The Wedding Aisle

Walking down the aisle is an exciting moment on your wedding day and will be remembered forever. All eyes will be on you in your beautiful wedding dress shining like a diamond as you walk down the aisle in front of your family and friends. The aisle is a long narrow pathway for walking, with rows of seats on either side called pews. Pews are long benches usually found at a place of worship such as a cathedral, church, or synagogue. By the way, wedding aisle is one of the wedding terms or wedding words found on our A-Z guide.

When a bride is to be married, it is a tradition to walk down the aisle with the father of the bride or whoever the bride chooses for this role. This has been told that this tradition means transferring the bride from the father to the groom. Each religion has its own guidelines, so prior to the wedding, speak with the officiant to plan who will walk down the aisle in the procession and in what order. You will also decide what music you wish to play.

For Christian wedding ceremonies, the groom’s parents can walk down the aisle after all the guests are seated, on the right side, then the mother of the bride walks down the aisle before the officiant and is seated on the left in the first row. The officiant will come after the mother of the bride and walk down to the altar to wait for the bridal couple, next comes the groom and the best man, followed by the bridesmaids and groomsmen. The maid of honor is followed by the flower girl and ring bearer which then brings us to the moment everyone is waiting for, the bride! The bride looks stunning in her wedding gown Calla Blanche style 120104 Farrah with her gorgeous long train sweeping down the aisle.

 

A Jewish wedding may be a little different where the rabbi and cantor will either walk down the aisle before the wedding party or approach from the side to stand at the altar. The cantor leads the prayer and sings passages in Hebrew as he walks down the aisle. The grandparents of the bride are followed by the groom’s grandparents, as the bride walks down the aisle escorted by both parents. The bridal couple stands together with their parents, best man, and maid of honor. The ceremony is held beneath a chuppah which is a canopy supported by four poles.

Couples having civil, non-religious ceremonies may choose any order for the wedding procession to walk down the aisle and could customize the procession that best suits them. Same-sex couples can also customize the walk down the aisle, they could have a parent walk with them, or they could walk together hand in hand.

Walking down the aisle to bagpipes is a tradition among many of the Celtic population. If you have the budget for a harpist, it would be heavenly. Whoever walks you down the aisle, whether a family member or a friend, let it be known that it is an honor and a very important part of your wedding day.

 

I hope you have found this article interesting, for more interesting articles check out, The A-Z of Wedding Terminology Guide.