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German traditions?

LDYGTR13LDYGTR13 member
2500 Comments
in Wedding Customs & Traditions Forum
FI is German. As in, his mom was born in Germany and his family is 100% of German lineage - however, for some reason they don't really know any German wedding traditions (don't ask me how). I was really hoping to add some German elements into the ceremony. I've googled but I didn't really see anything interesting. Does anyone know anything about German wedding traditions?
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Re: German traditions?

  • KatMoonKatMoon member
    First Comment
    Where I'm from (Witten, Germany), it is tradition that the bride pay for her wedding shoes in pennies that she saved over the years, she also puts a penny into the wedding shoe on the "day of" for good luck. Something old, borrowed, blue and new are the same - something very common is a party called "Polterabend" - a co-ed bachelor/bachelorette party where guests bring old china and break it in front of the couple's house and it's the couple's chore the next day to clean up the mess.

    For the reception, there's the traditional Waltz and the "kidnapping of the bride" - the groom's friends will kidnap the bride at some point during the reception and take her to some place locally that has meaning to the couple. The groom then has to find her and pay the "ransom" - usually a couple of rounds at the local bar. I find the latter somewhat disruptive but it's just a matter of personal taste. Let me know if you need more suggestions.
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  • bmd14bmd14 member
    10 Comments
    FI and I are both German and I am putting the penny in the shoe with the year of my birth on it. 
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  • spajespaje
    1000 Comments Combo Breaker

    FI has some german heritage... so I looked into a bit of it as it's kinda far back, but was brought out in a recent family christmas party.  there was one I thought was kind of funny...  When you kneel down to do prayer, communion, whatever, he kneels on your dress to asert "dominance" or something of the sort.  But then upon standing, you stomp on his foot to say "you wish!"  Cracked me up.

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  • KatMoonKatMoon member
    First Comment
    Sorry, nothing "specifically German" comes to mind when thinking ceremony. Leaving the church is a whole different story though. Lots of rice throwing, the couple throws pennies for neighboring kids (that was huge when I was little as we lived across a church and would run out of the house in hopes for ice cream money every weekend), and the couple's friends have some sort of obstacle course in the church yard ....that one depends on the couple's hobby/profession - i.e. they would put up a couple of hurdles if one spouse was into track & field and the groom would have to carry the bride across them.
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