155 Fun Facts About Bride & Groom

Where is a wedding band traditionally worn in Western culture?

Fourth digit, left side: the first English prayer book told the groom to put the ring 'upon the fourth finger of the woman's left hand', and the custom stuck.

What is the Latin name of the mythical vein said to run from the ring finger to the heart?

Vena amoris, 'vein of love': the idea is ancient, but the Roman writers who passed it on credited Egyptian anatomists and described a fine nerve, not a vein, running from that finger to the heart.

Which 17th-century physician's account of blood circulation left no room for a special vein from the ring finger?

William Harvey: his 1628 book De Motu Cordis showed the heart pumps blood around the body in a loop, so every vein leads back to it and the ring finger's is nothing special.

Which company's marketing campaign made diamonds synonymous with engagement rings?

De Beers: its adverts, launched in 1939, tied the gem to romance so firmly that the share of engagement rings set with one climbed from about one in ten to eight in ten by the century's end.

Which word completes the 1947 engagement-ring slogan written by copywriter Frances Gerety, 'A Diamond Is…'?

Forever: Gerety scribbled the line late one night before bed and thought it merely O.K., yet it ran in the adverts for decades and Advertising Age later named it the slogan of the century.

The word 'matrimony' comes from the Latin for which family member?

Mother: Latin matrimonium was built on mater, 'mother', while its twin patrimonium, built on pater, 'father', gave English 'patrimony', which means an inheritance and has nothing to do with weddings.

How many months' salary did 1980s American diamond adverts say an engagement ring should cost?

Two months: the rule came from the adverts themselves, not from custom, and it shifted with the market, to one month's pay in Britain and three in Japan.

On an Irish Claddagh ring, often used as a wedding band, two hands hold a heart topped with what?

A crown: the hands stand for friendship, the heart for love and the crown for loyalty, and the ring is named after the Claddagh, the Galway district where the design began.

Jewellers grade a diamond by the 'four Cs': cut, colour, clarity and which other quality?

Carat: the stone's weight, measured in a unit whose name goes back through Arabic to the Greek for a carob bean, itself once used as a small weight.

In which two Nordic countries do brides wear engagement and wedding rings together on the left hand?

Sweden and Finland: there both partners exchange plain engagement bands, and at the wedding the bride adds a second ring on the same left-hand finger.

On which hand and finger is a wedding ring traditionally worn in the Eastern Orthodox Church?

Ring finger, right hand: the priest places the rings there in the betrothal rite, and Greek couples who wore their bands on the left while engaged switch them across at the wedding.

In Western tradition, a man traditionally asks whom for permission before proposing?

Her father: the old prayer-book service still asks 'Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?', though asking his blessing before a proposal is now mostly a courtesy.

Folk tradition in Scotland, Ireland and Finland lets women propose on which day?

A leap day, 29 February: Irish legend has St Brigid winning the concession from St Patrick, and in parts of Europe a man who said no owed the woman twelve pairs of gloves.

Which birds do some couples release into the sky at their wedding?

Doves: the birds released are usually homing pigeons, close kin that fly straight back to their loft, because the doves sold as pets lack the homing instinct and would not survive.

Who did the proposing when Britain's young monarch got engaged in October 1839?

The bride, the reigning queen: since no one could propose to a monarch, Victoria asked Albert herself on 15 October 1839, five days after he arrived at Windsor.

How did Princess Elizabeth, the future queen, pay for the material of her 1947 wedding dress?

With clothing ration coupons: two years after the war Britain still rationed clothes, so even the heir to the throne had to hand over coupons for Norman Hartnell's satin gown.

Queen Victoria's wedding dress was trimmed with handmade lace named after which English town?

Honiton: the lace was in fact worked in the nearby village of Beer, and Victoria chose it over fashionable Brussels lace to support the English cottage industry.

What did Queen Victoria wear on her head instead of a tiara at her wedding?

A wreath of orange blossoms: the flowers, an emblem of fertility, also trimmed her dress, and wearing them in place of a tiara is often read as Victoria choosing to look a bride rather than a queen.

