Weddings Worldwide

Before I started to belong to my current emcee office, I took a lesson to be a bilingual emcee by a pioneer of this field, Ryoko Sumitomo.
Now I've been reading her textbook again because I will take her another lesson for "corporate bilingual emcee." Then, I noticed how interesting this part again, is..."kinds of world marriages & weddings."
For example...

Islamic marriage: means a man becomes responsible to support his wife. Before marriage, they make a contract to decide how much he pays for their wedding & monthly maintenance...not only the amount of money, but also how much jewelry, education he can give her... They make a deal for everything.
Do you think it's unfair for guys? But a man has a right to divorce her if he wants. After he files their divorce, if his wife isn't pregnant three months later, the divorce becomes official even though his wife doesn't want to.

Islamic wedding(In Saudi Arabia): In this culture, it's not respectable for men & women to have a party together. So, they have parties separately. ( I was most stunned to hear that!)
First, a groom and his male guests have dinner, and after that, a bride and her female guests have the guys' left-over. (...WOW...!)

South Africa, Anglican church members: a newlywed couple does a bungee jumping at their wedding... (another wow!)

Jewish: On their wedding day, a bride and a groom fast. In the ceremony, a groom put a wedding band on not a bride's ring finger, but her index finger.

Zulu, African continent: On the wedding day, a groom's family kills a cow, and tells the couple's fortune. (How...? I don't know!) To acknowledge that, a bride puts some money in the cow's stomach, and return it to the groom's family. (...one more, WOW!!)

When I was in America, I heard many interesting wedding customs from international friends.
My Korean friend said, "we send invitations to many guests, but the guests don't reply.
It is OK they decide to come or not come, ON THE DAY!"
I was surprised and asked her,"What about meal? Staff at the wedding place should prepare dishes depending on how many guests there will be!"
She shrugged her shoulders, "They prepare meals for all guests the couple invited. If some people don't come, dump them!"

Another friend from Armenia said, "A wedding is a FIGHTING for us."
"What!? A fighting means, between a bride and groom!??" I asked.
She laughed, "Oh, no! Between guy guests! You know, a wedding is a party. At a party, people drink a lot, when people drink a lot, some people get crazy... A trigger is silly usually. One guy gets mad saying, "You! You had an eye on my girlfriend! You such a bastard!" Then, the guy who was said also becomes upset, "What are you talking about!? I didn't! You ARE a bastard!!" ...Then, they start to fight. When someone starts to fight, we know it's time to close the wedding!"

One newlywed Indian girl said, "I got married to a guy that my parents found for me. In my county, parents are matchmakers."
"Really? Didn't you want to pick a guy you like? Did you think you can love a guy your parents choose?"
She smiled beautifully, "Why not? I believe my parents know about me more than I do. I can love a guy whom my parents believe in."
The Indian girl was a former newscaster. I was surprised even she, such a career woman, believes so.

Marriage & wedding are based on the country's (the tribe's, the race's, the religion's...) culture.
Even though one wedding custom sounds mysterious to me, it has a reason, based on their history.
So, I should respect that.

International wedding is a fusion of different culture.
At the end of the part of the textbook, the bilingual emcee teacher, Ryoko says, "We shouldn't push one culture to an international couple. Communicating with them, we help to make a beautiful combination as they want. During their wedding reception, it is great if we help two family's mingling. We are like a "go-between" for the two culture."