As preparation for our wedding gets underway I find myself with some questions.
It has long been a wonder of mine as to why they call a wedding breakfast ‘a breakfast’ and not a lunch.
I mean, you generally get married in the afternoon and usually haven’t eaten for several hours by the time you are served a wedding “breakfast”. It’s no coincidence I have been at numerous weddings where a small crowd has gathered near the kitchens waiting for the sight or even a sniff of the odd canape.
So much so, I had always thought it a generally acknowledged rule that you have to wait several hours before you fed wedding guests. Maybe to make sure no one disappears before the speeches!
But, we are glad to see, this is a fading tradition. Indeed, at recent weddings, we’ve noticed the canapes and fizz were out nice and early. The result? Jolly guests and hearty laughs throughout the day. Time’s they are a’changing.
The history behind the wedding breakfast
I have found where there is a tradition there is always a good story, and often logic, behind it.
In days of old, when a couple got married, they did this after Mass. The tradition was to fast before Mass, and so the meal after a wedding was, therefore, a break -fast. There we have the wedding breakfast and the story of how it became.
Weddings are generally traditional affairs and ones we accept with glee. Yes, we wear white, have someone to ‘give’ the bride away, we say vows, and we agree to call lunch, breakfast. Even though we are eating it at 3pm -4pm (ish) and had breakfast hours earlier.
Although times are changing, and weddings are changing, they will always be packed full of tradition, and we can’t wait!
Did you miss our posts on the Royal Weddings? Catch up here, our archives are full of history.
Karlie Simmonds Karlie has worked in Digital Media for over 10 years, she is passionate about health and wellbeing and lives in Edinburgh with her partner, children, and Pug, Poppy.
