The most important event in the life of our ancestors has always been the wedding. The success of the individual farming enterprise depended heavily upon the character, personal qualities, and work skills of both the bride and groom, and on the initial contributions of their families. Most parents began the search for a prospective spouse for their son or daughter before he or she reached a marriageable age. Markets in nearby towns, pilgrimages, and the various festivities for which people from the region gathered in great numbers all served as good opportunities for such looking about. The house-to-house peddler or itinerant craftsman occasionally served as another helpful source of valuable information.

The most efficient means of securing a suitable partner, however, was to enlist the help of a professional go-between. This was customarily a trustworthy older man known for his wit, eloquence, and a wide range of acquaintances in the area. Once the marriage broker had made a suitable selection of partners and both families had agreed to his choice, it was necessary to arrange the terms of the marriage union -- that is, how much each partner was to bring to the marriage, how much compensation they were to provide siblings if they were to lose their share of the farmstead, what the terms of retirement were to be for the old couple, and the like. The personal feelings of the prospective bride and groom carried little weight-the rule was that parental wishes must be obeyed. Only exceptionally did a child disobey, usually when the partner selected by the parents proved completely unacceptable because of an excessive age difference or some undesirable physical trait.

When both parties came to a mutually satisfactory arrangement, a request was made for the banns to be read in the parish church(es) of the betrothed. After the second banns were read, the first cakes were baked, which were taken around to potential wedding guests. After the third banns were read it was the custom for the invited guests to send some sort of contribution toward the wedding feast. On the eve of the wedding the bridesmaids met at the home of the bride to make garlands for the female participants and to tie rosemary twigs with streamers for the males.

After the church ceremony, the feast was celebrated in the house of the bride and the obligation to arrange for it fell on her parents. As a rule, however, the negotiations with the groom's parents included some arrangement for their contribution – customarily to supply flour and beer.

Before the newlywed bride could join the wedding feast, she took part in the custom of “bonneting” (čepení), during which the bridesmaids replaced her ornamental wedding crown (a symbol of an unmarried girl) with a bonnet. The women tied a veil to the bonnet and bound the bride’s head with an ornamental headband. This arrangement was to be worn by the bride during the entire first year of her marriage whenever she left her home.