The expressions bridal feast, bridal bed, and bridal cake, among other bridal references, all date back to around 1200, when a wedding was a rather boisterous and bawdy affair. The word bridal comes from “brideale,” which was the special beer brewed for the wedding and then sold to the guests to raise money for the newlyweds.
Because of the brideale, weddings were quite rowdy until around the seventeenth century, When the church managed to get a grip on the whole thing.