Before their wedding, Prince Albert was already related to Queen Victoria as her what?

First cousin: the match was promoted by Leopold, King of the Belgians, who was uncle to both of them, and Albert was 20 when they married.

The first documented royal bride to wear white was Philippa of England, in which year?

1406: Philippa, daughter of Henry IV, married Eric of Pomerania at Lund that year in a tunic of white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine.

In South Asian weddings, the mehndi patterns painted on a bride's hands are made with a paste of which plant dye?

Henna: the paste dries on the skin and leaves a reddish-brown stain, and the names or initials of the bride and groom are often hidden in the pattern.

Chinese and Indian brides traditionally wear which colour for luck?

Red: both cultures count it the auspicious colour, and for a Hindu bride it outlasts the day, since the groom marks her hair parting with red sindoor powder, the sign of a married woman.

What was the colour of the flammeum, the veil worn by Roman brides?

Deep yellow: Roman writers call the flammeum flame-coloured and describe a bright yellow dye, though some modern accounts picture the veil nearer orange-red.

The Latin verb nubere, 'to marry', has long been linked to the bridal veil and to nubes, the word for what?

Cloud: on the old theory a Roman bride 'clouded' herself with her veil, a link modern etymologists call attractive but unproven; nubere also gave English 'nuptial'.

According to old custom, a bride's veil was believed to protect her from what?

Evil spirits: the veil was meant to hide a bride's beauty from jealous spirits and, in some tellings, from rivals who might carry her off before she was safely married.

By a custom dating back to ancient Rome, what does a groom traditionally carry his bride over?

The threshold: Plutarch describes Roman brides being lifted over it by their escorts, not the groom, and Roman writers themselves could not agree why, one calling a step on the doorstep a bad omen.

What title does a married chief bridesmaid traditionally take?

Matron of honour: 'matron' marks a married woman, and 'maid of honour' was itself borrowed from court, where it meant an unmarried lady attending a queen.

What colour did Queen Victoria's bridesmaids wear at her wedding?

White: Victoria designed her bridesmaids' dresses herself, so the young women who carried her train matched her own gown.

The best man is usually picked from which group?

Groomsmen and ushers are the same attendants; the best man stands beside and slightly behind the groom.

At a military officer's wedding, the couple traditionally leave beneath an arch formed by fellow officers holding what?

Swords: in the American custom the last pair of officers lower their sabres to bar the couple's way for a moment, and one then gives the bride a gentle swat with the blade to welcome her to the service.

The word 'groomsman' is first attested in English in about which year?

About 1698: 'groomsman' is first recorded in English in the late 1690s, whereas 'bride' and 'bridegroom' go back to Old English.

The word 'bridegroom' comes from Old English brydguma, meaning bride plus what?

Man: Old English guma meant 'man', and the ending was reshaped in the 1500s by folk etymology, after 'groom', then a word for a boy or lad.

The church aisle a bride walks down takes its name from the Latin for which part of a bird?

Wing: Latin ala gave the medieval word for the side sections that flank a church's nave like wings, which is still what 'aisle' strictly means in architecture.

In the 'something old' rhyme, what does the blue item stand for?

Purity and fidelity: in the usual reading, blue stood for a pure and faithful bride, the same idea of constancy that survives in the phrase 'true blue'.

Which coin does the full 'something old' rhyme put in the bride's shoe?

A silver sixpence: the rhyme's closing line, 'and a silver sixpence in her shoe', is usually read as a wish for prosperity, tucking a little hard cash into the start of the marriage.

Which newlyweds spent their 1969 honeymoon in an Amsterdam hotel bed, inviting the press in to promote world peace?

John Lennon and Yoko Ono: married in Gibraltar days earlier, they knew the press would hound them, so they turned a week in bed at the Amsterdam Hilton into a peace protest.

At the reception, after removing the garter from the bride's leg, the groom traditionally tosses it to whom?

The unmarried men: the toss mirrors the bride's bouquet, thrown to the single women, whose catcher is said to be the next to marry.

The traditional English wedding vows derive mainly from the medieval 'Sarum' rite, named after which cathedral city?

