wedding: [OE] A wedding is etymologically a ceremony at which people ‘promise’ to marry each other. The word’s source, the verb wed [OE], goes back to prehistoric Germanic *wathjōjan (source also of German wetten ‘wager’). This in turn was derived from the noun *wathjam ‘pledge’, which also produced English engage, wage, and wager. => engage, wage, wager
Old English weddung "state of being wed; pledge, betrothal; action of marrying," verbal noun from wed (v.). Meaning "nuptials, ceremony of marriage" is recorded from early 13c.; the usual Old English word for the ceremony was bridelope, literally "bridal run," in reference to conducting the bride to her new home. Wedding ring is from late 14c.; wedding cake is recorded from 1640s, as a style of architecture from 1879. Wedding-dress attested from 1779; wedding-reception from 1856.
