CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. MARRIAGE CEREMONY IN GREAT BRITAIN

1.1  Wedding Preparations and Forms of Marriage

1.2  The Ceremony

CHAPTER 2. MARRIAGE CEREMONY IN THE USA

2.1 American Wedding Traditions

2.2 The Ceremony

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX

INTRODUCTION

There are a lot of different customs and traditions in Great Britain and in the USA. Most of them are very beautiful and old. But we study the most old and beautiful in our term paper. In our opinion wedding ceremony is one of the most importance events in the life of people, that’s why the theme of our term paper is always currently central. Also, this theme is of great interest for us, because we want to know as much as possible about the English speaking countries. Marriage traditions are changing with the course of time, and in our work we want to follow up these changes.

The subject of our work is the studying of old and new wedding customs and traditions in Great Britain and the USA.

The object of our work is wedding traditions, preparations and main parts of ceremony both in Great Britain and the USA. The objective of our work is to find similarities and differences between British, American and Russian wedding, describe British and American ceremonies in all their beauty and find out what parts of ceremonies are going from long-ago and what is new in them.

To achieve the objective we set the following tasks:

-  to carefully study wedding ceremony in Great Britain and in The USA separately and compare them with Russian wedding ceremony;

-  to stand out the main parts of ceremonies and describe their characteristic features.

The theme is up-to-date because people are still get married by the old traditions and keep up all the aspects of ceremony.

The theoretical applicability is that this work contains detailed descriptions of all the sides of ceremony, which help us to get to know a lot about this beautiful

ceremony. The practical applicability consists in consideration of ceremony as ancient hangover.

The research novelty consists in definition of problem and new ways of its solution.

To write this work we studied a question from all sides with particular focus on scientific and history literature.

The work consists of 2 chapters, items, conclusion and the list of used literature.

They are maintained in the belief that they will bring good luck and happiness to the couple at a time when their lives are changing, hopefully for the better.

In the past when the marriage proposal was a more formal procedure, the prospective groom sent his friends or members of his family to represent his interests to the prospective bride and her family. If they saw a blind man, a monk or a pregnant woman during their journey it was thought that the marriage would be doomed if they continued their journey as these sites were thought to be bad omens.

CHAPTER I. MARRIAGE CEREMONY IN GREAT BRITAIN

wedding tradition british american

1.1  Wedding Preparations and Forms of Marriage

In Britain the custom of becoming engaged is still generally retained, though many young people dispense with it, and the number of such couples is increasing. As a rule, an engagement is announced as soon as a girl has accepted a proposal of marriage, but in some cases it is done a good time afterwards. Rules of etiquette dictate that the girl’s parents should be the first to hear the news; in practice, however, it is often the couple’s friends who are taken into confidence before either of the parents. If a man has not yet met his future in-laws he does so at the first opportunity, whereas his parents usually write them a friendly letter. It is then up to the girl’s mother to invite her daughter’s future in-laws to a meal or drinks. Quite often, of course the man has been a frequent visitor at the girl’s house long before the engagement, and their families are already well acquainted.

When a girl accepts a proposal, the man generally gives her a ring in taken of the betrothal. It is worn on the third finger of the left hand before marriage and together with the wedding ring after it. Engagement rings range from expensive diamond rings to rings with Victorian semi-precious stones costing only a few pounds. In most cases the engagement itself amounts only to announcements being made to the parents on both sides and to friends and relations, but some people arrange an engagement party, and among the better-off people it is customary to put an announcement in the newspaper. In the book “Etiquette” the author writes that “as soon as congratulations and the first gaieties of announcement are over, a man should have a talk with the girl’s father about the date of their wedding, where they will live, how well off he is and his future plans and prospects.” Nowadays this is often not done, one of the reasons begin that today the young people enjoy a greater degree of financial independence than they used to, to be able to decide these matters for themselves. However, in working class families, where the family ties are still strong and each member of the family is more economically dependent upon the rest, things are rather different. Quite often, particularly in the larger towns the couple will have no option but to live after marriage with either the girl’s or the man’s people. Housing shortage in Britain is still acute, and the rents are very high. It is extremely difficult to get unfurnished accommodation, whereas a furnished room, which is easier to get costs a great deal for rent. In any case, the young couple may prefer to live with the parents in order to have a chance to save up for things for their future home. ............