Alright, so we've all seen the marriage that occurred at the end of Season 2, it was fairly simple. But my main question revolves around one of the more traditional aspects: the rings.
During the wedding they place a ring on each other's horns, but what about inter-race marriages, say a unicorn and Pegasi? Or just between Pegasi, or just between Earth Ponies, who can't even wear a ring? I'm asking because in my story an Alicorn is marrying a Pegasus, and it would seem to me that just one spouse giving a ring seems out of place.
And seeing how this is the World Building Alliance, how would other species celebrate their weddings?

1140589
To be honest I've ignored the use of the rings since I find them be placed on the horns rather stupid and silly. In one of the fics that I have outlined I use ear-rings instead, and like out own customs the groom's is simple and plain, and the brides tends to have gem stones (traditionally diamond and their birthstone), in the case of the outline diamond, topaz, and sunstone.

1140589 I'm thinking they give them bracelets to place at their legs to show that they're married if they're not unicorns or alicorns.

1140617 That too.

1140618
Like this?

1140629 Yeah, like that pic. Cute, btw.

1140656
Found it on the MacinTwi group on DA, there is another one that is closer to your idea since it has MAc with the bracelet and Twi with the ring.

Also, there are some fics where ponies practice polygamy and their family being called a herd. Like in Myths and Birthrights and Xenophilia (I haven't read the latter, just read its TVTropes page).

1140662 Cool. I will find the group when I use DA.

1140691
MacinTwi: beware somethings may not be Safe for Woona

In my Equestrian fanon, horn rings are a unicorn thing; specifically, something that the old noble families used to do. Other ponies use bracelets, if they want to share jewelry to commemorate the occasion. Pegasi traditionally exchange feathers, but it's more of a symbolic gesture.

Zebras are big on jewelry in any case, so neck rings, bracelets, ear rings, tail cinches, coronets and so on are frequently shared. (I tend to imagine them as frequently polygamous, as well.)

Griffons, I could see using rings; they have those dextrous talons, after all. And flashy courtship rites and breakneck heroics to impress your chosen one would be right up their alley.

Well, according to Hearts and Hooves Day, earth ponies exchange rings, too. Or at least the bride or fiance gets one. They might have been earrings, of course, or they might actually be horn rings -- yes, even for earth ponies; the custom might have been adopted by earth ponies, especially if the unicorns were once treated as a higher social class.

That they can't wear the rings might be fine with them, since we don't see ponies wearing them in their day-to-day lives anyway. They might be fine with the ring(s) sitting in a box in their nightstand.

Admittedly this could lead to more awkward "I appreciate the attention but I'm married"- moments when ponies go a-courtin'.

It's worth noting that we haven't seen either Shining Armor or Cadence* wearing their respective rings at all since the wedding, despite the fact that they're physiologically capable of doing so. I suppose in pony culture wedding bands just aren't worn around; it seems as though they're a gift specifically associated with the marriage ceremony itself, and if they do play some role afterwards, it's not one that comes up often. Given what Darth Wedgius pointed out about the Hearts and Hooves rings, I would guess that during the ceremony they're either exchanged in little boxes or something similar, or are worn on a slender chain as a necklace of sorts.

*Because that's how the word is spelled, dagnabbit.

1140589 Why would they waste their time with something that is never eternal?

1141141 what do you mean?

1141203 What, that marriage is pointless unless utilized in diplomatic terms?

1141266 are you talking about the alicorn I mentioned or just marriage in general?

1140589

I've always been of the "Bracelets solve everything" school of marriage indicators, for non-unicorns. I've also not been adverse to using wing-base braces for pegasi. And that's just for ponies.

I see Diamond Dogs and Griffins as having rings on particular fingers. Zebras, Donkeys and cows go the bracelet route. Equestrian citizen Changelings use horn rings. Buffalo have bracelets but of preserved plants and turquoise. I'm not sure how dragons would manage that question.

Idea: Instead of rings, specifically, ponies just use jewellery in general. So one couple might use horn rings, while another uses necklaces, and a third uses earrings. Shining and Cadence just happened to choose to both go with horn rings.

