This is from a post I sent in to a similar discussion in March 2005:
 
I can't say for sure that Virginians followed the standard European
> traditions, but I would imagine they did.  A wedding ring from the
groom
> to the bride is an ancient practice. Wedding rings began to be
routinely
> exchanged in Britain and the continent at least by the 9th century.
>
> I teach European Women's History at Randolph-Macon, and one of the
points
> I drill into my students is that the wedding band may be a symbol of
> eternal (without end) love NOW, but originally, it was a pledge of a
> marriage jointure, or dower, by the groom to the bride in case of his
> early death( land, goods, tools, whatever).  Whether she had sole
control
> over the dower fluctuated by time period and nation, but the ring was
the
> pledge of economic support (the dower), and the exchange was the
official
> ceremony, usually held at the outer door of the church.  Afterwards
they
> may have gone into church and had a mass.
>
> It was not until perhaps the 11th or 12th centuries that the mass
became the official
> part of the wedding, and the ceremony was moved inside the church.
So, it
> would be odd if wedding rings, routinely exchanged back in Britain,
would
> not have been exchanged here in an Anglican ceremony.  As far as
diamond engagement rings go, I
> believe that tradition is relatively recent and still not universal,
even
> in the U.S.
>
> Pat Watkinson
> Library of Virginia / Randolph-Macon College

 
 

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