Biblical wedding

Biblical weddings are composed of two distinct parts - the betrothal (Hebrew: erusin) and the actual marriage (Hebrew: nissu'in); the former prohibits the woman to everyone but her husband, and the latter allows them to start a life together.
The Betrothal
In biblical times, betrothals were usually effected simply by purchasing the bride from her father (or guardian). The girl’s consent is not explicitly required by any biblical law; but the arrangements about the marriage, and especially about the purchase price, were made with her father (or guardian).
The price paid for the woman is known by the Hebrew term mohar. The bible gives very little indication of the usual range of value for a mohar. In the Deuteronomic Code, the only value given is that for a woman with whom the groom has already had sexual intercourse, namely a mohar of silver worth fifty shekels (a weight, rather than a specific coin), or by prowess in war. At a similar period in Greece, oxen could be used as the bride-price.
It appears to have been customary in early biblical times for the bride to be given part of the mohar. Gradually, the mohar lost its original meaning of a purchase money, and the custom arose of giving it to the bride rather than the father and of Samson suggest that marriage (nissu'in) could occur at any point after the betrothal (erusin), including immediately afterwards, whenever the groom desires, and a poetic description of the process in the Book of Canticles, the act of marriage is fairly basic, primarily consisting of the groom merely fetching the bride, although for the Israelites (unlike the Arabs) it had developed a festive character suggests that the bride was accompanied by her friends
Scholars think it likely that the marriage processions of the ancient Israelites were accompanied by music - and it was also common for nuts and flowers to be strewn in the groom's path, which implies that signing the contract constituted an act of marriage.
The feasting
In the biblical account of Jacob's marriage, there are mentions of wedding feasts, which are implied to last for a week, implies that this occurred in the house of the groom, after he had fetched the bride; this text is widely regarded as erotic love-poetry, and parts of it might even be constructed from ancient wedding songs. Additional significance thus attaches to the first sexual intercourse, after marriage, between the spouses; in western society, this event is generally known by the euphemistic term consummation. The biblical accounts indicate that such consummation occurred in the household of the bridegroom; as with the adjacent Arabic culture, this was regarded as the most civilised arrangement; although this independence faded in later Arabic society, it remained traditional for the wife to have such a tent on the first night of the marriage, in which the consummation takes place.
Among the Israelites this 'marriage tent' appears to have evolved into a booth (perhaps like a four poster bed with curtains). This is suggested by the cognates of the Hebrew word for a marriage bed ( 'eres ). The word used for alcove, by the masoretic text of this passage, is kubbah, from which the English word alcove itself ultimately derives (via the Arabic al-kobbah), but textual scholars suspect that this occurrence is merely a corruption of the word huppah (the phonetic difference between the words is mainly just voicing); huppah literally means covering, but was used in later Judaism to refer to a symbolic nuptial chamber and of Jacob, indicate that in the early first millennium BC it was sometimes (but not always), these are clearly a morgengabe (a gift given by the groom to the bride, on the morning after the marriage is consummated) wore special clothing during the act of marriage and of Jacob, and Jeremiah, imply that when a bride was in the presence of her groom, she was covered in some way. This lasted from the period before the marriage, until the marriage procession had taken her to the groom's house; in the ancient Septuagint, it is rendered theristron, which refers to a specific light summer garment. Despite the Epistle's contempt for this change, the custom continued to die out. A century before the creation of Islam, only the Jewish brides in Arabia continued to wear a covering after marriage; this apparently resembled the modern Arabic niqab, as it covered the whole face, except for the eyes, and in the accounts of Othniel's marriage to Caleb's daughter, she is given a whole city—Debir—by her father, but these gifts remain the personal property of the bride, and do not pass to the groom.

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