In general, wedding is the civil or religious ceremony that celebrates the beginning of a marriage. It is the beginning of a journey that carries along a lot of hopes, dreams and promises. Not all weddings are of the same type. They surely carry the same values but the look of all weddings are never the same.

The look of a wedding differs from place to place. Everybody has their own way of celebrating it. The dress, music and even the decorations may be different. A wedding's particular customs may be different, mixed, or invented so as to perfectly suit the personalities, interests, and cultural backgrounds of the couple.

Marriage to different religions comes with a different meaning. As far as Christianity is concerned, the concept of marriage emerged from the first book of Genesis. The book says, ?it is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable helper for him? (2:18 NIV). God created Adam. He then felt that he was alone and needed a companion. That's when the birth of Eve took place. Most Christian is a strong believer in this concept of creation and also of marriage.

A Christian wedding formally starts off with the announcement. This is a very essential thing. A public announcement has to be made before the wedding. In fact it has to be announced in the local news papers. The church has to be informed three weeks before the wedding. The marriage banns need to be announced three times before the wedding which is done on three consecutive Sundays after the holy mass. Wedding without the announcement of the banns are not always encouraged but this again depends on the church. This is not a rule followed by all the churches. But the ones that do, follow it very strictly. Only in cases of emergency, where the person could not inform before hand or needs to leave the country on the day of the wedding are permitted but with special permission.

Once after they have done with the initial formalities, an announcement for the engagement is made. This is yet again an essential part of a Christian wedding. This is a small ceremony in the presence of the couple's family and friends where both of them exchange rings. Thereafter the reception follows. It could either be a formal dinner, buffet lunch or a cocktail party. Most of the cultures consider the engagement to be the time when the couple spends quality time together to know about each other and learn their interests.

Finally the day of the wedding arrives. Its a day that everyone looks forward to. This is definitely not the first time that the bride and the groom gets to wear a new dress but this is one dress that holds so much importance in their lives. Inside the church, the bride, dresses up in her beautiful white clothes with a crown on her head and the veil dropping down, walks down the aisle along with her father. They walk down to the altar where she is handed over to the groom. This custom is a very essential part of a Christian wedding. There are bride smiths who walk in front of the bride either spreading flowers or holding a bouquet. In most weddings small girls play the role of a bride smith. The wedding ceremony proceeds with the priest addressing the mass. Wedding masses are usually high masses unlike the Sunday ones. The choir gets to the paramount of its rhythm completing the happy picture with the bride and the groom sharing a kiss at the end. In between all this, the videographers and the photographers keep playing their active role, trying to capture every single moment.

The wedding also has the presence of a best man who is the male assistant to the groom and this role is played by the grooms brother or a close friend. He assists the groom throughout the wedding. Similarly it's the bridesmaid who attends to the bride during the wedding. If the bridesmaid is a married woman, she is called the Matron of Honor. Then there is the ring bearer who carries along the ring for the wedding.

Once after the ceremony is over, the bride and the groom goes to sign the register along with one witness from both the sides and they do it in the presence of the priest. Signing of the register is an essential part of a Christian wedding as it strengthens the wedding legally too. The guests are then served the wedding cake which is usually large and mostly is multi-layered. There is a grand grand reception that follows and the wedding remains a long remembered affair among everyone present. And as for the couple, they head off for their honeymoon with nobody around to disturb them.