10 Fascinating Wedding Traditions from Around the World

Connecting with all five senses in the Andes Mountains of Peru

“Traditional Andean weddings take place outdoors, and are meant to elicit the natural world. At each ceremony, a small offering is given to Pachamama—a Mother Earth goddess, revered in Andean culture,” explains global wedding experts, Alex Pelling and Lisa Gant, whom have gotten married 71 times, in 65 countries, during the last five years, including in the Andes Mountains of Peru. The Pellings’ Andean wedding was illustrative of local customs. The bride and groom entered a garden from opposite sides, to represent the coming together of people from different villages. A shaman awaited their arrival, while chanting a blessing. There was also intense, rhythmic music playing. “There was a scent of burning herbs, and the shaman poured oil down the backs of our necks, to elicit physical sensation. Everything that occurs at an Andean wedding ceremony is designed to overwhelm the senses—sight, hearing, touch, scent, all of it. The ceremony is not just someone talking to you, about your union,” he explains. The Pellings gave offerings to each other, and buried a joint offering to Pachamama, which is meant to be there waiting for her, underground, until the end of time.