As my wedding is getting closer (only 4 weeks away), I am naturally starting to think more about the various cultural associations and semiotic aspects of a wedding. We are getting married in church so there are numerous codes and symbols as you can expect. Interestingly our vicar told us that the reason the CofE service has the declaration which sounds very much like the vows and then the vows was that traditionally after the declaration the couple would go away betrothed and see if things worked out. Then they would come back and finish things off.
One of the most interesting things for me has been considering whether to wear a veil or not. My feeling is that the veil is the one thing which really makes a bride into a bride. It's bizarre given who I am and the world we live in. The one thing which least fit, in that it originates in order to preserve the bride's modesty is the thing that makes you into a bride. Actually on thinking about it, it's not bizarre at all given that brides are somewhat out of fashion at the moment.