"Till death do us part." If there is any sentence to document what your philosophy teacher once would have called a "loss of finality", it's probably that one. Some kind of subliminal connotation has it that these five words hardly keep up with the times. Say them, see them, regret them and dismiss them - but don't forget them in front of the altar. Even as customs change, today's weddings are quite traditional affairs. Europeans are still superstitious. And stag parties are a boozy business: tradition through and through.

But joking aside: Some superstitions could really change your life if you just ignored them. Couples in Poland, for example, who want to share the rest of their lives with each other, should make sure their wedding month doesn't have an R in it - and they've got only seven possibilities. Bridal couples who break this simple rule, Poles say, had better save all their money for a nice car or a bigger house instead of an expensive wedding or a honeymoon in the Caribbean - because their marriage is bound to be unhappy anyway. Furthermore: Make sure the Polish bride has counted the number of roses in her bouquet. Because if she's holding an odd number of flowers at the altar, the end is closer than she thinks. So please tell the bridal couple to buy another one unless they want be living alone again by next year.

But there are more ways to predict the future of bride and groom - Europe is creative: For example, it is enough to throw objects in the bride's path when she goes to church to foresee the future. At least, Italians can tell how the marriage will turn out by simply analysing the bride's reactions. Guess what the marriage would be like if she stumbled? Have a try next time you're at a wedding...

For a Latvian bridal couple, the way to church is perhaps not such an arduous road to travel. Here the groom simply carries his bride over a bridge. Once, and another time, and another time... seven times, to metaphorically cross seven bridges to bring them closer together".

In Denmark, people suspect a groom of having other reasons for walking. To stop him

Photo: Lukas Habura/ www.youthphotos.eu

Till death do us part

from taking French leave on his wedding day, they simply cut off the top of his socks. Trimmed this way, he wouldn't get very far, according to tradition. Weird? Maybe. But help is at hand: A wedding suit often comes with an extra pair of socks.

But the best tradition is nothing without its unconventional counterpart. That's what the makers of "BridalBootCamp" must have thought - an English Internet platform with clear strategies to make your body fit into a model-sized wedding dress. It's do or die. Till death do us part.