Canadian weddings rest on a handful of recurring traditions: the white bridal dress, the trousseau tea, the French-Canadian sock dance, and the wedding toast. Because Canada is multicultural, couples also fold in Ukrainian, Chinese, Indian, and Greek customs. Here is how each of these Canadian wedding traditions works in practice.
The white bridal dress
The white bridal dress is a Western tradition Canada inherited, not one it invented. Queen Victoria popularized it: in 1840 she married Prince Albert in a white satin gown, and the look spread quickly through press coverage. White had been worn at weddings long before her, so she did not create the custom, but her wedding made it the standard most Canadian brides follow today. The colour came to stand for purity, though early on it was also a practical way to show off fine lace and fabric.
The trousseau tea party
A trousseau, sometimes called a wedding trousseau, is the clothing, linens, and personal items a bride traditionally collects ahead of her marriage. The trousseau tea is a gathering the bride’s mother hosts before the wedding day. It was once limited to neighbours and relatives who were not on the reception list, but today the invite list is wider and can include colleagues and casual friends. The bride’s mother lays out the bridal trousseau along with wedding-shower gifts for guests to see. It is an easy way to bring more people into the celebrations.
French Canadian wedding traditions
French Canadian wedding traditions are some of the most distinctive in the country, especially in Quebec. The best known is the sock dance. The unmarried older siblings of the bride or groom dance in loud, ugly socks, a playful jab at the fact that a younger sibling is marrying first. Guests throw money at them, which is collected and given to the couple. In a related custom, la danse du souliers, guests drop money into the bride’s shoe while she dances. A Quebec wedding often starts another way too: the groom and his family meet the bride at her home, then drive to the ceremony in a honking motorcade.
The wedding toast
The wedding toast is the moment guests and the couple put their feelings into words. The Canadian version has a nice twist: the bride and groom often toast the couple who most influenced their own relationship. That might be grandparents married fifty years, or a pair who helped them through a rough patch. The newlyweds can thank anyone they like and even congratulate other couples marking an anniversary that day.
Multicultural Canadian weddings
Modern Canadian wedding customs are shaped by immigration, so one reception can blend several cultures. Ukrainian-Canadian weddings, common on the Prairies, feature the korovai wedding bread and group dances such as the Manitoba “butterfly”. The Manitoba or Winnipeg social is a pre-wedding fundraiser where guests pay for entry, food, and drinks to help cover the couple’s costs. Chinese, Indian, and Greek ceremonies are a normal part of the Canadian wedding landscape too. This mix of marriage customs is what sets a wedding in Canada apart from a traditional wedding elsewhere.
Canadian wedding traditions FAQ
- What is a trousseau? A trousseau is the clothing, linens, and personal items a bride collects before her wedding.
- What is the sock dance at a Canadian wedding? It is a French-Canadian tradition where the unmarried older siblings dance in silly socks while guests throw money for the couple.
- What are French Canadian wedding traditions? The most common are the sock dance, the shoe dance (la danse du souliers), and a honking motorcade from the bride’s home to the ceremony.