colored paper that showers the couple as they exit the church. Its white sugar coated almonds wrapped as gifts in tiny boxes. Confetti and Bomboniere are presents to the wedding guests as wedding favors. They symbolize wealth, health, happiness, long life and fertility.
The garter and the groom’s tie
The bride wears a garter on the wedding day. The garter Italian wedding tradition dates back to the 14th Century when it was first used to bring good luck. After the wedding ceremony, the garter is cut into pieces for the guests to keep.
The groom’s tie was also removed, cut into pieces and distributed among the guests as wedding favors. The guest in return gave cash donations to the newlyweds.
Adopting Italian traditions into your destination wedding is so much fun. Your guests also get to enjoy a unique experience. Have fun with it!
