“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in her shoe.” Now what in the hell does any of that have to do with a long and happy marriage!?

Let’s dive in to where and when this rhyme came about. It dates back to Victorian England, and it seems to signify the simultaneous hope for continuity and a fresh beginning. “Something old…signifies the desire that the best of the couple’s previous lives…remain with them in the new life to come,” writes wedding historian Susan Waggoner. Meanwhile “something new” is all about the new life the couple will start together. “Something borrowed” is a bit more superstitious, pointing to the idea that borrowing items from a happily married woman will transfer that woman’s good luck onto the new bride. And the color blue is representative of “fidelity and love’s purity”; it was also a popular color to wear prior to the white wedding dress trend. And that sixpence? Well even the Victorians knew that marriage is a heck of a lot easier with ample money.

We love this part of wedding traditions!  I would love to use old family wedding bands has ‘old’. ‘something new’ maybe earrings.  The ‘blue’ a bow kept close to your hart.  ‘something borrowed’  a kiss from you beloved that you will return after you say “I DO!” Many of the items Dawn incorporated into  wedding details can have sentimental attachments to family and friends.

Some brides have utilized this wedding rhyme as a way of honoring those who loved her along the way, sewing a piece of her mother’s wedding dress into her own and inviting her friends to write sweet messages on the bottoms of her shoes with a blue marker.  “A wedding symbolizes being comfortable in both celebrating an ancient tradition and in starting a new future, two intertwined goals that are achieved by the saying ‘something old, something new.’ ” I really dig this interpretation.