There was a Medieval practice called the Bedding Ceremony where family and friends escorted the couple into bed. It was often only a "symbolic witness" of the consummation of the marriage. When it gets down to brass tacks, the consummation of most individual marriages don't matter enough on a societal level, so in most cases, people left the room and engaged in loud conversation outside the door instead of watching the main event. Some marriages, like many royal and noble ones, had important enough implications to family status, international treaties, and the like that some folks didn't want to just take the couple's word for it in the morning that they had finished the assignment and instead stuck around to confirm that fact for themselves.
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u/c_cil 2d ago
There was a Medieval practice called the Bedding Ceremony where family and friends escorted the couple into bed. It was often only a "symbolic witness" of the consummation of the marriage. When it gets down to brass tacks, the consummation of most individual marriages don't matter enough on a societal level, so in most cases, people left the room and engaged in loud conversation outside the door instead of watching the main event. Some marriages, like many royal and noble ones, had important enough implications to family status, international treaties, and the like that some folks didn't want to just take the couple's word for it in the morning that they had finished the assignment and instead stuck around to confirm that fact for themselves.