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Parent Category: Europe

Crimean Tatars are a small ethnic group originating from the Crimean Peninsula (Europe, the northern coast of the Black Sea). They’re mostly Muslim, but their wedding traditions are a bit different from those in other Muslim countries. The Islamic rules in the Crimean Tatar culture are somewhat less strict. For example, a Crimean Tatar girl has a say in the engagement, her father can suggest or advise a husband for her, but only the girl decides whether she wants to marry him or not. Also, Crimean Tatar traditional weddings are very beautiful and spectacular events because of the traditional costumes used by the bride and groom.

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Parent Category: Europe

We’ve already published posts about Swedish and Norwegian traditional bridal crowns. Most often, they were gold, silver, or gold-plated and very intricately made. But what if a woman couldn’t afford such an expensive ceremonial jewelry item? Did she just go down the aisle without a crown? You would be surprised about how inventive and skilled were Swedish brides and what materials they used to create wedding crowns for their bridal attire. Glass, thread, metal, birch root, and even straw. And such bridal crowns were almost as elaborate as gold ones.

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Parent Category: Europe

We’ve already published a post about ceremonial towels being used as the bride’s belt at Ukrainian traditional weddings. This custom was rather popular in certain areas of several Slavic countries. A long and ornate traditional towel looks much more eye-catching than the usual belt. To prove that, we have another museum exhibit – Ukrainian bride’s folk costume that sports a hand-woven ceremonial towel instead of a belt. Note also the amount of jewelry on the bride’s neck – we can’t even count how many rows of necklaces there are!

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Parent Category: Europe

Hungarian clothing traditions dictate that people dress according to their age, marital status, region of origin, etc. Today, Hungarians don’t follow those rules anymore, obviously, because life isn’t static and lifestyle changes all the time. But in the past, you really could look at a person and understand a lot about him or her. And first of all, the marital status had to be easily determinable so that young men and women didn’t have to ask if someone they met was single and available for courting. But in this post, we’ll tell you how Hungarian brides dressed for their wedding. It mattered if you were getting married for the first time or remarrying.

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Parent Category: Europe

Wedding etiquette is more important than you might think. Especially if we’re talking about British weddings, as people of this country value their traditions, laws, and rules highly. So, if you’re going to marry a British or attend a wedding in the UK, there are some things you should know about and follow to avoid misunderstandings and embarrassing situations. Of course, we don’t say that these etiquette rules are cut in stone, but your beloved person and the wedding guests will definitely appreciate it if you show that you’re familiar with their wedding traditions and customs.

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Parent Category: Europe

Modern Western-style wedding jewelry is usually gold or silver with diamonds or Swarovski crystals, but traditional jewelry pieces worn by our ancestors varied greatly around the world. In some countries massive gold necklaces, pendants, bracelets, etc were used; other brides wore coral, amber, and pearls; still other countries were world-famous for their beadwork. It’s wonderful how lovely vintage bridal jewelry looks, especially handmade adornments manufactured by the local jewelers. Here are a few authentic sets of Ukrainian wedding jewelry from the late 19th – early 20th century. They’re striking even for a modern eye.

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Parent Category: Europe

How did wedding dresses look like at the beginning of the 20th century in Sweden? Did they differ much from other European wedding gowns from the period? Were they similar to traditional Swedish wedding attire or totally modern? Here’s a small collection of wedding dresses from the early 1900s. They are preserved by the American Swedish Institute in the US. And looking at these 100-year-old bridal gowns, we can learn more about Swedish wedding fashion.

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Parent Category: Europe

France is a country with some unique and very specific wedding traditions. Their existence is caused by the French lifestyle, history, customs, and other conditions. It’s always interesting to compare the marriage traditions of different countries and corners of the world. This time, let’s compare a wedding in France and the US. Some of them may look odd to you, but others you might even want to incorporate in your future wedding ceremony.

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Parent Category: Europe

Weddings in Slovakia often are still organized according to old traditions. A lot of traditional wedding rituals and ceremonies are performed by the bride and groom, their parents, the wedding party, etc. But, of course, Slovak couples also incorporate some modern activities on their big day celebration. Let’s look at various authentic and contemporary activities performed in Slovakia on the wedding day. How many old rituals survived to this day? What modern wedding activities do they have? What adorable wedding day traditions are there in Slovakia?

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Parent Category: Europe

Wedding favors can be so diverse – from tiny and cheap souvenirs to costly housewares and fancy gifts. But people in Slovakia spend so much time and effort on their wedding favors, like no other. Several women (and often kids as well) give their full attention to baking and decorating cookies during a week. We’re talking about 10,000 cookies, for example, for a wedding. In the end, every guest family gets a bag of delicious traditional sweets. Isn’t that a sweet wedding custom?