The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took place on Saturday 19th May at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The fifth in line to the British throne became engaged to the American former actress in November last year and the union of Harry and Meghan has brought Britain and America together – although they remain two nations divided by a common language! Join us for an exploration of wedding vocabulary and words related to engagements as we await the royal wedding.
Vocabulary related to weddings and engagements
Clarence House announced the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Monday 27th November. The couple married on Saturday 19th May 2018 at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and have been declared the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The wedding was a spectacular and memorable event, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Guests were treated to a lovely service featuring the American preacher Michael Curry and a gospel choir.
Many star names were also at the event, including Oprah Winfrey, tennis player Serena Williams, musician Elton John, actor Idris Elba, former British prime minister John Major, the Beckhams and of course the Queen and all the royal family.
With the engagement announced in November and the royal wedding in the spring, this gave plenty of time for teachers to plan a suitable royal wedding EFL lesson!
The marriage of Harry and Meghan brings British and American English head to head within the royal family. The news has also brought wedding and engagement vocabulary to the forefront of many English language lessons.
We have collected together some wedding vocabulary and words and phrases related to engagements and marriage to help students with this vocabulary and give teachers some ideas.
This is the perfect time to explore British wedding traditions and learn some new words!
Engagement Vocabulary and Phrases
The couple are engaged
The couple have got engaged, the couple became engaged, the couple were engaged
They announced their engagement
Prince Harry has proposed to Megan Markle
He proposed to her / she proposed to him
She accepted his proposal / he accepted her proposal
He went down on one knee (traditionally, the person proposing kneels on the ground on one knee, often holding an engagement ring)
- Traditionally, the onus is on the man to propose to the woman. The only ‘accepted’ time for a women to propose to a man was on a leap day. (A leap year is a year with 366 days – this happens once every four years and February 29th is the ‘leap day’). These days it is much more common for women to propose to men – and we are sure many men are happy to relinquish the responsibility!
He asked for her hand (in marriage) – old fashioned way of saying ‘he proposed’ (‘giving her hand’ refers to the man putting the engagement ring on the woman’s finger)
My fiance / fiancee – the person you are engaged to (the person you have agreed to marry)
My intended – old fashioned way of saying fiance / person you are going to marry
The engagement happened in London.
The engagement was announced in The Times (traditionally, an engagement is announced in the newspaper – The Daily Times is a famous, high quality English newspaper)
They got engaged in London.
They were engaged in London.
She tried on the engagement ring.
She wore a diamond engagement ring.
Hen night / hen do – a party thrown for the bride-to-be by her friends before the wedding
Stag night /stag do – a party thrown for the groom-to-be by his friends before the wedding
- Traditionally, hen nights and stag nights were one night only, usually the night before the wedding day. But modern events often take place a while before the wedding day and can last for more than one night – they can often last whole weekends and some groups even go away on holiday.
Wedding Vocabulary and Phrases
Weddings have lots of related words and expressions, in addition to many special traditions. Here is some common vocabulary related to weddings and marriages:
Marriage – the legal union of two people in marriage / a personal relationship
Wedding – the marriage ceremony and celebration
Marriage licence (the licence couples have to obtain before being legally allowed to marry)
To get married / to marry / to wed (more informal)
To walk down the aisle (in a Church wedding, the bride walks down the aisle towards the altar where the groom is waiting to get married)
Wedding dress (special dress worn by the bride for the wedding)
Wedding ring (ring worn by the bride and groom after they are married – usually gold worn on the fourth finger of the left hand in the UK)
Reception – the party that follows the wedding, traditionally involving a meal, speeches and dancing
First dance – bride and groom’s first dance at the reception, which then traditionally opens up the dance floor to everyone else
Wedding party (the main people at the wedding – bride, groom, bridesmaids, best man)
Wedding cake –a special cake served at a wedding reception
Speech – a talk
- Traditionally, the best man and the father of the bride give a speech at the reception. The father of the bride talks about the bride, while the best man talks about the groom. The speeches are often humorous. In modern weddings, other people in the wedding party often also give speeches, such as the bride and bridesmaids.
To give a speech
Bride (the woman getting married)
Groom (the man getting married)
Bridesmaids (female companions/supporters of the bride – bridesmaids can be children. The bridesmaids usually wear matching dresses, which are different from the bride’s dress)
Page boy (male companion/supporter of the bride – a page boy is a child)
Maid of honour (female companion/supporter of the bride – the maid of honour is usually an adult)
Best man (male companion/supporter of the groom – the best man is usually an adult)
Tuxedo (man’s special suit with long jacket)
Top hat and tails (a traditional outfit worn by a man at a wedding consisting of a tall hat and a tail coat)
Bouquet – collection of flowers held in the hands
- During the reception of a traditional British wedding, the bride throws her bouquet over her shoulder into a waiting group of unmarried women. Superstition dictates that the woman who catches it will be the next to get married!
2. A bridge throwing the bouquet to the waiting party
Corsage – small bouquet of flowers worn on the clothes or wrist (usually for women)
Buttonhole – flower worn in the buttonhole of a jacket (usually for men)
Newly weds – people who have just married
‘Just married’ – the car in which the couple drive away after the wedding often has a ‘just married’ sign in the window or on the car!
Honeymoon – a special holiday taken by people who have just married
Phrases and slang related to weddings and marriage
to tie the knot / tying the knot – to get married / getting married / to marry
getting hitched – getting married
to get spliced – to join together (in marriage)
walking down the aisle – getting married (referring to the aisle in a church that the bride walks down towards the altar and her husband-to-be)
getting tied down – taking on a big commitment, often used to talk about marriage in a negative way, implying marriage is restrictive to freedom
trouble and strife – ‘wife’ in cockney rhyming slang
save the date! – keep the date free for the special occasion (i.e. the wedding)
taking the plunge – making the decision to do any important or courageous act (like getting married!)
the big day – the day of an important event, often used to describe a wedding day
the blushing bride – an alliterative phrase often used to describe a happy bride
mixed marriage – marriage between people of different cultures/religions/skin colours
open marriage – marriage that is not monogamous (the wife and husband might have other partners outside the marriage)
shotgun wedding – a wedding that happens quickly
- Often, a ‘shotgun wedding’ happened when the woman was pregnant, as it used to be frowned upon to have a baby outside marriage (due to patriarchal culture wanting women to be formally attached to a man first)
wedded bliss – happy marriage
a happy union – often used to describe a happy marriage
Share your thoughts on weddings and engagements
Are you excited about the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle?
Do you enjoy going to weddings? Do you find them fun/romantic/boring?
What is your favourite part of a traditional wedding day? (Perhaps the cake!)
Would you try to catch the bouquet – or try to avoid it?
Do you like long engagements or are they a waste of time?
Is the concept of marriage still relevant today? Should marriage be replaced with something else?
How do traditional weddings in your home country differ from traditional British weddings?
Can you think of any more useful wedding vocabulary for an EFL lesson?
Attributions
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Christmas Day 2017 by Mark Jones [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
- By Big Ben in Japan (Bouquet toss 3) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons