How to meet the newlyweds after the registry office
From time immemorial, traditions have been honored in the wedding ceremony, therefore the standard ceremony in the registry office, by and large, is only a prelude to the wedding celebration, which each couple strives to do in accordance with accepted customs. One of these immutable wedding laws is a meeting of the newlyweds, in which the parents of the bride and groom participate, first of all, and only then the rest of the relatives, friends and guests.
According to the established tradition, the meeting of the newlyweds begins from the registry office threshold. After the solemn marriage, the guests try to be the first to go outside and line up in two lines on both sides of the porch of the registry office. As soon as the newly-made husband and wife appear on the doorstep, they should be showered with grains of wheat for fertility, small sweets for the sweet life and coins for wealth in the family. However, now new trends have joined these ancient rituals, for example, showering young confetti, sparkles or rose petals from special crackers.
The main action to welcome a new family after the registry office ceremony takes place in front of the entrance to the house or restaurant where the festive banquet will be held. In good weather – on the street, in bad weather – on the threshold of the apartment or in the lobby of the establishment, guests line up in the form of a living corridor. In the foreground are the parents of the bride and groom, in the hands of the newly-made mother-in-law there should be a tray with new glasses filled with wine or champagne, a loaf and a salt shaker with salt.
In ancient times, it was supposed to put a hand-embroidered handbrake on the tray, but now these embroidered towels can be bought in specialized wedding salons. Also, if the family of the young is Orthodox, at the meeting the mother of the bride should hold in her hands an icon with the Virgin Mary, Nicholas the Wonderworker or the saint – the patron saint of the bride or groom (that is, bearing the same name).
When the young people approach the greeters, there should be no one behind them, only an empty road. The bride and groom, according to custom, should bow to their parents at the waist. Then the newlyweds break off a piece from the loaf and dip these pieces in salt, and then feed them to each other. So symbolically they annoyed each other for the last time, after which they should expect a life without quarrels.
It is interesting that recently more and more couples choose a loaf for a wedding not with salt, but with sugar or melted chocolate: so that family life is sweet. In any case, no matter what kind of bread is on the tray, there is another important sign for the newlyweds: whose piece of loaf is larger, that will dominate the family.
After bread and salt, the newlyweds take glasses and drink from them to the bottom. Previously, it was supposed to pre-baptize the drink in case someone put spoilage on the bride through it. Today, however, not everyone follows this tradition. As for beating dishes, opinions also differ. Some couples break glasses for happiness immediately after they drink wine from them. Others drink from these glasses throughout the wedding feast, and break the glass at the end of the evening. There are also such newlyweds who keep their wedding glasses as a keepsake.