# Anybody get carried over the threshold as a bride?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 16, 2005, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457 "2005-10-16T09:35:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/1 "2005-10-16T09:35:27Z")

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I didn’t get carried over the threshold after my honeymoon, nearly three decades ago, for three reasons.

1. As a feminist, I felt the practice came from old traditions of kidnapping the bride.

2. It was my house–that is, the place I had bought before I even thought about getting married, and so it just seemed wrong; it seemed if anything like I should carry him over the threshold, and no way.

3. I am not sure he had the strength. (And no, not because I was too heavy!)😃

Now I’m wondering if I missed out on a small but solid tradition. Does anybody still do this? Did anybody ever do this?

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/2 "2005-10-16T10:54:02Z")

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I think we may have once, but I honestly can’t remember if it was to celebrate getting married or moving into our first apartment together (events that were 3 years apart). The awkward layout of the entranceway made it hard to pull off in a romantic fashion.

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/3 "2005-10-16T11:55:30Z")

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yeah, right… 2 & 3 from the OP applied in my case as well. Plus it’s not like we had the traditional wedding and reception and honeymoon and all that. We eloped during lunch hour, then went home after work. Wouldn’t that have been a sight - us in our work clothes, him trying to carry me through a narrow doorway. :eek:

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/4 "2005-10-16T12:42:57Z")

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> [@FairyChatMom](#):
>
> Wouldn’t that have been a sight - us in our work clothes, him trying to carry me through a narrow doorway. :eek:

Well, that’s a pretty good description of what we did. Really, it was more romantic humor than tradition.

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**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/5 "2005-10-16T12:54:21Z")

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Yes 😃

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**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/6 "2005-10-16T14:39:32Z")

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Yes, sort of.

The photographer had him pick me , wedding dress and all (very full skirt, BTW) and head out of the reception hall’s door as a photo op type thing.

It was all very silly and somewhat odd. I have the pic–and when I look at it, I say, look, there we are–at the recption hall.  
:rolleyes:

I didn’t really consider the feminist implications of said act. I must say that back in the day, I enjoyed being picked up by my then fiance–we wrestled alot (no smackdown stuff, obviously). To each his own.

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**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/7 "2005-10-16T15:05:29Z")

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Nope. He’s carried me around the house and all, but we were both so freaking tired after our long flight back from our honeymoon that it was all he could do to carry some luggage through the door. I certainly wouldn’t have expected him to heft me over the threshold, too.

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**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/8 "2005-10-16T15:34:37Z")

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Yup! I seven months pregnant, yet still in a voluminous white dress, and **Bluesman** manfully picked me up and managed to cram me through our narrow doorway into our tiny apartment. As **FairyChatMom** says, it was more for the romantic humor than anything else.

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**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/9 "2005-10-16T15:52:04Z")

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We eloped as well, and I had actually completely forgotten about that tradition. Still, it was a most welcome surprise when my brand-new husband picked me up and, like others have said, basically crammed me through the doorway of the apartment we were living in at the time. Yes, it was for the romantic humor, but we also did so many things in a nontraditional way, that having this little bit of corny tradition makes me smile.

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**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/10 "2005-10-16T16:29:44Z")

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I was 6 months pregnant – Kevin said he would carry me over the threshold only if he could make two trips.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/11 "2005-10-16T16:36:16Z")

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We eloped, but I carried my wife over the threshold. Well, I kinda wrapped my arms around her, told het to jump in the air, and pivoted her over the threshold. But the idea was there! 😃

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**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/12 "2005-10-16T16:56:35Z")

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Yes, he carried me into our flat when we got back from honeymoon. We’ll have been married for a month on Monday.

For us it wasn’t really a big deal, and since I’m small he spends a fair amount of time carrying me around the flat anyway, so it’s not like it was a physical hardship.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/13 "2005-10-16T21:50:06Z")

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I carried Deb into the apartment. (I made her climb the stairs to the door on her own.) But as noted by **Lucretia** , the event was intended as humor rather than a serious statement of any sort. If I ever decide to make a sign of commitment, I’ll probably try to invent a ritual for our 25th anniversary in three years, other than that, I’m not committing to nothing.

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**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/14 "2005-10-16T21:59:55Z")

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> [@irishgirl](#):
>
> Yes, he carried me into our flat when we got back from honeymoon. We’ll have been married for a month on Monday.

I knew you were planning your wedding, but somehow missed that it had occurred! Congratulations!

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**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/15 "2005-10-16T22:08:29Z")

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Yes, although it was already my house. I also got carried over the threashold into the hotel room for the honeymoon.

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**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/16 "2005-10-16T22:09:17Z")

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Didn’t do it with **Loopydudette** , I’m afraid, for a reason cited above: Exhaustion. We were just too drag-ass dog tired after the reception was over for rituals nobody would ever see anyway. We went and rented this bridal suite in an expensive B&B in a neighboring town months in advance, thinking the postnuptials were gonna be all hot&sweaty fun, but HAH! AH-HAHAHAH! NO! We staggered in at like 11:30PM after having helped clean up our _own damn wedding_\*, dropped our bags, yanked the formalwear off like we were sleepy toddlers, and fell into a deep coma for ten hours. We woke up in time for the chambermaids to kick us out.  
\*We thought a wedding ought to have that “personal touch” so we planned a 120+ person extravaganza completely by ourselves. NEVER DO THIS. Save up to hire a wedding planner, or elope. You have been warned.

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**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/17 "2005-10-17T06:41:19Z")

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I carried my bride over the threshold at the hotel we stayed in after the wedding. It went something like this.  
She’s at the hotel door and I’m down the hall with the bags.

Me: Stop, I need to carry you.  
Her: No Seven. I just want to get out of this damn dress.  
Me: Nope. Sorry. You’re being carried because if I don’t our marrage will fail and it will be all your fault.  
Her: I’m unlocking the door now.  
Me droping the bags and running at her down the hall: Damnit woman. Don’t make me beat you on your wedding night.  
Her opening the door and mockingly putting one foot over: You’ll never make it in time.  
Me picking her up: Got you!  
Her: Put me down.  
Me: Bwa-ha-ha  
Her: Giggle  
Me: Giggle

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**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2005, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-get-carried-over-the-threshold-as-a-bride/326457/18 "2005-10-17T09:12:34Z")

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Sorry to hijack: Thanks **Kyla** …if you’d like to see some photos  
[http://photobucket.com/albums/b248/katiecairnsirishgirl/](http://photobucket.com/albums/b248/katiecairnsirishgirl/)