Salisbury: Sarum is its old name, and its marriage service had the couple say their vows in English, their mother tongue, while the rest of the rite stayed in Latin.

Which Archbishop of Canterbury compiled the first Book of Common Prayer, source of the classic English wedding service?

Thomas Cranmer: he drew up the prayer book under the boy king Edward VI, borrowing from older Latin rites, and was burned at the stake as a heretic under the Catholic Mary I.

In the traditional Church of England vows, what did the bride promise that the groom did not?

To obey: in the 1549 service he vowed 'to love and to cherish', she 'to love, cherish, and to obey', having already been asked if she would 'obey him, and serve him'.

Which phrase in the Church of England's wedding vows was reworded in 1662 after one word's meaning shifted?

Till death us depart: 'depart' still meant 'separate' when the vow was written; once that sense died out, the 1662 prayer book recast the line as 'till death us do part'.

Which tradition has no marriage vows in its traditional wedding service?

Eastern Christians: the Orthodox crowning service has no spoken vows; the couple is married by the priest's blessing and the placing of crowns on their heads.

Which opera is the 'Here Comes the Bride' processional taken from?

Lohengrin: Wagner's opera premiered at Weimar in 1850, and the Bridal Chorus is sung there after the ceremony, as Elsa and Lohengrin enter the bridal chamber.

Whose 1858 wedding made Wagner's Bridal Chorus popular?

Victoria, Princess Royal: Queen Victoria's eldest daughter chose Wagner's Bridal Chorus for her 1858 marriage to Prince Frederick William of Prussia, and the piece caught on.

Mendelssohn's Wedding March was written as incidental music for which play?

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Mendelssohn wrote the play's overture at 17 and came back 16 years later to add the rest, the Wedding March included, for a royal production at Potsdam.

At weddings, Mendelssohn's Wedding March is usually played at which moment?

The recessional: Mendelssohn's march traditionally plays as the couple walk back up the aisle, while Wagner's Bridal Chorus accompanies the bride's entrance.

Which husband did Elizabeth Taylor marry twice, in 1964 and again in 1975?

Richard Burton: their affair began on the set of Cleopatra while both were married to other people, and it drew a public rebuke from the Vatican before they wed.

What are the couple doing when guests throw rice at them?

Leaving the ceremony: guests shower the couple with rice as they come out of the church or venue, the grain standing for prosperity and fertility.

A persistent myth says wedding guests should never throw uncooked rice for what reason?

It makes birds burst: the tale says the grains swell inside them, but a biology class that tested it found rice expands less than ordinary birdseed, and wild birds eat rice all the time.

Besides rice, what did old English custom have guests throw at newlyweds for luck?

Shoes: Victorians pelted newlyweds with old shoes, and in David Copperfield Dickens has one made ready 'to be thrown after us for luck'.

The word 'confetti' comes from the Italian for what?

Small sweet: Italian confetti are sugared almonds, and paper confetti took its name from the sweets once thrown at carnivals and weddings.

In medieval England, what did the bride and groom try to do over a tall stack of cakes?

Kiss: small cakes and buns were piled as high as possible, and a kiss managed over the stack was said to promise the couple a prosperous life.

Which icing, prized because it sets rock hard, traditionally coats British wedding cakes?

Royal icing, whipped from egg whites and icing sugar, dries hard enough to be piped into fine decoration and to bear stacked tiers, usually over a layer of marzipan.

What is the flower a groom wears on his jacket lapel called in American usage?

A boutonnière is simply a buttonhole: the British call it that, because the stem is pushed through the buttonhole of the lapel.

What is the traditional wedding cake in the United Kingdom and Australia?

Rich fruitcake, iced and often filled with almond paste, was the traditional American wedding cake too until the middle of the 20th century.

What is the traditional French wedding cake, a tower of profiteroles, called?

Croquembouche, 'crunches in the mouth': choux buns are stacked into a cone with caramel and finished with a halo of spun sugar.

A groom's cake is an old English wedding custom now most common in which region?

The American South: the custom of a second, darker cake for the groom all but died out in Britain, yet it thrives at Southern US weddings, often as a chocolate cake.

