Wedding Symbolism: How Halloween and Weddings share similar origins 

One is an celebration of a milestone in the life of two loved ones, the other is a holiday known for its costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating.  And while Halloween and your wedding can be equally scary, they actually have a lot more in common than you would think.

Both the celebration of Halloween and a wedding celebration are ancient traditions that have changed and adapted over the years.  Halloween, an ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced "sah-win") had people believing that October 31st marked a day in which the worlds of the living and the dead intersected...and these evil spirits were fought off in many ways.  Certain wedding traditions have the same roots:  The tradition of the Maid of Honor (and Bridesmaids) is thought to have originated from Roman law, which required ten witnesses in order to outsmart evil spirits.  These evil spirits were believed to be present at all marriage ceremonies.  So the Bridesmaids would all dress in identical clothing to the bride and groom, so that the evil spirits would not know who was getting married.
 
The ancient Gaels also wore masks and costumes to appease these spirits.  Not unlike the origin of the veil in some wedding cultures, which was worn by the bride to mask her or cloak her from evil spirits.  It was also a tradition that the groom present a bouquet of flowers and herbs to the bride, in order to fight off these spirits as well.