What makes Italian weddings so intriguing is that the customs and traditions vary from region to region as well as from town to town. This makes writing about Italian wedding traditions and customs a difficult task.

In Italy there are some really lovely wedding traditions and including some of them in your wedding day is a great way to make your wedding a little more unique and special.


Some of the traditions mentioned above are slightly ancient and may not be followed much today as they were once and of course they are changed from time to time.

Italian Wedding Traditions:

The bride and groom will usually have separate evening meals with their respective family and friends. They don't see each other the night before the wedding. In the morning of the wedding day the groom will either deliver the bridal bouquet to the bride’s house or wait outside the ceremony venue and present the bride her bouquet upon her arrival. The bridal bouquet is usually a gift from the groom’s family and its colour is meant to be a surprise to the bride.

Wedding guests will wait outside the ceremony venue for the bride to arrive and then follow the bride and groom inside for the ceremony to commence.

On the wedding day the bride must wear something blue, something old, something borrowed and something new. These items are supposed to bring the bride good luck and she should honour this custom.

As a rule, purple is avoided.

In southern Italy nobody gets married in May because it brings bad luck (there is the same tradition in Russia).

The groom on his side has to follow some important rules, for example, not to wear short socks or tuxedo. The groom fulfils the tradition of wearing black or dark grey thin socks, cuff links, boutonniere and a tailcoat including a silk top hat and gloves.

In some regions it is customary for the bride and groom to walk to their wedding ceremony together.

Often when the bride leaves her home, someone will have tied a white ribbon over her front door or gate which she must cut. A white ribbon may also be tied in front of the ceremony venue to symbolise the bond between the bride and groom.

After the wedding ceremony all guests are given small bags of rice which are thrown over the bride and groom as confetti.

At each side of the church's main door it is preferable to put two little olive trees as a symbol of good luck.

It is considered bad luck to wear any gold on the day of the wedding until the wedding rings are exchanged.

At the wedding reception each guest is given a Bomboniere. This Italian wedding tradition is the original version of favours and the Bombonieri are 5 sugared almonds wrapped in lace. The almonds symbolise health, wealth, fertility, happiness & long life.

Before the wedding meal begins the best man will serve the guests sweet liquor so they can toast to the happiness of the couple. Usually songs that talk about the story of the spouses are played. In many areas dances of the local traditions are performed (folk dancing). For example in Southern Italy it is still popular to dance to the "Tarantella". The Tarantella is a lively, flirty Southern Italian group dance that involves linking arms, moving in a circle and whirling and twirling about on the dance floor. In Calabria, towards the end of the reception, the guests sing "Lauretta mia", which is a local song that talks about the parents and of what they have done for their children....

If you are getting married and want to include some Italian wedding traditions into your wedding day its a lovely idea, but be sure to also tell your guests the meaning of each of the Italian wedding traditions you have incorporated as they will be curious about why you have done certain things.