How to Plan an Amish Wedding

By eHow Weddings Editor

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Amish weddings are very simple, joyous events that involve the whole community. Guests celebrate the coming together of the young bridal couple to set up their own house and start a family.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Dress Patterns
Amish Wedding Quilts
Chairs
Clocks
Fabrics
Tables
China

Step1

Join the Amish Church if you don't already belong, since this is a prerequisite for an Amish wedding. The church will help you prepare for the seriousness of starting your own home.

Step2

Cement your engagement with china or a clock. Amish women don't wear jewelry, but they appreciate practical gifts.

Step3

Expect your wedding plans to be "published" or announced at the end of a church service, along with the names of other couples who are to be married.

Step4

Plan to be married sometime in November or early December, after the harvest is done.

Step5

Hold your wedding ceremony and reception at the bride's family's house.

Step6

Select a weekday for your wedding. Tuesday and Thursday are popular choices.

Step7

Remember that it takes a day to set up and cook all the food, and a day to clean up afterward.

Step8

Invite all the members of the church to attend.

Step9

Make a new dress for the bride in a practical style she can wear again to church. Any shade of blue is appropriate.

Step10

Ask family or friends to serve as attendants or newehockers (this is Pennsylvania Dutch for side sitters).

Step11

Expect everyone to bring a dish for the wedding meals.

Step12

Select four married couples to serve as forgeher, or ushers, who will greet the guests.

Step13

Arrange to serve two different meals: a midday dinner and an evening one.

Tips & Warnings

The bridal couple usually spend their first night together at the home of the bride's family, then honeymoon by visiting family and friends throughout the winter. They eventually move into the groom's parents' house or into another home on their land.
Saturdays are never used for Amish weddings because it would be sacrilegious to clean up on a Sunday.