This monograph investigates the transformation of wedding customs in a mid-sized German city (Rheine) over the course of the 20th century. Based on archival records and oral interviews with couples married between 1925 and 1991, the author traces the social and ritualistic shifts in practices such as engagement, polterabend (wedding eve), and the main wedding ceremony. It explores how secularization, especially following Bismarck's separation of church and state, has led to a democratization and deprivatization of wedding traditions via civil registry offices. Remberg analyzes transitions in ritual forms, the evolving symbolism of marriage, and the motivations of different generations, mapping the interplay between tradition, modernity, and individual self?expression in matrimonial rituals.