Wedding Band Question

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maria_rose

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I Hope You Guys May Know The Answer.
Why Do People Who Marry Within The Catholic Church In The United States Wear Their Wedding Bands On The Left Hand, While People In Europe, Especially Germany Where I Am Originally From, Wear Their Wedding Bands On The Right Hand If Married In The Catholic Church. Any Ideas?
 
Interesting question! You said that those who marry in Europe in the Catholic Church wear their wedding rings on the right hand. Do those who marry in other ceremonies in Europe also wear their rings on the right hand? I’m just wondering if it has nothing to do with the Catholic Church but is simply the way it’s worn in other countries.
 
My advisor is British and married his wife (also British) in a civil ceremony while they were still in the UK. He wears his ring on the left hand.

Of course, it could be a continental thing. 🤷
 
What I have heard it orignates from the concept that on the left hand there was supposedly a vein of love (vena amoris) that people believed existed, a vein that runs directly to the heart. Wearing the band on this hand & finger is a symbolic connection/reflection of the marital bond the two have.

In the US Catholics use the left hand because that is the larger cultural norm, probably extending from either the countries they came from (since the custom varies for Catholics around the world) or wanting to fit in if they were minorities in a nonCatholic area.

universalfacts.blogspot.com/2005/09/why-wedding-ring-is-worn-on-third.html --you might like this it goes over the history of wedding ring & how it’s worn. Also, covers that the vein of love is not scientifically sound even if it is romantic:)

Anyway, hth!
 
Also - In some cultures, after a woman becomes a widow she will move her wedding ring from her left hand to her right hand. Not sure if that is done very much any more, but of my grandmother’s generation some did it (she’s 87 and of Polish heritage).

~Liza
 
maria_rose said:
I Hope You Guys May Know The Answer.
Why Do People Who Marry Within The Catholic Church In The United States Wear Their Wedding Bands On The Left Hand, While People In Europe, Especially Germany Where I Am Originally From, Wear Their Wedding Bands On The Right Hand If Married In The Catholic Church. Any Ideas?
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click on format, case, and toggle out of Title Case please.
there are several 19th c novels I can think of by American writers where the groom places the ring on the right hand of the bride, sometimes on the 1st or 2nd finder, sometimes on the ring finger, so I think it is probably just a custom that varies with time, place and possibly ethnicity.
 
click on format, case, and toggle out of Title Case please.
Click to expand...
Good advice, but then I would also ask the member who posted that advice to use capital letters when beginning all sentences. It is just as difficult to follow. 😉
 
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