Amish Weddings

Across all the many different Amish communities, weddings have some basics that are the same. But at the same time there are so many different communities that you can't simply attend one Amish wedding and say, this is how Amish weddings look like because different communities do have different traditions.

For example ..... celery ...... Amish fiction authors seem to have latched onto the idea that serving celery is an important part of an Amish wedding, when in fact it is a tradition for Lancaster and its daughter settlements. Most Amish communities do not serve celery at their weddings. Along the same vein ...... Lancaster has weddings in the fall, while other Amish communities have weddings at anytime during the year.

Some communities the wedding celebration lasts all day, and into the night, while in others it is over by late afternoon.

In some communities the bride always wears a blue dress, while in others she has the option of any color she would like to wear.

In some the spread of food is vast, and there seems to be a never ending assortment of desserts, while others have a very simple meal.

In some the story of Tobias is shared in the wedding sermon, while in others they won't mention it.

In some they serve wine, in others they wouldn't even dream of it.

In some they send boys around to all the guests while shaking a long handled tin pan for them to throw in money. Most of them don't do this, but for some communities it's an important part of the wedding.

In some they always serve hotdogs as one of the meat options and big bowls of green and red Jell-O for dessert while others wouldn't even consider it.

Some communities have dancing at their weddings, while most others would consider it to be sinful.

In some, at the evening meal when boys choose a girl to escort to the table they will each have a spoon, but share the same plate. Most communities don't, but some do.

In some the groom will hand out cigars to all the youth boys, but others would be horrified at the very thought of doing something like that.

There are many more differences, so you get the picture. Just because one community always does weddings the same, doesn't mean that all Amish will do it that way.

Across the many different Amish communities that I have family living there are some things that are the same.

The services are always similar to a church service. Slow church type singing, two sermons, scripture reading.  The bride and groom also always join the ministers for a meeting while the rest of the church is singing, but that's about as far as it goes when it comes to things that are the same about weddings in every community.

You can read what our wedding was like here. I shared it in six parts, so click on newer posts at the end of it to read about the entire day.

This was in answer to the question by Sandi ..... What is an Amish wedding like?