Will you be participating in one of the many rituals associated with wedding coins if you’re off to share in the marriage of friends or family in the near future?
When it comes to some of the many wedding traditions that are commonly observed, coins are seen as symbolic of some of the qualities associated with a happy marriage. As such, coins are prominent in ceremonies for different reasons all round the world.
UK Wedding Traditions:
Ever since the reign of Elizabeth I, coins have been associated with weddings. As time evolved, it became the custom for the bride’s parent to give the coin as a dowry gift. Then, from Victorian times onwards until the modern era, the notion that a silver sixpence is a lucky charm came into being.
Symbolising prosperity, love and unity, the giving of coins to newlyweds in these shores is linked to the rhyme: ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe’. Such tradition often subsequently adopted is when the father of the bride places a sixpence in the bride’s shoe wishing her prosperity, love and happiness in her marriage.
Another tradition in this country when it comes to the use of coins at weddings is when silver coins are inserted into the popped champagne or wine corks and then given to the bride and groom as one of the many mementos they can keep and cherish forever.
Less popular, yet nonetheless a superstition still sometimes practiced is that whereby a groom should give a coin to the first person he sees on his journey to the church for good luck.
Overseas Wedding Traditions:
Looking further afield, and in many countries it is common for newlyweds to receive thirteen coins representing Jesus and the twelve disciples.
Specifically in Indian ceremonies, the bride frequently scatters coins as she leaves her parents’ house to go and live with her new husband. Whilst in Sweden, before a wedding, the bride’s mother gives her a gold coin to insert in her right shoe and the bride’s father presents her with a silver coin to put in her left shoe.
Meanwhile in Poland, wedding tradition dictates that coins are tossed over the newlyweds straight after the conclusion of the ceremony itself leaving the happy couple to pick up all the coins together as a sign of their newly acquired unity.
UK Wedding Traditions:
Ever since the reign of Elizabeth I, coins have been associated with weddings. As time evolved, it became the custom for the bride’s parent to give the coin as a dowry gift. Then, from Victorian times onwards until the modern era, the notion that a silver sixpence is a lucky charm came into being.
Symbolising prosperity, love and unity, the giving of coins to newlyweds in these shores is linked to the rhyme: ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in her shoe’. Such tradition often subsequently adopted is when the father of the bride places a sixpence in the bride’s shoe wishing her prosperity, love and happiness in her marriage.
Another tradition in this country when it comes to the use of coins at weddings is when silver coins are inserted into the popped champagne or wine corks and then given to the bride and groom as one of the many mementos they can keep and cherish forever.
Less popular, yet nonetheless a superstition still sometimes practiced is that whereby a groom should give a coin to the first person he sees on his journey to the church for good luck.
Overseas Wedding Traditions:
Looking further afield, and in many countries it is common for newlyweds to receive thirteen coins representing Jesus and the twelve disciples.
Specifically in Indian ceremonies, the bride frequently scatters coins as she leaves her parents’ house to go and live with her new husband. Whilst in Sweden, before a wedding, the bride’s mother gives her a gold coin to insert in her right shoe and the bride’s father presents her with a silver coin to put in her left shoe.
Meanwhile in Poland, wedding tradition dictates that coins are tossed over the newlyweds straight after the conclusion of the ceremony itself leaving the happy couple to pick up all the coins together as a sign of their newly acquired unity.