A 'wedding breakfast' in England is held when?

After the ceremony, whatever the hour: the name stuck although, as an 1880 etiquette guide admitted, the meal had become more of a wedding luncheon.

Whom did upper-class newlyweds travel to visit on an early-1800s 'bridal tour'?

Their relatives: the early bridal tour was a round of family visits, sometimes with friends in tow, not a private getaway.

What did 'honeymoon' mean when the word first appeared in the 1540s?

Early married life: 'hony moone' named a newlywed couple's tender first weeks long before it meant a trip, a sense recorded only from about 1800.

Modern honeymoons as pure holidays became widespread during which era?

The Belle Époque: between the 1870s and 1914 the honeymoon became a pure holiday and one of the first forms of mass tourism among the European middle classes.

In the traditional American list, which material is the gift for a first wedding anniversary?

Paper opens the American list with cotton second, while the traditional British list allows cotton or paper for either year; wood marks the fifth and tin the tenth.

Which anniversary is the golden one?

Silver is 25, ruby 40, diamond 60, platinum 70.

What is a bride's collection of clothes and linen for married life called?

A trousseau was at first 'a little bundle' the bride carried to her husband's house, though by 1922 Emily Post joked that it often needed a van.

From which anniversary can a British couple request a message from the monarch?

The 60th: the Palace's anniversaries office sends a card for the diamond 60th, then the 65th, 70th and every year after, on application with the marriage certificate.

A bachelor party is called what in the UK and Ireland?

A stag do: 'stag' for a men-only party is in fact an Americanism from the 1850s that Britain and Ireland kept, while Australians say buck's night.

Which ancient people held a dinner and toasts for the groom's last night as a single man?

The Spartans: the custom is traced to Sparta in the 5th century BC, where soldiers feasted and toasted a comrade on the eve of his wedding.

What is the formal outfit of tailcoat and striped trousers, traditional for British grooms, called?

Morning dress is worn well past noon, despite the name: the code runs until 6 p.m., when white tie takes over, and today it survives mainly at weddings and the races.

The scandalous 1896 'Awful Seeley Dinner' in New York was thrown by a grandson of whom?

P. T. Barnum: Herbert Barnum Seeley threw the dinner at Sherry's for his brother Clinton, and police raided it on rumours that the dancer Little Egypt would perform nude.

A bachelorette party is called what in the UK, Ireland and Australia?

A hen night: 'hen party' once meant any women-only gathering, such as a tea, before it settled on the bride's send-off; Australians say hens night.

Who traditionally pays for the American rehearsal dinner?

The groom's parents: by American custom the groom's family hosts the rehearsal dinner the night before, balancing the bride's family paying for the wedding itself.

The initials RSVP on a wedding invitation ask for a reply in which language?

French: RSVP stands for 'répondez s'il vous plaît', respond if you please, though Emily Post's 1922 wedding-breakfast invitation asked in English: 'The favor of an answer is requested'.

The bridal shower is said to have grown out of which earlier practice?

Dowry customs: the story goes that when a father would not or could not provide a dowry, friends brought gifts to make it up, and the shower grew from there.

A dowry is traditionally handed over by whom?

The bride's family: a dowry is wealth it transfers to the groom or the couple, while bride price runs the other way, from the groom's side to hers.

What is a hope chest called in the United Kingdom?

Bottom drawer: a British bride-to-be set aside one drawer of a chest for the linen and clothes she was saving for marriage, and the phrase came to mean the collection itself.

A wedding registry is meant to prevent what?

Duplicate or unwanted gifts: the couple lists what they want at a store, and the merchant marks off each item as it is bought so no two guests give the same thing.

Which TV soap's 1981 wedding of Luke and Laura may have helped popularise the unity candle?

General Hospital: about 30 million viewers watched the couple marry in November 1981, and one theory holds that the unity candle used in the ceremony set off the craze.

A Jewish wedding canopy, the chuppah, symbolises what?

The home the couple will build: the chuppah stands for the couple's new household, open on all four sides like Abraham's tent of hospitality.

A chuppah is usually held up by how many poles?

