The wedding series, part two: The Aisle

I've never quite understood why the groom waits for the bride to be walked down the aisle by her father, or whoever else is giving her away. I mean, I understand it, but that doesn't mean I don't think it's antiquated and ridiculous. I would imagine that the symbolism is completely meaningless given the situation in which today's couples and their families enter into marriage. If the couple is already living together, what's the point of acknowledging that the bride is being given away? Why not give her away when she goes to college?

So my idea is to be creative and generate a far more accurate symbolic approach. If the couple is shacking up, let them walk down the aisle together as the team they already are. If that's too far fetched, have the bride walk down alone with the father behind her, so everyone knows he approves, but this is her decision. Basically, just don't feel constrained to do it the same everyone else always does it. It's ridiculous. I think you could work in the two families melding too. Like have the two sets of parents or main parental figures, walk down behind the couple and then split to go to their respective sides.

My experience with weddings is pretty run of the mill, but I did go to a pagan-type thing where we had to acknowledge the four directions and there was chanting and all that. And even there the bride was given away. I would be pissed if I were a girl. About a lot of things, but especially about the notion that someone needed to hand me over to someone else. That's lame. And again, it's steeped in tradition that barely even matters anymore.