Wedding Traditions

General

• Double -insert jewelry here- ceremony. Both partners wear or exchange each a ring, bracelet, etc. The material type may be subject to the family's wealth, their cultural or spiritual meanings for colors, or even their beliefs of the materials themselves. The women always wear them on the left and the men on the right.

• There is always a kiss at the end of the ceremony. It is believed that under a spiritual or sacred ceremony, a couple exchanges their breath by kissing and in this way, part of one's soul becomes trapped in the other, becoming each inseparable as their partner holds a piece of their soul.

• Groom and bride are both accompanied to walk up the aisle, with their companions walking a few steps behind them. First, the groom with his best man to his left side and the mother to his right side. Once he is at the altar, the bride then follows with her maid of honor to her left side and her father to her right side. All the men stand at the right side of the altar and the women stand at the left side.

Elves

• They exchange earrings (an identical pair, one for each person) instead of rings. The bride wears a woven flower crown and the groom one made of wood sticks and vines. After the ceremony they have a dance (not in partners) with all the guests in which they pass both crowns between everyone. The idea is to pass the flower crown to females only and the vine crown to males only. At the end of the musical piece the persons who end with the crowns are supposed to be the ones to marry next. If the crowns return to the bride and groom at the end of the dance, they're supposed to have bad luck during their married life.

Ferals

• Called a 'mating mark', some races with fangs (particularly canids and felids) will bite each other on their pulse point hard enough to extract some blood and drink it as a mean to further join their souls together, then nurse the wounds gently with their tongue. This works similar to a blood oath, as both will be drinking their partner's blood and making it a part of themselves. Unlike the kiss at the ceremony, this is usually done privately and may or may not be included as part of the wedding night.

Species

• They exchange metal bracelets (the material depends on the family's wealth) instead of rings. To make their marriages legally binding they carry out a blood oath that involves both of them cutting their right palm open with a ceremonial dagger (the pain represents the hard times they'll have in their married life), then placing their hands together (this represents the desire to go through good and bad times together and be there for each other) with the wounds facing each other as a ceremonial rosary is tied around their joint hands to symbolize their everlasting union. After the couple kiss, the rosary is untied, their hands bandaged and the ceremonial dagger is then given to the husband and the rosary to the wife as keepsakes. Though the ritual is often accompanied by a long ceremony, it can be performed quickly if the need arises. To them, a blood oath performed between members of different genders is equivalent to marriage; but if it's performed between members of the same gender it's then considered a vow of alliance between clans.

Ihhuitl Tribe

• At age 12, the girls start wearing a white feather (from a bird known as ?/ fantasy species) on a part of their body (usually the hair) to display their avalaibility as marriage candidates. However, they can only marry when they have turned 16 years old and have completed two important tasks of their choice (e.g. usually a quest which may or may not include knitting a fishnet, hunting, becoming warriors, sewing, etc.) which will award them a colored bead each to place with their feather (this is offered by their mothers, guardians or village chief, among others, depending on circumstances). The men propose by catching a colored bird (but not killing or seriously injuring it since birds are sacred to the tribe and doing such will bring them bad luck) and plucking one feather from them. They offer this feather to the girl and she either accepts or declines based on different criteria (even something as simple as not liking the feather's colors). The male can still try again by getting another feather and repeating the proposal, though is it to note that he can be turned down just as many times; because the women can't be forced into marriage. If the female accepts the feather and thus the proposal, then the couple can be married. On the wedding day, the couple places both feathers in a ceremonial basin that must be filled with the most recent rain water, then the groom takes the colored one to place it on the bride's hair, and the bride gives the male the white feather, which he then presses between his palms (as if praying) to make a wish. The kind of wish must be 'spiritual' (e.g. becoming better at something, more understanding, having a happy life together, kids, health, etc.), and it will be truly granted due to the bird's magical traits. Once done, the white feather will 'magically' change colors to resemble the one given to the bride. The bride then places the feather on the groom's hair and they kiss. After the ceremony has ended, they can wear the feather wherever they like (clothes, weapons; doesn't matter as long as they have it on themselves)