Happily Ever After Trivia Quiz

Answer: Queen Victoria

Until Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha, royal British brides wore silver gowns on their wedding day. Victoria, always a girl who liked her own way, broke tradition and opted for white - and white has been the colour for wedding dresses in the West ever since.

It would hardly have been Elizabeth I, who never married in any colour gown, and since white is supposed to denote the bride's virginity, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who divorced Louis VII of France (by whom she had two daughters) in order to marry Henry II of England, certainly wouldn't qualify as a virgin! Marie Antoinette is said to have worn green on her wedding day.

In China and India, red is the traditional colour for the bride's dress.

Answer: Anglo-Saxon England

Once the vows had been exchanged at an Anglo-Saxon wedding, the bridegroom would take off his shoe and smack the bride with it (hopefully, it was more of a love tap!) to symbolize that she was now under his authority. The bride would then throw shoes at her attendants to see who would be the next to marry. That tradition seems to have been replaced with the bouquet toss, because it's nicer to be hit in the head with a bunch of flowers than a shoe, one supposes, and the shoes graduated to the bumper of the wedding car.

Answer: Finland

It is an old Finnish rural custom. The bride is accompanied by an older male relative who holds an open umbrella over the bride's head to signify protection. Not only does the bride receive a gift from each of her neighbours, she gets a drink as well. If she's got a lot of neighbours and downs enough drinks, she could show up at the wedding with a nasty hangover along with a pillow case full of prezzies!

Answer: Plant a tree

It is customary in Switzerland for bridal couples to plant a tree on their wedding day. This custom has spread to other countries, and in these days of Global Warming, it has a lot to recommend it.

Answer: A wreath of rosemary

The wreath is woven by the bride's friends on the eve of the wedding, to signify wisdom, love and loyalty. After the wedding, I suppose, the bride can use the rosemary to season roast lamb.

Answer: Happiness, the future, best wishes, fidelity, financial security.

The rhyme originated in Victorian England, and the something old was usually a garter that had been worn by a woman who had been happily married for years. The something new signifies a new stage in the couple's relationship, leading to happiness and family, while the something borrowed is a token of their love loaned by the bride's family (it has to be returned, or the marriage will fail!). Something blue derives from ancient Israel where it was the custom for the bride to wear a blue ribbon in her hair to symbolize fidelity. I should imagine that "a silver sixpence for her shoe" (which was meant to ensure that the couple would always be financially secure) has rather fallen by the wayside since decimalization, although in my family on the other side of the pond, the same sixpence has been slipped inside the bride's shoe since Edwardian times! It's kept in a safety deposit box in between weddings.

Answer: Orange blossom

I haven't seen a bride carrying orange blossom in all my years of marrying couples - which may or may not say something about the brides! It is customary for Scottish brides to slip a sprig of white heather into their bouquets for luck.

Answer: Enfolds his bride in it

The blanket ceremony is most common among the plains peoples - the Dakota, Crow, Cree, Blackfoot, for instance. During the wedding ceremony the bridegroom will extend his left arm holding out one side of the blanket. The bride steps into the shelter of his arm and he wraps the blanket around her to signify his willingness to protect her and care for her for the rest of their lives.

Answer: Greece

Greek brides slip a lump of sugar inside one of their gloves on their wedding day to ensure that their married life will be sweet. In Sweden, a bride will slip a silver coin from her father into her left shoe and a gold coin from her mother into her right shoe so that she will never lack for anything.

In Ireland (and in the UK) brides carry silver horseshoes, open end up, for luck (if they're carried open end down, the luck falls out), and in Russia, the newlyweds race to a white rug. Whoever steps on the rug first will be the one who rules the household.

Answer: To cover her horns

Evidently, it was once believed that women have horns of jealousy and a bride wears a tsunokakushi to hide them on her wedding day.