There are interesting rituals in Imereti, where the marriage was only the decision of the parents. They could marry from the age of 15-16 and as in Khevsureti origin had a big meaning. They would do a research about the family and the relatives of the future son or daughter-in-law. They should not have been relatives, with the same surname, with baptismal bond, neighbours or the followers of different religions.

There was an important person a matchmaker who was a relative of the woman or the man and in most cases was sent from the man’s side. After doing her/his job she/he would get the money for this.

After the approval of both sides there was an engagement and they would decide the date of the ceremony in the church and the wedding. The ring should not have been given to the bride-to-be by the widow or the woman who got married for the second time. Also, the fiancée was restricted to go outside as she did not belong to herself anymore.

When the guest came there was a table laid near the gate and on the table, there was a jug full of wine and this should have been drunk. This tradition was called “emptying the jug”. One of the guests from the groom’s side should have taken this jug on the high tree in the yard and the jug stayed there before the bride entering her father’s house first time after becoming the wife.