{"id":184,"date":"2026-05-23T15:05:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=184"},"modified":"2026-05-23T15:05:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:05:54","slug":"wedding-symbols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"Wedding Symbols"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Welcome, everyone. I am glad you could join us today in celebrating the union of Bryce Fox and Katie Hilland. This special day is filled not just with love but also with many symbols of that love. For example, the rings that Katie and Bryce exchanged represent the eternalness of their bond. The bridal veil represents the purity of the bride and her reverence to God. When you walked in this afternoon, you noticed three very tall, very muscular, very strange men speaking Czech to one another. They, too, symbolize devotion to God.<\/p>\n

Read more Wedding Dress Codes, Decoded<\/a><\/p>\n

The chapel is decorated with flowers. The roses represent love. The irises represent growth and prosperity. The carnations represent death. Death, death, death. Dying and death. Bryce dying first, and then Katie dying three months after Bryce. The gardenias, however, symbolize devotion to God. And death.<\/p>\n

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If you remember, the groom arrived at the altar by taking twelve gigantic steps and then thirty-four teeny-tiny ones. Then he did three jazz squares followed by this pretty cool flapper move that, quite frankly, I didn\u2019t know he had in him. Then he looked at me and I said, \u201cYou\u2019re doing great,\u201d and then he skipped and whistled all the way back to the chapel\u2019s entrance while fluttering his hands at his sides like a little bird. Then he made his way back to the altar by doing a series of front tucks, taking care to point at his best friends in between each one, and intermittently yelling, \u201cYeah! All right!\u201d<\/p>\n

This ritual not only represents devotion to God but how marriage brings up difficult questions, such as when you\u2019re married and you\u2019re walking, when do you take big, weird steps? When do you take small, weird steps? When do you roll? When do you point? When do you flutter your hands? When don\u2019t<\/em> you flutter your hands?<\/p>\n

Compromise.<\/p>\n

If you look closely, you\u2019ll notice there are sixteen small pebbles placed in various locations throughout the church. They symbolize the sixteen small pebbles the couple will face during their marriage. Everyone in here who is married knows about the sixteen pebbles. Some of you are on your fifth pebble. Some of you have completed all sixteen. Congratulations. It is my hope that when Bryce and Katie encounter their first pebble, they\u2019ll approach this test as a unit, as partners, as a team. Trust me, you\u2019ll need all the help you can get with the pebbles.<\/p>\n

Read more A Sibling\u2019s Wedding Toast<\/a><\/p>\n

The groom\u2019s parents are wearing a hamburger costume and a hot-dog costume, respectively, and the bride\u2019s are dressed like firemen. This is an age-old tradition to remind Bryce and Katie that if they need a laugh the groom\u2019s parents will be there. If their house is burning down, the bride\u2019s parents will be there. Sharon, Russell, Brenda, and Gene, thank you for putting all that stuff on.<\/p>\n

The bride is holding a saxophone. This symbolizes devotion to God.<\/p>\n

You will notice that up on the altar there are two vases\u2014one empty, and the other filled with sand. In a few moments, the bride\u2019s mother will pour sand from one vase into the other. Then the groom\u2019s mother will pour the sand back into the first vase. Then the two will stare at each other. Tension. Then Bryce will take the bottle of sand and give it to Katie, who will hand it back to Bryce, who will hand it back to Katie, who will hand it back to Bryce. Bryce will say, \u201cNo, really, I insist,\u201d and hand it back to Katie, who will say, \u201cI simply couldn\u2019t,\u201d and give it back to Bryce. Bryce will say, \u201cAre you sure?\u201d and Katie will say, \u201cI\u2019m a hundred per cent sure, Bryce. Take it. I love you.\u201d Bryce will then hand the vase over to the one and only Billy Crystal!!!<\/em> Ladies and gentlemen, let\u2019s give a huge Bryce and Katie wedding welcome to Billy Crystal!!!<\/em> Billy Crystal will repeat the same process with the person sitting to his left and so on and so forth until the vase gets all the way to the back of the chapel. If you don\u2019t pay attention to all of these transactions, I\u2019m leaving.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The vase stuff represents the covenant.<\/p>\n

There are more symbols at this wedding.<\/p>\n

There are doves. They represent fire. The rice represents the traditional Asian wedding on which weddings in the industrialized West are based. Bryce\u2019s shoes represent the matrimonial covering of the foot, as do Katie\u2019s. Bryce has a white boutonniere on his jacket that looks kind of silly\u2014I would have gone with a periwinkle to match the groomsmen\u2019s ties, but that\u2019s just me. Wedding bells symbolize ding-dongs, cling-clangs, and jingle-jingles.<\/p>\n

The bride is standing to the left of the groom. I think<\/em> this tradition stems from olden days, when the groom needed have his sword hand free to protect his bride. You know what, I have that information at home. Let me check.<\/p>\n

Read more The Hidden Costs of Weddings<\/a><\/p>\n

(Two hours go by.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

I was right.<\/p>\n

Illustration by Eric Palma.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The chapel is decorated with flowers. The roses represent love. The irises represent growth and prosperity. The carnations represent death. 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