“We had no rain plan, so hiring an Etsy witch was a no-brainer,” she says. “On the day of the wedding, it started out a little gloomy, then we had clear skies - not too hot, not too cold, a slight breeze - everything we could have wanted. Everyone will be getting an Etsy witch as their wedding gift from me moving forward.”
Whether Briana truly believed a spell could change the forecast almost feels beside the point. Weddings are an unusual exercise in control: couples spend months - sometimes years - carefully planning every detail of the day, only for some of the biggest variables to remain entirely beyond their influence.
One witch who casts good-weather spells says she receives hundreds of orders every month. “The brides are doing what they can to have a perfect day,” she explains. “Many elements of a wedding aren’t within their control - and the weather is one of them - so they do what they can, and having a spell cast can at least help.”
Once, these old wives’ tales might have been passed down by your mother, grandmother or superstitious aunt. Now, TikTok does the job, giving wedding rituals from times gone by an entirely modern way to travel. The old wives’ tale hasn’t disappeared - it’s been digitised.
Brides aren’t only turning to Etsy witches for wedding-weather spells, either. A quick search also reveals manifestation spells designed to offer positivity and reassurance ahead of the day. “This is a custom-written digital text created to support a calm, positive mindset ahead of an important day,” reads one listing.
“The advice really calmed me going into my wedding week - especially because it’s not something I could control,” writes one customer. “My wedding day turned out to be beautiful.”
This language of calm, positivity and visualisation also makes the line between superstition and manifestation increasingly blurry. You might not consider yourself someone who believes in witchcraft, but spending a few pounds to imagine clear skies? For many, it’s an easy yes.
For some brides, turning to folklore can also mean connecting with family traditions of the past. “I was given a silver sixpence for my shoe by my mum, which she’d been given by my grandmother,” says bride Sarah. “It’s part of the original rhyme that we all seem to forget now: ‘Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in your shoe.’ I was told it was for good luck, as well as wealth and prosperity. I’ve not heard of many people still doing it, so I loved that it was a nod to the past.”
Maybe that’s what makes the modern revival of wedding superstition more interesting than the question of whether any of it ‘works’. The bride meticulously planning her wedding with multiple spreadsheets and the one burying a sausage underneath her ceremony arch aren’t necessarily two different women - increasingly, they’re the same one.
One thing is for (almost) certain: the sheer number of Etsy spells and buried sausages this summer were probably why we had so many heatwaves.
