Half of Brits risk bad luck on their wedding day after ditching traditions

18 August 2023 , 06:00

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Half of Brits risk bad luck on their wedding day after ditching traditions

More than half of married Brits risked bad luck on their wedding day – by ditching age old traditions, a study found.

According to the research just 56 per cent stuck rigidly to old wives’ tales such as keeping the bride and groom separate on the morning of the big day, or being sure to wear white - said to bring a new marriage good luck. More than four in five women made sure to wear ‘something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue’ – with ‘something new’ being the most important part.

Women were also found to be almost 20 per cent more superstitious than men when it came to their big day. The study was conducted by online casino Casumo.com, whose spokesman Greg Tatton-Brown said: “A wedding day is, for most people, one of the most important days of their lives.

“So it’s natural that people will do all they can to make sure the day goes off as smoothly as possible – even if they aren’t normally superstitious. In fact, our results found people were much more likely to worry about doing things that could bring them bad luck in the weeks ahead of their wedding, than they usually were. With the biggest wedding of the year just weeks away, we can’t help but wonder if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are sticking to these old wives’ tales.”

More than four in 10 Brits say they wouldn’t feel comfortable getting married on Friday the 13th, and would look for any other date rather than that one. But the bride wore white in just 60 per cent of British marriages, going against myths about wearing green meaning you’re ‘ashamed to be seen’ and yellow meaning you’re ‘ashamed of your fellow.’

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In nearly one third of weddings, the groom laid eyes on the bride before the ceremony on the wedding day, a huge red flag for superstitious types. And of those, almost one in 10 think it’s gone on to bring their marriage bad luck. In the build up to their big day, 53 per cent of Brits followed as many old traditions and superstitions as possible, to make the day go as smoothly as possible.

But despite their best efforts, 17 per cent of married people believe they suffered some bad luck on their wedding day. A fifth were given knives as a wedding gift, which is customarily avoided as a bad omen for a union.

Ariane Sohrabi-Shiraz