The Wedding Rituals of Christian Wedding

India is a country with vast religions and cultures where every community enjoys different rituals and ceremonies around their weddings. One rich tradition that is being followed in India is the tradition of Arranged Marriages. Today this concept has modernized with increasing use of online matrimonial services.

The Matrimonial sites are known to offer a lot of advantages in the era of arranged marriages. They have matches for every community and simplified processes that make it easy to get the perfect match.

One such community in India where weddings is a large affair is the Christian wedding.

In Christianity, marriages are considered to be the union predestined by God between Man and Woman. The religion is highly dependent on Jesus’s saying according to which after a union, two souls become one and are treated as one in a Christian marriage. The wedding rituals in a Christian wedding take place in a Church in the presence of all family and friends. Like every other community, Christians have pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding rituals. 

Pre-Wedding Rituals

The engagement ceremony primarily forms the pre-wedding rituals where bride and groom exchange rings. After the engagement ceremony, there are parties called as hen party and Bridal shower. The Bridal shower includes family and friends of the bride who present her gifts and make her enjoy this day to the fullest. The cake has a hidden thimble and whoever gets the thimble is said to have next wedding.

Similarly, the groom celebrates with his friends and has a gala time at the Bachelor party.

Another pre-wedding ritual includes Haldaat ceremony where bride and groom are applied turmeric and sandalwood paste.

After all these wedding rituals, the wedding day arrives.

Wedding Rituals

The wedding rituals begin with the groom sending a car to pick up the bride and he himself waits outside the church. When she reaches the church, the best man welcomes her with flowers. Next, the couple walks down the corridor and reach the alter. Waiting at the alter is the priest who offers them best wishes. He then reads psalms from the Holy Bible followed by a sermon on sacredness of wedding called Homily.

Next, the priest asks the bride and groom respectively for their consent about marriage.

Promises of staying together till eternity follow and they then exchange rings. The rings are first blessed with priest to instill faith and love between the two. 

Post-Wedding Rituals

To celebrate the occasion of wedding, the couple hosts a reception which is a grand affair wherein the guests welcome the newly wedded with a shower of confetti. The celebration begins with a cake cutting ceremony and is followed by dance, drinks, music and food. The couple enjoy their reception as they chose the best band forpeople to swing on.