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edieval WeddingsMedieval and Renaissance Weddings are the "newest" old trend in weddings. Movies like "Ever After" and "Elizabeth" are helping the resurgence in interest. Medieval and Renaissance fairs are growing yearly and doing a booming wedding business as well. Today's weddings have most people wearing clothes they would not normally wear. Medieval weddings take this one step farther to renting a costume instead of a tuxedo.
Medieval weddings also have the added advantage of being an unusual event with all the excitement of a costumed ball. Many modern wedding customs are holdovers from medieval and ancient times. Tossing the bride's garter is from the belief that a piece of the bridle attire was a lucky token. Medieval brides started wearing many ribbons to keep their clothing from being shredded by over zealous luck seekers. The bride's hair was often worn loose and uncovered or held down with a golden circlet. A married women's hair was almost always covered. A reception with food and drink followed weddings then as now, with the drink of choice being honey mead. The new couple would drink honey mead for a month after the wedding, leading to the modern "honeymoon". Medieval feasts were served in courses and each course was like a meal in itself. There was entertainment during and between the courses. There was a presentation of the courses as well as sotelties and warners. Sotelties are scenes or sculptures and entertainment made with foodstuff and warners are disguised food. The nursery rhyme about the singing blackbirds baked in a pie, is a soltetlie from a medieval feast. An example of a warner would be a peach made of marzipan. Feasts were often served on medieval disposable plates, bread trenchers. People ate with their hands, a spoon and a small knife the size of a steak knife. Forks were not used in the middle ages. They were not unknown, but were only conversation pieces among royally and very wealthy.
Perfect weather, cool and sunny for the wedding. Tents, Large and Small, set the stage overlooking the bayou in the bride's family yard. Legally, the couple was wed in a private catholic ceremony morning of May 1st. At the afternoon public event, Franciscan Monk, Father Andre, performed a latin blessing and read the marriage rite from the 12th century "Bury St. Edmund's Missal". Sister Sur, also read a blessing, in both latin and english. During the medieval reenactment ceremony, Father Andre asked for a "coin of the realm", to which Jerry Iverson the father of the bride, was heard to respond "Not I". At the recessional from the ceremony, Hank Biedenharn rode up on a steed, dressed in a black musketeer outfit, tipping his large plumed hat. About 80 to 90 % of the guests came in costume. Before the feasting, the bride and maids and guests danced around a burgundy and green ribboned maypole. The Bride was crowned queen of the may, with a white rose and ivy crown. Later, all the eligible maidens danced in a circle around the blindfolded bride as she held the crown of flowers over their heads. When the music stopped the maiden under the crown was given it as a prize and it is believed she will be the next to marry. The menu was based on real medieval recipe manuscripts and cooked completely outside using medieval cooking techniques. Herald trumpets announced each activity and feast course. The 5 piece recorder group "Monroe Early Music Consort" played before and after the ceremony. A strolling violinist, Frank Walsh, entertained the crowd before and during the feast. Sister Sur and Father Andre sang Gregorian chants during the feast.
Christian Medieval
Ceremony At the day and time appointed for solemnization of Matrimony, the persons to be married shall come into the porch of the Church with their friends and neighbors; and there standing together, the Man on the right hand, and the woman on the left, with that person who shall give the Woman betwixt them, the Priest shall say: Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight
of God to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony; which is an
honourable estate, instituted of God in Paradise, and into which holy estate
these two persons present come now to be joined. Priest say unto the Man: Wilt the have this Woman to be
thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of
Matrimony? Wilt the love her, comfort her, honour, and keep her, in sickness and
in health; and forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both
shall live? GROOM' VOW: "I, ___________, take thee __________ to my
wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse,
for richer for poorer, for fairer or fouler, in sickness and in health, to love
and to cherish, till death us depart, according to God's holy ordinance; and
thereunto I plight thee my troth. BRIDE'S VOW: I ___________ take thee___________ to my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to be bonny and buxom at bed and at board, to love and to cherish, till death us depart, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereunto I plight thee my troth. Then shall they again loose their hands; and the Man shall give unto the Woman a Ring, laying the same upon the Book with the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk. And the Priest shall bless the Ring(s) in the following manner: Bless these Rings, O merciful Lord, that those who wear them, that give and receive them, may be ever faithful to one another, remain in your peace, and live and grow old together in your love, under their own vine and fig tree, and seeing their children's children. Amen. And the Priest, taking the Ring, shall deliver it to the Man, to put it on the fourth finger of the Woman's left hand. And the Man holding the ring there, and taught by the Priest, shall say, GROOM: With this Ring I thee wed, (here placing it upon her thumb) and with my body I thee honor, (here placing it upon her index finger) and with all my worldly goods I thee endow; (here placing it upon her ring finger) In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If it be a double-ring ceremony, let the Woman do the same as the Man, giving him the ring, and repeating the same words as he. They both shall kneel down; and the Minister shall say, Let us pray. O Eternal God, Creator and Preserver of all
mankind, Giver of all spiritual grace, the Author of everlasting life; Send thy
blessing upon these thy servants, this man and this woman, whom we bless in thy
Name; + that, as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together, so these persons
may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made, whereof this
Ring given and received is a token and pledge, and may ever hereafter remain in
perfect love and peace together, and live according to thy laws; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen. Then shall the Priest join their right hands together, and say, Those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder. Then shall the Minister speak unto the people. Forasmuch as N and N have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth each to the other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a Ring, and by joining of hands; I pronounce therefore that they be Man and Wife together, in the Name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen The Minister shall add this blessing. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, bless, preserve, and keep you; the Lord mercifully with his favour look upon you; and so fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace, that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come ye may have life everlasting. Amen. And here the Minister shall turn the couple to the Company, and they may kiss each the other, and then proceed from the Altar. And if it be the wish of the couple to take Communion, they may do it privately, following these ceremonies. In the later medieval period, the wedding ceremony moved
from the house of the bride to the church. It began with a procession to the
church from the bride's house. Vows were exchanged outside the church (the
priest gave away the bride, not the father) and then everyone moved inside for
Mass. After Mass, the procession went back to the bride's house for a feast.
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