Four poles, or sometimes attendants' hands, hold the cloth aloft; traditional Orthodox practice wants open sky directly above it.

In a Hindu wedding, which sacred thread does the groom tie around the bride's neck?

A mangala sutra, literally 'auspicious thread', is usually strung with black beads, and the bride keeps it on for as long as the marriage lasts.

Which 1970s novel and miniseries popularised jumping the broom at weddings?

Roots: Alex Haley's 1976 novel and the 1977 miniseries revived a rite from the 1840s South, where enslaved couples barred from legal marriage jumped a broom instead.

Before 1837, where did most English couples, whatever their faith, have to marry?

An Anglican church: from 1754 the law recognised only Church of England weddings, with Jews and Quakers exempt, so Catholics and Nonconformists wed before Anglican priests until the 1836 Marriage Act.

Handfasting, an old word for betrothal, is named for sealing the promise how?

By joining hands: a handfast was a contract sealed with a handclasp, and tying the couple's wrists with cord appears to be a modern ritual read back into the name.

Which English law of 1753 sent eloping couples over the border to Gretna Green?

Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act: from 1754 English under-21s needed parental consent, so couples eloped to Scotland, where Gretna Green was the first village over the border.

What were the Gretna Green blacksmiths who conducted weddings called?

Anvil priests: Gretna's blacksmiths wed runaway couples over the anvil, which became the lasting symbol of the village's weddings, until the law ended such marriages in 1940.

Until 1940, Scots law let couples wed by simply doing what?

Declaring it aloud before witnesses was enough, with no minister needed, which is why runaway English couples could be wed by a blacksmith in the first village over the border.

Which American city is known as the marriage capital of the world?

Las Vegas: Nevada's lawmakers kept marriage rules deliberately light to draw visitors, and Clark County still greets couples as the 'Wedding Capital of the World'.

Which two hurdles does a Nevada marriage licence famously skip?

A blood test or a waiting period: Nevada asks for neither, a deliberate choice by its lawmakers to draw wedding tourists, so a couple can marry the day they arrive.

Richard and Mildred Loving's 1967 Supreme Court win over which state ended bans on interracial marriage?

Virginia: the Lovings married in Washington, DC, in 1958, were arrested weeks after coming home and ordered to leave the state for 25 years; the justices ruled for them unanimously.

Charles and Diana married in 1981 at which London church?

St Paul's Cathedral: Charles and Diana married there on 29 July 1981, chosen over Westminster Abbey for its greater seating, before an estimated 750 million viewers.

Which carriage proved too small for Diana's 25-foot wedding train?

The Glass Coach: the small carriage could barely hold Diana and her dress, so the train was crushed and she arrived with her taffeta gown visibly wrinkled.

Where did Charles propose to Diana in February 1981?

The nursery at Windsor Castle: Charles proposed there in early February 1981, about six months after they began seeing each other; the engagement was announced on 24 February.

Who was William's best man at Westminster Abbey in 2011?

His brother Harry: royal grooms traditionally have 'supporters', as Charles did in 1981, so William broke with custom by naming a best man.

Catherine Middleton's engagement ring had belonged to whom?

Diana, Princess of Wales: William proposed with her sapphire ring in Kenya in 2010, his way, he said, of making sure his mother didn't miss out on the day.

Which fashion house's creative director designed Catherine Middleton's wedding dress?

Alexander McQueen: Sarah Burton, the house's creative director, designed the lace-sleeved gown, kept secret until the bride stepped out of the car.

Where did Harry marry Meghan Markle in 2018?

St George's Chapel, Windsor hosted the wedding; unlike his brother's, the day was not made a bank holiday.

Which fashion house did Meghan Markle's wedding dress designer work for?

Givenchy: Clare Waight Keller, its British artistic director, embroidered the veil with a flower for each of the 53 Commonwealth countries, a nod to the couple's work for it.

Grace Kelly's 1956 wedding gown was designed by a costume designer from which studio?

MGM: Helen Rose, MGM's costume designer, made the gown as the studio's wedding gift to its departing star, who carried a lace-and-pearl prayer book down the aisle.

