Jewish weddings had three stages. First was betrothal, which took place at least a year before the wedding celebration. This could not be broken except by divorce. When Joseph first learned that Mary was pregnant with Jesus, they were betrothed and so he sought to divorce her for unchastity (Matt. 1:18-19 ). The second phase was the procession, where the groom and his friends would go to the bride’s house and joyously lead her and her friends back to his house. The third stage, which is described in our text, was the wedding feast, which could last for as long as a week. It was a major social event for the community.