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Italian Wedding Traditions
Apart from the openning scene of The Godfather or the movie GoodFellas, the custom of buste, where the bride carried a satin bag (la borsa) in which guests placed envelopes containing money, not many people are familiar with Italian marriages.
According to tradition, many Italian marriages were arranged by the families of the bride and groom. Often, a brother, male relative of the groom or in some cases, a matchmaker sent a message (masciata) to the house of the young woman to ask for her hand in marriage.
Many Italian marriages avoided the months of May and August. May being reserved for the veneration of the Virgin Mary, and the August was thought to invite bad luck and sickness.
Past customs called for the groom to carry a piece of iron in his pocket to ward off the evil eye since his happy situation might provoke envy, and invite danger. The bride wore a bridal veil to conceal her from malignant spirits. In some parts of Sicily, at the end of the wedding day, the couple shattered a vase or glass into many pieces. The number of pieces represented the expected number of happy years.
The common theme at Italian weddings is food which is strongly linked with family life. The antipasto is served first and includes such foods as pickled peppers, olives, stuffed mushrooms, salami, mortadella, and calamari. A multi-course dinner follows, often as many as (sometimes even more) 14 different courses, replete with pastas, soups, meats, and fruits. The dinner is served with wine and other beverages. After dinner, everyone is served slices of wedding cake with cups of coffee, espresso or other beverages.
