The couple's first purchase

It is said that the first partner who buys a new item after the wedding will be the dominant one in the relationship. Many brides ensure that they make the first purchase by arranging to buy a small item such as a pin from the chief bridesmaid immediately after the ceremony.

This was one of our first purchases after the wedding.

Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids were dressed in a similar way to the bride for the same reason as the origin of veil. The bridesmaids were thought to act as decoys to confuse evil spirits and thus protect the bride.

On the way to the wedding

When the bride is ready to leave the house for the wedding ceremony a last look in the mirror will bring her good luck. However returning to the mirror once she has began her journey will result in bad luck.
Seeing a chimney sweep on the way to a wedding is though to bring good luck and it is still possible to hire one to attend wedding ceremonies. Other good luck omens when seen on the way to the ceremony include lambs, toads, spiders, black cats and rainbows.
Seeing an open grave, a pig, a lizard, or hearing a cockerel crow after dawn are all thought to be omens of bad luck. Monks and nuns are also a bad omen. This may be because the are associated with poverty and chastity. They are also though to signal a dependence on charity by the newlyweds.
Bad weather on the way to the wedding is thought to be an omen of an unhappy marriage, although in some cultures rain is considered a good omen. Cloudy skies and wind are believed to cause stormy marriages. Snow on the other hand is associated with fertility and wealth.

" The wife should not separate from her husband ... and that the husband should not divorce his wife"

The Pauline Privilege (Privilegium Paulinum) is a Christian concept drawn from the apostle Paul's instructions in the First Epistle to the Corinthians.
In Paul's epistle it states:
“ To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband ... and that the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say, not the Lord, ... But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. For God has called us to peace. (1 Corinthians 7:10-15, RSV) ”

The first section, "not I but the Lord", matches Jesus' teaching on divorce, found in the Expounding of the Law, Matthew 19:9, Luke 16:18, and Mark 10:11. The second section, "I say, not the Lord", gives Paul's own teaching on divorce.

In the Catholic Church and in some Protestant denominations (though most Protestants allow divorce in all serious circumstances), this is interpreted as allowing the dissolution of a marriage contracted between non-believers in the case that one (but not both) of the partners converts to Christianity and the other partner leaves the marriage.

It is said that the Pauline Privilege differs from divorce in that it leaves the Christian partner free to remarry, despite the fact that Paul does not himself comment on the lawfulness of such a remarriage. It differs from annulment because it dissolves a valid actual marriage, in favor of the faith of the Christian partner, where annulments declare that a marriage was invalid from the beginning.

According to the Catholic Church's canon law, the Pauline Privilege does not apply when either of the partners was a Christian at the time of marriage. Under Catholicism, the Petrine Privilege may be invoked if only one of the partners was baptized at the time of marriage.
Controversy

Some denominations do not recognize the Pauline Privilege as allowing for the dissolution of marriage, arguing that marriage is not the "bondage" referred to in Paul's instruction.

Controversy

Another point of contention is what constitutes a "desire to separate" on the part of the unbelieving partner. Some recognize abuse as equivalent to a "constructive desertion", thus providing grounds for invoking the privilege

Religious aspects of weddings

In virtually all religions, marriage is a life-long union between two or more people and is established with ceremonies and rituals. The people are most commonly one man and one woman[citation needed], though some religions have permitted polygamous marriages and some faiths and denominations recognize same-sex marriages.
In marriage, Christians see a picture of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church. In Judaism, marriage is so important that remaining unmarried is deemed unnatural. Islam also recommends marriage highly; among other things, it helps in the pursuit of spiritual perfection. The Bahá'í Faith sees marriage as a foundation of the structure of society, and considers it both a physical and spiritual bond that endures into the afterlife.[29] Hinduism sees marriage as a sacred duty that entails both religious and social obligations. By contrast, Buddhism does not encourage or discourage marriage, although it does teach how one might live a happily married life and emphasizes that married vows are not to be taken lightly (see separate article for details).
Different religions have different beliefs as regards the breakup of marriage (see divorce). For example, the Roman Catholic Church believes that marriage is a sacrament and a valid marriage between two baptized persons cannot be broken up by any other means than death. This means that civil divorcés cannot remarry in a Catholic church marriage as long as their spouse is alive.
In the area of nullity, religions and the state often apply different rules, meaning that a couple, for example, could have their marriage annulled by the Catholic Church but still be married in the eyes of the law because the state disagrees with the church over whether an annulment can be granted in a given case. This produces the phenomenon of Catholics getting church annulments simultaneously with civil divorces, so that they may remarry both legally and sacramentally. The Catholic Church will not, in fact, grant an annulment petition unless the marriage has also been dissolved or annulled under civil law. Though sometimes styled "Catholic divorce", an annulment means not a dissolution of a marriage, but the recognition that a marriage has not taken place at all. This applies to sacramental marriages; marriages between an unbaptized and a baptized person can be dissolved according to Canon law.

African-American customs

Jumping the broom developed out West African Asante custom. The broom in Asante and other Akan cultures also held spiritual value and symbolized sweeping away past wrongs or warding off evil spirits. Brooms were waved over the heads of marrying couples to ward off spirits. The couple would often but not always jump over the broom at the end of the ceremony.
The custom took on additional significance in the context of slavery in the United States. Slaves had no right to legal marriage; slaveholders considered slaves property and feared that legal marriage and family bonds had the potential to lead to organization and revolt. Marriage rituals, however, were important events to the Africans, who came in many cases come from richly-ceremonial African cultures.
Taking marriage vows in the presence of a witness and then leaping over the handle of a broom became the common practice to create a recognized union. Brooms are also symbols of the hearth, the center of the new family being created. Jumping the broom has become a practice in many modern weddings between Black Americans.
There are also traditions of broom jumping in Europe, in the Wicca and Celtic communities especially. They are probably unconnected with the African practice.



Pygmy wedding traditions

Pygmy engagements were not long and usually formalized by an exchange of visits between the families concerned. The groom to be would bring a gift of game or maybe a few arrows to his new in-laws, take his bride home to live in his band and with his new parents. His only obligation is to find among his relatives a girl willing to marry a brother or male cousin of his wife. If he feels he can feed more than one wife, he may have additional wives.

Flowers

Flowers have always been used for decoration at weddings.
Some people choose the flowers at the wedding on the basis of their symbolic meaning. For example orange blossom has always been associated with weddings because it signifies purity and chastity.
Peonies are avoided by some as they represent shame; azaleas represent temperance: roses symbolise love and snowdrops represent hope.
A combination of red and white flowers is avoided by the superstitious because they stand for blood and bandages.
However, people from different regions may attach other meanings to the same flower. For example lilies symbolise majesty to some but are thought unlucky by others because of their association with death.
The groom often chooses a flower for his buttonhole which also occurs in the bride's bouquet. This is a vestige of the time when a Knight would wear his Lady's colours to display his love.

For my birthday

Thanks to DIVA and again Diva

And from astrology.com I found out this...
"Happy Birthday! Did you know that on your birthday the Sun returns to the exact position in the sky as it was the day you were born? This is called a Solar Return. Investigating the position of the planets during your Solar Return can give you a great deal of insight on the upcoming year."

Happy Birthday To Me!

Happy Mother`s Day!