The show has numerous examples of married couples in day-to-day life, including Cup Cake and Carrot Cake, Applejack's Aunt Orange and Uncle Orange, Twilight Sparkle's parents, Pinkie Pie's parents, Rarity's parents, Granny Smith's parents, Jet Set and Upper Crust, and of course the aforementioned royal couple when seen in the aftermath of the ceremony and again at the Crystal Empire.
Cross-referencing the complete set suggests that there's just no custom analogous to our use of wedding rings- even in the case of unicorn/unicorn couples where horn rings might be appropriate for exchanging during the ceremony, they aren't consistently worn afterward.

Also, to be quite honest, the use of consistently-worn wedding rings as a signal of "taken" status to other potentially interested parties may simply not have relevance in Equestria. Horses in nature tend to form polygamous non-exclusive groupings for procreation and cohabitation purposes, and I've seen similar approaches taken to pony romance in fanfic, whether as something practiced by central characters or simply discussed as a possibility. I like this interpretation of Equestria; it feels like a natural extension of both the three tribes' equine heritage and their culture's emphasis on friendship, mutual benefit, and the common good. Why lock yourself out of being happy with any given pony (and them out of being happy with you) just because they weren't the first to inspire that kind of commitment from you?

I like the idea of just exchanging a piece of jewelery between mares and stalions.

However I want to deviate from cannon here, I think that a handfasting is better for ponies. I also like an ancient tradition where a holy person ties a white cord around the (in this case) left hooves of the couple.

I know I'm weird, but I think that that type of ceremony works better for when the ponies are not the same type. They all have hooves and the ritual is no less special for having a cord symbolically tie-ing them together, instead of exchanging jewelery.

Unicorns and alicorns-horn rings
Griffins-rings, joyful flights in the sky, and combat but for fun, where the groom must overpower the bride. Both know exactly how far they can go without causing serious harm
Earth ponies-bracelets
Changelings-a wrapped pony as a love-gift.

1141414 In general.

1145355 that's pretty grim.

1145660 No it's not. Observe every relationship and you'll understand.

1145671 you honestly think that marriage in general is a waste of time? To me that sounds pretty grim, if you have no confidence of finding someone you could spend your life with. Or that anybody could find someone they want to spend their life with. I understand that a lot of marriages don't work, but no one cares about the ones that do. Ah well, conflicting opinions I suppose.

1145796 Find someone to spend my life with? What purpoe would that serve? True love doesn't exist, and no relationship has ever been eternal. I can give you the three reasons why tru love doesn't exist to prove my point. No need to start going into aggressive mode. (I'm anticipating. I always get aggressive comments when I 'talk' about this)

1145937

Swiggity sweason, what're the reasons?

1147199 None, oh bearded glasses.

1147292

I heard tell of three reasons as to why true love doesn't exist. Was I mistaken? :(

1147292

1147361 Ah. I misunderstood. "True love" is only these three things: Sexual tension and a fear of solitude, with an advantage to be had behind the relationship if these two things aren't taken into account.

1147380

This sounds like a big claim to make. What's your evidence for it?

1147557 Every relationship ever. I've had other people in the neighborhood as an example (because they spread what they shouldn't around), people in my school, and so on and so forth. It's really pointless to think otherwise.

1150110

You're... using people you know at school as evidence that all love is sexual tension, fear of solitude, or an attempt at gaining advantage?

Well, uh, yeah? If you're speaking about people at that point in life, there aren't many other reasons for relationships to start up (though that doesn't necessarily preclude actual romance from showing itself, on occasion). That seems more like a faulty sampling pool than evidence that true love can be boiled down to a set of selfish concerns. You're going to have a lot of trouble making an effective claim that true love is a falsehood if it's built on "Well, all the people I know..."

It's a misuse of anecdotal evidence, y'know?

1150708 And other people I don't know about. You didn't even read the whole comment. Everytime there is a marriage, there is a divorce in three years 'cause the couple gets bored in a matter of months. If true love existed, then divorce would not, now would it?

1150730 These generalisations of yours really are very amusing.

1150755 He's called 'Psychopath' for a reason.

Anyway,

1150730 Actually, true emotional love do exist. Families and (real) friends, for example. And there are more successful families than you think, you know.

1150730

That's a pretty hardcore generalization. Yeah, divorce exists, but so do rabid dogs. Nobody's arguing that all dogs are rabid, are they?

That's... sort of what you're doing here with saying divorce disproves love in marriage.