Grace Kelly left Hollywood in 1956 to marry Prince Rainier of which tiny state?

Monaco: Kelly was 26 and a recent Best Actress Oscar winner when she quit acting, and she gave her studio the film rights to the wedding in return for release from her contract.

Which month is traditionally the luckiest for a wedding, through its link with the Roman goddess of marriage?

June: Romans tied the month to Juno, goddess of marriage, so a June wedding was thought to win her favour, though dictionaries differ on whether she actually gave the month its name.

Which Chicago department store instituted the first bridal registry in 1924?

Marshall Field's began the registry in 1924 so that engaged couples could show family and friends which china, silver and crystal patterns they had chosen.

In German weddings, the couple saw through a log together to symbolise what?

The first obstacle they must overcome in marriage; Baumstamm sägen uses a long two-handled saw so the pair must show teamwork in front of the guests.

What do Russian wedding guests chant to make the bride and groom kiss?

'Gor'ko' (bitter) starts the chant, and the kiss must last as long as the chanting continues; the best man and maid of honour are called 'witnesses'.

In the Greek pre-wedding custom of Krevati, what do friends place on the couple's new bed?

Money and young children: the krevati, Greek for 'bed', is made up by friends who toss money onto it for prosperity and roll babies on it for fertility.

In the rural French ritual la rôtie, newlyweds are served champagne and chocolate in what?

A chamber pot: in la rôtie the unmarried friends track the couple down and serve them champagne and chocolate from a chamber pot, then share the mix and end with onion soup.

Yuri Malenchenko's bride stood in Texas in 2003 while the Russian groom said his vows from where?

The International Space Station was passing 240 miles over New Zealand at the time. The ceremony made Malenchenko the first person to marry in space.

The saying 'always a bridesmaid, never a bride' was taken up by American adverts for which brand?

Listerine ads implied that mouthwash could improve a woman's chances of marriage. The line echoes a 1917 English music-hall song, 'Why Am I Always the Bridesmaid?', written for Lily Morris.

In the film The Princess Bride, which farm girl is forced into an engagement with Prince Humperdinck?

Buttercup comes from the kingdom of Florin and is betrothed to the prince five years after she believes her true love Westley has died.

Which English tobacco planter married Pocahontas in 1614 and fathered her son Thomas?

John Rolfe wed Pocahontas in April 1614, when she was about 17 or 18, and their boy was born the following January.

The word 'bridal' began as an Old English wedding feast named for the bride and which drink?

Ale named the party: Old English 'brydealo' was literally a 'bride ale', a marriage feast. 'Bridal' only became an adjective around 1200.

Which wedding-reception favorite began as 'Der Ententanz', a 1950s tune by a Swiss accordionist?

The Chicken Dance was composed by Werner Thomas in 1957 under a title meaning 'The Duck Dance'. It is also known as 'The Birdie Song'.

In Friends, which name does Ross say instead of his bride Emily's while taking his vows in London?

Rachel is the name Ross blurts out, saying 'I, Ross, take thee Rachel'. The season ended on that cliffhanger, and the next episode was titled 'The One After Ross Says Rachel'.

Princess Elizabeth had to buy the fabric for her post-war royal wedding dress using what?

Clothing ration coupons applied even to a future queen, though the government allowed her 200 extra. Brides-to-be across the country posted her their own, which had to be returned because giving them away was illegal.

In The Hangover, which missing groom is finally found sunburned on the roof of Caesars Palace?

Doug had been moved to the roof on his mattress as a joke and forgotten when the drugs wore off. He threw the mattress onto a statue to signal for help.

Which item of a groom's formalwear is named after a wealthy New York enclave where it appeared in 1886?

Tuxedo comes from Tuxedo Park, a Hudson Valley retreat for New York's social elite, where the short dinner jacket was introduced following European fashion.

At the end of a Jewish wedding ceremony, what does the groom traditionally crush under his foot?

A glass is broken as a reminder that, even at a moment of joy, Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

In the san-san-kudo ritual of a Shinto wedding, the bride and groom sip which drink from three cups?

