Italian And Tuscan Wedding Customs

Italian churches, including those in Tuscany, are considered some of the most spectacular in the world. For this reason, these sanctuaries make perfect settings to celebrate Italian and Tuscan wedding customs. Even if you’re not Italian, you may have a great love of Italy, based on your travels there or your knowledge of the warm-hearted Italian people.

There’s no doubt that the most romantic way to explore and experience Italian and Tuscan wedding customs is to actually visit the country. However, you can remain at home and incorporate traditional Italian and Tuscan customs into your wedding without leaving your own backyard.

Lots Of Italian And Tuscan Wedding Customs To Choose From

While you may want to enhance your wedding with customs that are specific to Italian and Tuscan culture, there are so many that you may have difficulty choosing which ones are right for you and your intended.

◊ If the ceremony is to be Catholic, then the bride arranges for a morning mass to take place before the actual wedding ceremony.

◊ Brides wear traditional white gowns for purity and a veil to guard against the bad luck that could result should the groom see her face before the ceremony. Brides also carry a satin purse during the reception so that guests can give the gift of money.

◊ It’s traditional for the couple to provide each guest with a favor – typically a pottery, porcelain or glass dish filled with sweet candies and wrapped in tulle. Decorative tins are also used for this purpose.

◊ Guests should be surprised by a multi-course meal, always accompanied by wine. The feast should begin with antipasto, which can consist of olives, stuffed mushrooms, cheeses, salami, mortadella, calamari, and prosciutto. Follow with a dinner of pasta, chicken, veal, soup and vegetables.

◊ Serve light foods that are said to bring you good luck. These traditionally include twists of fried bread with powdered sugar and Italian wedding candy.

◊ Wedding cakes are usually multi-layered with two little figures, representing the bride and groom, at the top.

◊ Provide guests with mesh bags, each filled with an odd number of sugar-coated almonds. The guests traditionally toss the bags at the newlyweds, a practice said to represent the bitter-sweetness of life.

◊ At the conclusion of the ceremony, it is traditional to release a pair of white doves outside the church to represent love and happiness.

◊ Live music, in the form of a small band, is the custom at an Italian wedding. Be sue the band can play Italian songs in addition to any other music you may choose.

◊ One of the primary customs of an Italian or Tuscan wedding is the Tarantella dance. This music is probably the most recognized song within all of Italian folklore. The word, as translated into English, literally means “tarantula,” because it’s done by everyone in a great big circle.

◊ At an Italian wedding, it’s traditional to welcome guests to the reception with alcoholic beverages to toast the newlyweds. It’s the custom that women drink sweet liquors while men are served much stronger drinks.

◊ At the end of the day, the couple traditionally shatters a vase or a glass into many pieces – each piece is said to signify a happy year of marriage.

Celebrating Italian And Tuscan Wedding Tradition

The phase, “Mio cuore e il tuo per sempre” or “My heart is yours forever,” is often spoken at Italian weddings. It is one of the Italian and Tuscan wedding customs that has been carried on for centuries. This, like the customs and rituals outlined above, shows that wedding traditions of cultures or countries, of ethnic or religious groups, or even a single family serve much the same purpose – to bind traditions and perpetuate customs.

About the Author

Valeria Vegas has a Masters degree in Writing and regularly writes for a local newspaper. She also teaches writing workshops in San Francisco and has taught high school English. As a freelance job, she corrects essays for the SAT and ACT through Pearson scoring as well as write copy for websites. She is the Associate Editor of a literary magazine, edit manuscripts for Behler publications, and works for authors independently. One of her stories was named Notable Story of 2004 by Million Writers.