In the past 50 years, almost every wedding tradition has changed. In the late 1950\’s and even up to 1980\’s everything was simpler. Life in general was simpler.

The bride and groom courted or dated for at least a few years, the groom asked the brides parents for permission to wed their daughter. Once permission was granted the two families got to know each other better becoming more of an extended family than n\’ laws.

The ceremony was quick and simple and held in a church, the reception if they were one was usually held at the brides home or if the couple\’s families were wealthy a hall may have been rented. The honeymoon was not a necessity the wedding night however was the focus of the couple\’s new life together. There were no limos, fancy six course meals, expensive gifts (they opted for more practical and useful gifts.) With in the first year of marriage the first child was born.

The 1970\’s was more of an open relationship time where it was completely naturally to shack up instead of getting married. Yet when a couple did marry it was still simple beautiful and simple and much less expensive than today\’s weddings. Wild flowers were made into bouquets and a silky long dress served as a traditional wedding dress, many of the grooms wore a nice pair of pants and a button shirt. I\’m not sure this generation cared much about gifts and if they did I would say their were more personalized towards the couple as something they could enjoy together.

Then came the 1980\’s, don\’t misunderstand me they were the greatest! The best music, hair, clothes my generation rocked!

Everything took on a new meaning BIG, the bigger the better! This is where your expensive weddings started, everything had to be top of the line, everyone in the large wedding parties rode in the limo the more guests you had at the wedding the more \”popular\” you were. This generation also married young right out of high school, this was the generation of marrying your high school sweetheart of course this generation also has the highest divorce rate too. The honeymoon was very important as well the world\’s tropical resorts got a huge economic boost from the 80\’s.

The 1990\’s things were still big but it was acceptable to go with a little smaller and even simple was reintroduced in many ways for the wedding, while the wedding gown and tux\’s were still stunning the food became more of a buffet style again and as long as their was plenty of alcohol and good music the 90\’s bride and groom could dance the night away and be perfectly happy.

The 2000\’s are a mixture of all the past 50 years worth of wedding traditions. In 2008 pretty much anything goes, large expensive weddings, small backyard weddings, tropical paradise for 25 of your closets family and friends is in, as is the ever famous \”I can\’t take this anymore!\” Vegas weddings. Couples seem to be waiting until they are established in their careers to get married and waiting even longer to have children.

While there is no right or wrong way to get married things certainly have changed a lot in the past 50 years and what we are seeing right now is history repeating it\’s self from all five of the past generations.

Author Bio: www.paulsbridal.com is a wedding dress couture making top quality wedding dresses, prom dresses, flower girl dresses, quinceanera dresses, etc. !

Category: Advice
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