Groom wraps a wineglass in a napkin and stomps on it at the end of the ceremony. This may be a dumb question but…does this ever happen at anything but a Jewish wedding?
I don’t believe so. It’s a Jewish custom of uncertain origin.
Stomping on the wine glass is clearly symbolic of . . . something.
The story you’re not supposed to know is it originated in purely sexual symbolism.
The preferred story is that it’s an act that’s totally irreversible and non-undoable, just as a getting married is an irreversible and non-undoable act before God.
(I learned this from by brother, who I think has studied some Jewish history of this sort.)
I have seen it at secular weddings where the groom was Jewish. I’ve heard a number of stories of the symbolism, but even the obvious sexual one still includes the idea of irreversibility.
Everybody has their own ideas regarding the symbolism: you don’t need to be a profound philosopher.
For some, it’s symbolic of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
For others, it’s just be a nice little symbol of the sadness that inevitably comes in life–because sometimes, after your cup runneth over, it gets horribly mangled. 
But there’s one thing that everybody agrees on: it makes such a wonderful crunchy sound!
After the formal and somewhat somber tone of the ceremony, that crashing footstomp and crackling sound of breaking glass makes the perfect counterpoint ending, and brings a smile to every face in the room. That’s the moment when the musicians turn up the music.
For the OP’s question: There may be a similarity to Russian (Scandinavian ? )culture, where people let out a cheer of “Skol!” and throw their wineglasses into the fireplace.
Breaking stuff is fun, and adults don’t normally have much opportunity to do it.
Wikipedia is your friend.
It was done at my daughter’s (largely secular) (groom from mostly-lapsed Jewish family) wedding.
This. Though apparently a Rabbi from the wiki link Keeve posted thinks we’re all having too much fun, and it should be more like “sniff sniff sob Mazzl… wail! mazzle gnash teeth apply ashes, change into sackcloth wedding clothes …tov… rend hair :(:(:(:(” :rolleyes:
Frequently these days is it no longer a real wine glass, but a lightbulb, for ease of smashing purposes. It breaks more easily and as I understand it, the odds of a random shard puncturing the groom’s foot as much less. Although I understand some more traditional couples eschew this? Anyway, many venues STRONGLY SUGGEST the use of a lightbulb or something less potentially-lethal than a wineglass.
Lightbulbs were reportedly a common substitute in concentration-camp weddings.
While using a piece of restaurant-grade stemware might be hazardous, there are extremely fragile - even frangible - wine glasses and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are even special ones for this purpose.
There are; I’ve seen them at Jewish weddings. The cups were wrapped in a cloth napkin before the stompings, for safety purposes.
Some classic movie scenes of toasts show the participants throwing the glasses into the fireplace or out the window after suitably commemorating the person being toasted. The meaning is apparently that the glasses can never again be used for a lesser purpose than honoring their memory.
You’re misunderstanding it.
Note the phrases “be tempered” and “calm things down”. No one is suggesting sackcloth. But indeed, too much of a good thing - even fun - can be no good, and this custom was originally designed to help prevent the crowd from going too far.
Actually, I’m reacting to the very last paragraph in the piece, which goes a bit further than “tempering”:
I’ll cop to employing hyperbole, though.
Not to hijack any further, but there’s a story about some minor Soviet official who pestered his way into permission to use a tea set of Catherine the Great’s for some function. A guest accidentally dropped one cup, and the other guests, misunderstanding, all smashed theirs in response.
As long as you got an I-9, you should be okay.
Actually not. I knew it happened at Jewish weddings. What I didn’t know is if it is a custom adopted anywhere by nonJewish people. Say at an Episcopalian wedding where the groom is a really nonobservant Jew.
Friends of mine did this at their ceremony. It was non-denominational, the officiant was a Unitarian minister. AFAIK neither of them have any Jewish heritage or other strong connection to Judaism. If they do they’ve never mentioned it otherwise.
I never actually asked why they added it.
Thanks, that is the kind of thing I was wondering.