Making Old Traditions New With "a Silver Sixpence in Your" Shoe

Making Old Traditions New With "a Silver Sixpence in Your" Shoe

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a silver sixpence in your shoe." 

There countless wedding traditions that have developed over time, cross cultures, been combined, redefined, and made anew with each new bride that says I do (did you enjoy my rhyming?). Most people remember -at least vaguely- the tradition of having something old, new, borrowed and blue at the wedding, but they forget the whole "silver sixpence in your shoe" ending. While putting a large coin in your shoe may not sound so appealing in term of comfort walking down the aisle in already hard to walk in heels, the old-new-borrowed-blue tradition truly is incomplete without it. Each item of the old-new-borrowed-blue are meant to be tokens of luck and wishes gifted to the bride on her wedding day and each item has its own individual significance: including the sixpence. 

The something old is meant to be a symbol of the past moving forward or looking to the future. Then, the something new is representative of the new life the bride and groom are starting together, and the something borrowed is meant to represent borrowing happiness. Next, the something blue is symbolic of  good fortune and fidelity, and finally, the sliver sixpence is meant to encourage and wish prosperity on the couple. 

Contemporary brides are known to pick and choose which wedding traditions to uphold based on what is most important to them, but if you want to uphold the old-new-borrowed-blue traditions(and yes I am aware that I am ironically leaving it out in my coining of the title to represent it), then you really ought to include the sixpence in your shoe in some form or fashion. You don't necessarily need to put it in your shoe either. A lot of brides will have it sewn in to the hem of her wedding dress or attached to her bridal bouquet. There have been other modifications from the sixpence to using a lucky penny, a minted coin, or an old coin from the country of the bride's ancestry. 

Wedding traditions, like the sixpence, are a fun way to include cultural traditions and to take a look at your own past and future. You do not need to be boxed in by tradition, but can instead make it your own. By doing so, you may even be paving the way of new traditions for brides to come.