Giving the Bride Away

In honor of Father’s Day, I did a little research and found the reason why it is tradition for the father to walk the bride down the aisle. It is a little sexist, but the tradition comes from the era when women were owned by men. It is the symbol of transferring the ownership of the bride from her father to her new husband.

Although this can leave a sour taste in your mouth, I believe it can also symbolize the confirmation that the bride’s family trusts the groom to provide, protect, and honor their daughter. A father-daughter relationship is a bond like no other. No one in this world can love a girl more than her father. So it actually quite poetic for the father (or father figure) to walk by his daughter’s side on her big day and to hand her over to her soon to be husband.