Walking down the aisle

A well-known part of the marriage ceremony is the bride being walked down the aisle (usually) by her father.

This happens because much of the wedding ceremony as we know it now originated from ancient Rome, and in those times most marriages where arranged – essentially a transaction between two people.

So the father (owner)  had to walk his daughter (property) to the other side and (literally) give her away, in exchange for the arranged dowry (price).