In ancient Rome, a wedding was a sacred ritual involving many religious practices. In order for the wedding to take place the bride and the groom or their fathers needed to consent to the wedding. Generally, the wedding would take place in June due to the god Juno. Weddings would never take place on days that were considered unlucky. During the wedding the groom would pretend to kidnap the bride. This was done to convince the household guardians, or lares, that the bride did not go willingly. Afterwards, the bride and the groom had their first sexual experiences on a couch called a lectus. In a Roman wedding both sexes had to wear specific clothing. Boys had to wear the toga virilis while the bride to wear a wreath, a veil, a yellow hairnet, chaplets of roses, seni crines, and the hasta caelibaris. All of the guests would wear the same clothes as the groom and the bride. The Romans believed that if bad omens showed up during a wedding it would indicate the couple was evil or unlucky. In order for a marriage to be successful there needed to be no evil omens and everyone must follow the traditional customs.
Clothing
Before the wedding, either boy put away his bulla and toga praetexta, and put on his toga virillis. Boys usually started wearing togae virillis around puberty, or when the boy's parents believed he was sexually mature. The bulla was dedicated to Lares. The girl removed her toga, and put away her childhood toys.
The bride wove the tunica recta herself—a symbolic act, as once she was married, she would be expected to weave her family's clothes. She also wore an infula on the wedding day. For the wedding night, the tunica recta would be tied with a wool belt known as cingulum that represented ferility. It was tied with a knot known as the nodus Herculaneus, or knot of Hercules. This knot may also have symbolized fertility as Hercules had many children. Another possibility is that the belt symbolized chastity. The bride's hair was covered in the seni crines, a wreath and a yellow-red veil called the flammeum. She also wore a yellow hairnet dedicated to the lares; yellow was significant in Roman weddings because it was the color of the flammeum. Her hair was also dressed by the hasta caelibaris ("celibate spear"), who had symbolic power to the Romans. The usage of the hasta displayed the husband's authority over his bride and protected against a troubled marriage. The bridal couple also wore chaplets of roses. The bride's clothes were similar to a priestess' clothing.
All of the marriage's guests wore the same clothes as the groom and the bride, to prevent evil spirits from identifying the wedding couple. As the wedding was a sacred affair, an improperly dressed bride would be an attack on Roman morality and chaste Roman women. To prove to the gods that the wedding was in good faith, many people had to view the bride in her garb.
Organization
The Roman engagement was known as sponsalia. In the sponsalia, the maiden was promised to the groom by her father or her tutor. The promise could be made directly to the groom, but was usually made to the groom's father. As part of the engagement, the groom would place an engagement ring known as the annulus pronubus on the bride's ring finger. This finger was chosen as it was believed that a vein known as the vena amoris connected it directly to the other. During the sponsalia the bride's family would pay the groom dowry.
To promise his daughter to the groom, the bride's father told the groom's father: (or ), (or ) However, the bride's father could cancel the wedding at any time. For a wedding to take place, the bride and groom, or the father in each family, needed to consent. Augustus decreed that if the bride's father did not agree to the marriage, he must provide a reason. Marriage between children was also outlawed. The youngest marriageable ages were fourteen for men and twelve for women. The Romans never practiced polygamy, so both parties had to be unmarried; and the bride and groom could not be related.
The groom chose the wedding date; however, he could not choose any day of the year, as many were considered unlucky. June was the preferred month, as it was the month of Juno, the god of childbirth and marriage. Before the wedding, the bride's family sought the protection of the gods by performing small sacrifices and giving coins to Lares.
The wedding took place at the house of the bride's father. There was a large feast, at which the attendees were served a special cake, a mustaceum, made with grape juice. Augustus limited the cost of these feasts to one thousand sesterces.