Baltic Wedding Tradition

Geographically the countries which have access to Baltic sea are known as Baltic countries like Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Lithunasia, and Germany. Traditional Wedding traditions differ from one another. Some of the interesting Baltic wedding traditions are as follows.

Traditionally at most weddings around the world, it is a custom to determine the next bride but in Estonia it is mandatory to agree on the next groom as well. The groom is spin around blindfolded and gets surrounded by all single men, then he places his top hat on his chosen person and the lucky fellow is agreed upon to be married off.



Traditionally it is mandatory for every Latvian bride to wear her white wedding dress, and veil, until midnight. At the reception celebration the wedding veil is removed and passes it down to one of the younger sisters, who will presumably, marry next. Once it is done the bride flaunts a married woman's cap. It is also a custom to kidnap the Latvian bride at her wedding reception, and the groom has to pay a ransom by means of drinks or song to rescue her.

At Russian Wedding the traditional custom is that a close relative or friend will make a wedding toast to the bride and groom. The invitees present at the reception party throws their champagne glasses on the floor, it is considered to be a good omen if the glasses break off hitting the ground. The other custom marks that the bride and the groom are made to stand on a special carpet as they recite their marriage vows. Whoever reaches the carpet first will be regarded as the head of the household.

The traditional custom of Finland is that, the would be bride walks down with a pillowcase to receive her wedding gifts. An older married man accompanies her holding an umbrella or parasol to cover her. This symbolizes protection and shelter for the new bride.

In Finland traditional wedding the bride flaunts a traditional golden crown along with her wedding gown. The new bride is blindfolded and all the women dance around her. She is required to place the crown on any girl's head and the chosen girl is agreed upon to be married off next.

At some weddings, the bride's mother-in-law or god mother places a china plate on top of her as the newlyweds begin their wedding dance, As the plate falls, the broken pieces predict the number of children the couple can anticipate to have.

In Sweden the bride's parent follow a traditional custom of placing silver and gold coins on her shoes as she leaves for the church to take her marriage vows. The mother of the bride places a gold coin on her right shoe and the father of the bride places a silver coin on her left shoe.

As the new Swedish couple exchanges their marriage vows the new bride is required to wear three bands on her wedding finger, first one symbolizing her engagement ring, the second wedding ring and the third for motherhood.