Editing Wedding ring (section)

===Wedding ceremony customs===
[[Image:Placing a wedding ring.jpg|thumb|left|A groom placing a wedding ring on the finger of his bride during a wedding ceremony]]

In several traditions, the [[best man]] or [[maid of honor]] has the duty of keeping track of a couple's wedding rings and to produce them at the symbolic moment of the giving and receiving of the rings during the traditional marriage ceremony. In more elaborate weddings, a [[ring bearer]] (who is often part of the family of the bride or groom) may assist in the ceremonial parading of the rings into the ceremony, sometimes on a special cushion.

In [[Western Christianity]], engagement rings are exchanged during the betrothal rite, while wedding rings are given during the celebration of holy matrimony itself.<ref name="Ac2011">{{cite web |title=Rites Relating to Marriage: A Statement and Resources from The International Anglican Liturgical Consultation |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/42273/ialc_rites_relating_to_marriage_acc-15.pdf |publisher=The International Anglican Liturgical Consultation |access-date=19 September 2021 |language=English |date=2011 |pages=4, 14–15 |archive-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920194542/https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/42273/ialc_rites_relating_to_marriage_acc-15.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Among [[Eastern Orthodox]], [[Eastern Lutheran]] and [[Eastern Catholic]] Christians, the exchange of rings is not technically part of the wedding service, but rather are exchanged at the betrothal. It is always a two-ring set given to her by the priest or by the best man.<ref name="Britannica" /> Unlike most other Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Christian [[Church of Greece]] has recently stopped performing betrothal blessings separately, and now a betrothal ceremony is the initial part of the wedding service. In Greece, the ceremony of betrothal may be performed immediately before the wedding (or "crowning" as it is more properly called), and the actual symbolic act of marriage is not the exchange of rings, but the crowning.

Historically, the wedding ring was connected to the exchange of valuables at the moment of the wedding rather than a symbol of eternal love and devotion, a sign of "earnest money". According to the 1549 edition of the [[Book of Common Prayer (1549)|Book of Common Prayer]]: after the words "with this ring I thee wed" follow the words "This gold and silver I give thee", at which point the groom was supposed to hand a leather purse filled with gold and silver coins to the bride.<ref name=KunzRing>{{cite book | last = Kunz | first = George Frederick | author-link = George Frederick Kunz | title = Rings for the Finger | publisher = J.B. Lippincott Co. | year = 1917 | url = http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/kunz-rings/page_289 | access-date = 8 July 2007 | archive-date = 10 September 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140910195935/http://www.farlang.com/gemstones/kunz-rings/page_289 | url-status = live }}</ref> It is a relic of the times when marriage was a contract between families, not individual lovers. Both families were then eager to ensure the economic safety of the young couple. Sometimes it went as far as being a conditional exchange as this old (and today outdated) German formula shows: "I give you this ring as a sign of the marriage which has been promised between us, provided your father gives with you a marriage portion of 1000 ''[[Reichsthaler]]s''" (approximately {{cvt|20|kg}} of silver).<ref name = KunzRing/>