Sake is poured three times into three cups, and each is swallowed in three sips. The ritual's name means 'three-three-nine-times'.

In the Spanish wedding custom of 'las arras', the groom presents his bride with thirteen what?

Coins, blessed by a priest and carried in an ornate box, stand for the groom's promise to provide for his family and the bride's trust that he will.

Which Irish ring, showing two hands clasping a heart, takes its name from a Galway fishing village?

Claddagh rings have been made in Galway since at least 1700. The heart stands for love and the joined hands for friendship.

At a German Polterabend on the eve of a wedding, guests bring the couple luck by smashing what?

Porcelain brought by the guests is thrown to the ground, and the couple must then clear up the pile together. The saying behind it is 'Scherben bringen Glück': shards bring luck.

Which New York Yankees legend married Marilyn Monroe at San Francisco City Hall in January 1954?

Joe DiMaggio had already retired from baseball and had dated Monroe for two years. She filed for divorce after only nine months of marriage.

King Edward VIII gave up the British throne in 1936 in order to marry which American divorcée?

Wallis Simpson married him in a private ceremony at a French château the following June. His reign had lasted only 326 days.

Which singer emerged from a 17-foot wedding cake in a bridal gown at the first MTV Video Music Awards?

Madonna sang 'Like a Virgin' in a see-through wedding dress with a belt buckle reading 'BOY TOY', then rolled around on the stage floor.

Which Dickens character, jilted at the altar, wears her wedding dress for the rest of her life?

Miss Havisham also had every clock in her mansion stopped at twenty minutes to nine, the moment she received the letter that ended her engagement.

In a Greek Orthodox wedding, what does the priest place on the heads of the bride and groom?

Crowns are so central that the service is formally called the Mystery of Crowning. It follows a separate betrothal ceremony.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding made which household cleaner a comical cure-all for pimples and warts?

Windex gets sprayed on every skin complaint in the 2002 romantic comedy, which was written by its star, Nia Vardalos.

At a wedding feast in which town does the Gospel of John say Jesus turned water into wine?

Cana is the setting for the first miracle attributed to Jesus, performed after his mother noticed that the hosts had run out of wine.

Which bridal designer was a competitive figure skater and a Vogue editor before turning to gowns?

Vera Wang began skating at eight and became the youngest editor at Vogue straight out of college. She also worked for Ralph Lauren before opening her own boutique in 1990.

Which composer wrote the opera The Marriage of Figaro, in which two servants outwit a count to wed?

Mozart composed it in 1786 to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Figaro and Susanna marry despite Count Almaviva's efforts to seduce the bride.

In 1801 Aaron Burr's daughter Theodosia was among the first recorded honeymooners at which landmark?

Niagara Falls went on to bill itself as the 'honeymoon capital of the world', after railroads began promoting honeymoon visits following the Civil War.

Which jeweler's six-prong setting of 1886 lifts the stone above the band of an engagement ring?

Tiffany & Co. founder Charles Tiffany conceived the design so that six prongs hold the diamond off the band and show it to better effect.

Which German Baroque composer wrote the Canon in D that is famously played at wedding ceremonies?

Johann Pachelbel may even have written it for a wedding: one scholar suggests it was composed for the 1694 marriage of Johann Christoph Bach, which he attended.

Which U.S. president never married, leaving his niece Harriet Lane to act as White House hostess?

James Buchanan is the only president never to have married. Harriet Lane acted as first lady from 1857 to 1861, and her dress styles were widely copied.

Which U.S. president married 21-year-old Frances Folsom in the Blue Room of the White House in 1886?

Grover Cleveland is the only president to marry in the White House itself, and his bride became the youngest first lady in American history.

Which actress plays the Bride, a mercenary shot at her own wedding rehearsal, in Kill Bill?

Uma Thurman's character wakes from a coma four years after the shooting in El Paso and swears revenge on the assassins who attacked her.

Which pop star's Las Vegas marriage to childhood friend Jason Alexander was annulled 55 hours later?

Britney Spears wed in January 2004, and the petition to the court said she 'lacked understanding of her actions'.

