What Did a Tudor Wedding Really Look Like From Start to Finish?

What Did a Tudor Wedding Really Look Like From Start to Finish?

Today I want to take a look at what a Tudor wedding actually looked like.

In Tudor England, marriage was considered one of the most important events in a person’s life. For many families, especially wealthier ones, choosing a husband or wife was not always left entirely to the couple. Parents usually had a lot of influence. They would often have to consider their social standing, property, business ties, and reputation. Many families used marriage as a way of making allies or improving status. A young couple must have had very mixed emotions. Tudor women, often had even less choice. Their fathers or male guardians often had a strong influence over who they married and when.

Before the wedding itself, there was usually a formal agreement or understanding between the families. In wealthier households, discussions about dowries, land, inheritance, and financial arrangements could be just as important as the match itself. Among ordinary people, marriage meant building a household together, and both families wanted to know if the couple could survive.

Once the marriage was agreed, the banns were read aloud in church on three separate Sundays. The reason for reading the banns was to give people the opportunity to raise any objections to the marriage. Reasons could be that there was already a promise of marriage to someone else or if there were concerns about the legality of the marriage. Being betrothed to someone was taken very seriously. If a person had already been promised to someone else, this could actually stop a wedding. They usually could not legally marry someone else unless the earlier promise had ended or it was declared to be invalid by the church according to Canon Law.

On the wedding day, the bride and groom would usually dress in their best clothing rather than a white wedding dress, as white did not become the standard until much later. Bright colours, rich fabrics, embroidery, and fine accessories were all popular if people could afford them. Wealthy brides might wear velvet, silk, or satin, while poorer brides wore their finest everyday clothes, or Sunday best.

The service could last up to an hour, and involved readings, vows, and ceremony.

The ceremony usually took place at the church door before moving inside for the mass and blessing. This might seem unusual today, but the doorway symbolised the transition from single life into married life. The priest also asked for consent, because even in arranged matches, both bride and groom were expected to agree.  A ring was then given, usually placed on the bride’s finger as vows were spoken. Tudor wedding vows were more formal than many modern vows, they promised to stay together for life. A major difference was that brides were often expected to love, honour, and obey.

The majority of the service and vows were often in Latin, especially before the Reformation, the traditional language used by the Church. The consent was usually done in English so the couple could understand.

After the ceremony they celebrated. Weddings were community events with food, drink, music and dancing. Wealthy families could have grand feasts with lots of food like roasted meats, pies, sweet dishes, and musicians. Poorer families still celebrated as best they could, but it was a lot smaller often with simple food that was shared among their neighbours. The guests might sing, dance and offer blessings for fertility and prosperity.

During the era the age at which you could marry was very low. Girls could legally marry at 12, and boys at 14 under Church law. But most people did not actually marry that young. Regular women usually married in their late teens or early twenties. Men usually married when they were a little older, because they needed to be  able to afford to support a household.

Betrothals could actually happen at a very young age, especially among wealthy or noble families. Some children were actually promised while they were still  babies. It was used as a way to strengthen family alliances or protect wealth and land. Ordinary people tended to be betrothed when they were teenagers or much closer to marriage age.

Historical records show that Margaret Beaufort married at about 12 years old and gave birth to Henry VII at just 13. Records also show that Catherine of Aragon married Arthur, Prince of Wales in 1501 when they were both 15.

Do you think you would have enjoyed the pageantry of a Tudor wedding?