THE MARRY MONTH OF JUNE...

Why JUNE? Summertime is wedding time and for centuries, June was the most popular month to get married and for good reason. The month, June, is derived from "Juno", the wife of Jupiter and the Roman goddess of marriage and childbirth. It was thought that couples who married in June would be blessed with prosperity and happiness. In medieval times, June was a preferred month to get married because children would be born the next spring (these were pre-contraceptive times) and the bride would be recovered in time for fall harvest, the busiest season. And I believe, an even more important reason, a person's annual bath was usually in May or June so the bride was more likely to still smell relatively fresh. And just to make sure, flowers or herbs were likely carried at a medieval weddings as a way of masking body odors (in case someone missed their annual bath). As for the wedding dress , medieval brides did not wear white as they do today. That trend came later. Instead, they usually wore blue, a symbol of purity. If not the dress, it was the belt or shoes, but definitely something blue, thus the current trend… "something blue ." Bridesmaids were conceived by the Romans who had a law requiring there be 10 witnesses (5 women and 5 men) at the wedding. The law was created to ward off the evil spirits who were thought to attend and sabotage happy events. In order to confuse Satan so he would not know who the exact nuptials were, the bridesmaids dressed exactly like the bride and the groomsmen dressed like the groom. This would also throw off spurned suitors who might try to kidnap the bride or steal her dowry. The honeymoon even has historical roots to June. The Celtic calendar referred to the first moon after summer solstice, June 21, as the "honey moon." And, what's love got to do with it? Marrying for love is a relatively modern concept. It used to be that marriages were a business arrangement. The bride was her father's property, and was "given" away to the groom along with a dowry. The nuptials had little say in the matter. So as we attend beautiful weddings this June, we can celebrate the evolved traditions and be grateful that love has everything to do with the wedding, the bridesmaids don't have to look like the bride and hopefully everyone in the wedding party has taken a bath! P.S. As you plan your summer wedding, remember that FOOT TRAFFIC men's socks and women's novelty socks make great gifts for the wedding party!