Which NBA star wore a wedding dress in 1996, claiming to marry himself, to promote his autobiography?

Dennis Rodman was plugging 'Bad As I Wanna Be', a memoir that was later adapted into a TV movie about his life.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent their honeymoon staging a week-long 'bed-in' for peace in which city?

Amsterdam's Hilton hosted the newlyweds in Room 702, where they invited the world's press to their bedside from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.

Which Bridesmaids star co-wrote the 2011 comedy with Annie Mumolo and played its lead, Annie Walker?

Kristen Wiig and Mumolo wrote the screenplay after Wiig was cast in Judd Apatow's comedy Knocked Up.

In which musical does Eliza Doolittle's father sing 'Get Me to the Church on Time' before his own wedding?

My Fair Lady gives the number to Alfred Doolittle, who has one last spree with his friends and begs them to make sure he reaches the ceremony.

What are the church announcements of a couple's intended marriage, read out on three Sundays, called?

Banns take their name from a Middle English word for 'proclamation'. Church law required them from 1215 as a way to prevent clandestine marriages.

In Greek myth, which uninvited goddess threw a golden apple into the wedding of Peleus and Thetis?

Eris, the goddess of strife, was angry at being left off the guest list. The quarrel over her apple led to the Judgement of Paris and ultimately the Trojan War.

Which painter signed the 1434 Arnolfini Portrait, read by some art historians as a marriage contract?

Jan van Eyck's oak panel hangs in the National Gallery in London and is one of the oldest famous paintings executed in oils rather than tempera.

Which actress played both Mary Shelley and the Monster's mate in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein?

Elsa Lanchester was credited only as '?' for the bride. She had come to Hollywood with her husband, the actor Charles Laughton.

'Sunrise, Sunset' is sung as Tzeitel marries the tailor Motel in which Broadway musical?

Fiddler on the Roof stages the song at the ceremony itself, followed by 'The Wedding Dance'. Lyricist Sheldon Harnick wrote two new versions in 2011 for same-sex weddings.

In the Hindu wedding rite of Saptapadi, the bride and groom take seven steps or circuits around what?

A sacred fire witnesses the vows, one for each step, and promises made in its presence are considered unbreakable. The fire god Agni is held to bless the union.

At a traditional Polish wedding, parents greet the newlyweds after church with which two foods?

Bread and salt are a Slavic welcome said to bring the couple health and good fortune. At Russian weddings the pair are offered on an embroidered cloth.

The reality series Say Yes to the Dress follows brides shopping at which Manhattan salon?

Kleinfeld Bridal is the setting of the TLC series, where staying in budget is a running struggle, especially over gowns by its exclusive designer Pnina Tornai.

Ukulele-strumming singer Tiny Tim married 'Miss Vicki' on the air in 1969 on which TV program?

The Tonight Show staged the ceremony that December. Tiny Tim was best known for his 1968 hit cover of 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips'.

Which religious movement married over 2,000 couples at once at Madison Square Garden in 1982?

Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon held the first Blessing for 36 couples in Seoul in 1961, matching most of the pairs himself.

Which designer made the ivory silk taffeta dress Jacqueline Bouvier wore to marry John F. Kennedy?

Ann Lowe's studio flooded just 10 days before the wedding, and she received no public credit for the dress until after Kennedy's assassination.

Which kind of royal marriage gives a lower-ranked spouse no share in titles or succession rights?

Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, usually joined a man of high birth to a woman of lesser status. Their children had no claim on his titles either.

Which shallow two-handled drinking cup do couples share at a traditional Scottish wedding?

Quaich cups appear at weddings as a symbol of coming together. Most have two short handles, though a few have three or four.

What is the literary term for a poem or song written in praise of a bride and bridegroom?

Epithalamium began among the Greeks as a song performed by boys and girls outside the newlyweds' bedroom door. Edmund Spenser wrote one, 'Epithalamion', in 1595.

Which actress plays Maggie, who has left three fiancés at the altar, in the film Runaway Bride?

Julia Roberts reunited with Richard Gere for the 1999 comedy, their first film together since Pretty Woman nine years earlier.