Anyway, the fact that some people get divorces is not evidence for a claim that love doesn't exist. Your claim that every marriage ends in divorce in three years is also pretty faulty... Because, y'know, that's factually not true. There are lots of marriages out there that last significantly longer than three years -- and some even last until one or both partners die (hence "'Til death do us part").

In fact, getting a divorce isn't even evidence that you never loved the other person in a first place. Loving someone once is not a commitment to love them forever. It is possible to love someone and to stop loving them ten years down the line, because love is complex like that and you aren't bound at the hip to your feelings for another human being. The concept of "soul mates who are bound to love each other forever and ever" is roooughly as faulty as saying "true love doesn't exist. Period."

---

But this discussion is drifting rather heavily from the original topic. Suffice it to say that marriage and love exist, at least within the confines of the fictional world of Equestria, as demonstrated by canon. You're free to believe that it doesn't outside of that, but if you don't, that isn't reason on its own to take issue with a supposedly fictional concept as expressed by two fictional entities (neither of which are human and therefore necessarily subject to generalist claims about human emotion).

Well now that's over with...

1141532 Could be onto something with the idea of it just being a general token rather than a particular piece of jewellery. Rings were a relatively recent innovation and were originally just a European one at that. Even in mosst european marriages until relatively recently there wasn't an exchange of rings, and any tokens exchanged on the day of the wedding were a temporary part of the ceremony rather than something permanently work. In the old roman traditions on which our idealised wedding ceremonies are based, as much emphasis was placed on clothing and ceremonial form as on any particular token. They often sang songs.

1150820 No they don't. Too much proof suggests otherwise.

1150843 Oh? But I thought that true love was supposed to define loving eachother forever. You're saying yourself that the couple can get bored with eachother and would separate afterwards. It's not complexity. It's sexual tension.

1150969 I've seen people who were still madly, passionately in love with one another years after a divorce but who couldn't stay together because of any number of reasons. I've seen people who stay together their entire lives and love one another the day they die as much as they did when they first met.

You make a generalisation, a statement that true love doesn't exist, and go on to treat your generalisation as axiomatic. Axioms are disproved by single instances of contradiction. I can name two off the top of my head. I can name a dozen more if I spend a few minutes thinking about it.

You're generalising from a very narrow set of circumstances. You also appear to be rejecting contradictory evidence out of hand, which is a sign that you are in denial about the nature of your experience.

As the man says, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Your claim that "love" is just "sexual tension" in all instances - that your statement is axiomatic - is an extraordinary claim. Unless you can provide evidence that every single relationship in the world is "just sexual tension", stop talking.

1150969

You didn't even read the whole comment.

1150905

Alternatively, ring exchange might be a fashion particular to Canterlot royalty (which would make a certain amount of sense if one considers the dominance of unicorns and alicorns in Canterlot).

1151044 Sexual tension, fear of solitude, or an advantage to be had behind the relationship. I never had the experience because I never wanted to. Not once have I ever felt that emotion, but I never generalized because of the abscence of that emotion in myself. I tend to observe and analyze my surroundings before judging, and I have had enough of observing something as inexistant as "true love".

1151128 Thus, Psychopath = someone who lacks empathy.

/argument.

Anyway, 1150905 in your story, (which I haven't read, just TVTropes) pony families are generally called a herd? Apart from polygamy and being matriarchal, what is the difference between a human family and a pony family?

1151432 Uhhh, you don't even know my OC. "The Psychopath" is a nickname he gave himself because his real name really is "Psycho". He has a bit too much empathy :/ . Yes. I like to do contradictions and things that don't make sense.

1151437 I was talking about you, actually. You said about not feeling any love to anyone. /argument

1151452 TRUE LOVE. Unconditional, such as family love, or love for one's pets, or, as some would call it "Bro-love" for your friends, I can feel.

1151432 Well now, that's a tough one, because it can get a bit arcane if I'm not careful. Um... semi-communal raising of offspring, no real concern over who might be the father of a particular foal, a sort of soft hierarchy amongst the mares descending from a lead mare, who was usually the first to court a stallion. Ceremonial marriage is usually an arrangement between families for political reasons but a herd can carry out an informal wedding of sorts if they want to strengthen their ties. I guess those are the major differences.

1151479 As much as I would love to continue this debate, I think we should stop, we're cluttering the thread.

PS: Marriage gives family love too, you know.