wedding ceremony
- noun
- /ˈwɛdɪŋ ˈsɛrəˌmoʊni/
- The wedding ceremony took place in a beautiful garden surrounded by family and friends.
- a traditional wedding ceremony
- a Christian wedding ceremony
- the day of the wedding ceremony
So I performed my sister's wedding ceremony last two weeks ago.
- So I performed my sister's wedding ceremony last two weeks ago.
- He was taken out of the hole to fly to Italy to perform the wedding ceremony at Tom and Katie's wedding.
Examples
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When you plan for the wedding ceremony, be sure that each side provides the same contribution.
Blog text (28) -
You're just in time to be witnesses to a wedding ceremony.
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We're gonna have a big wedding ceremony at the church.
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This wedding ceremony is going to take place in four days.
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At our wedding ceremony, l chose you to be my wife.
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Would you participate in a joint wedding ceremony if all the expenses were paid?
Blog text (13) -
We actually had our wedding ceremony right here and Seth was our spiritual officiant.
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Jerry, George, and Elaine are among a crowd in a church, awaiting the start of a friend's wedding ceremony.
Academic text (1999) -
The wedding ceremony will be surrounded by pomp and circumstance!
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Most Igbos aspire to have both traditional and Christian wedding ceremonies.
Academic text (2001)
Synonyms
A ceremony and celebration where two people get married
A formal event that follows traditional rules for a special occasion
A formal ceremony when two people become married
A formal event where two people promise to be partners
A wedding ceremony where people celebrate a marriage
A formal public ceremony that makes a marriage or other rite official
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a formal event at which a marriage is celebrated' is directly and compositionally derived from 'wedding' (event marking a union) + 'ceremony' (formal event following customs). This combination follows a clear noun+noun compound pattern that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Wedding ceremony comes from the two words wedding, meaning 'getting married', and ceremony, meaning a 'formal set of actions'. Long ago people met to do special steps like vows and ring giving to show a marriage had begun, so wedding ceremony now means a 'formal event' where a marriage is celebrated and vows are exchanged.