Origin story of Why the Groom Stands to the Right at the Altar

People have been getting married for over a thousand years, and one of the hard and fast rules of all time is where the bride and groom stand at a wedding. This partly has to do with a majority of the world's population being right-handed, but this GroomStand.com wedding origin story isn't that simple.

A Wedding History Lesson

Once again, you'll have to look to the Middle Ages to see where this tradition started. After reading about the original groomsmen and the origin of the honeymoon, you should know by now back before we knew the earth was round, we thought it was an awesome idea to trade and sell women with marriage. Every now and then after the groom captured a woman as his bride, her family, or some eager knight in shining armor would come to her rescue before the marriage deed was signed to prevent the woman from becoming the groom's property.

Groom to the Right, Bride to the Left

When standing at the altar, the bride stood to the left to allow the groom free use of his "sword arm," which is his right hand. If any man made it past the line of groomsmen standing guard at the altar, the groom would hold onto his bride with the left hand and would wield his sword with his right against any oncoming attackers.

A wedding should never have to come to this! Remember to choose your groomsmen carefully, and arm them with classic groomsmen gifts like this Stainless Steel Multi-Function Knife and you'll never have to worry about jealous ex-boyfriends trying to take your girl away.

Modern Interpretation

Nowadays, we try to over look the violent history of this tradition with a sugarcoated explanation stating that when the man and women join hands at the altar, it symbolizes their strength and unity, as well as their combined resources they bring to the marriage. (FYI, at traditional Jewish ceremonies, the bride stands to the right, and the groom to the left.)