Fun fact: This is analogous to the wedding ceremony that was common in Jesus' time. The woman and the man, along with their families, would meet at the town's gate where business and legal issues were conducted. It was the woman's sole choice whether to marry the man or not. He would hand her a cup of wine. If she rejected him, she would push aside the cup. If she agreed to marry him, she would drink from the cup, then a marriage contract was drawn up. At this point, the bride-to-be and her groom would not see each other again until the wedding feast.

She went home to prepare for the wedding, buying her clothing for her and her bridesmaids. He went home and began building onto his father's home to provide a place for the two of them to live. It was his job to build and furnish the home and prepare the wedding feast.

The guests knew ahead of time that they were invited to the wedding feast, but no one, save the groom's father, knew the date and time of the wedding. It might be up to a year before the wedding actually took place. The call to the wedding could happen at any day or hour. The bride had to be ready at all times, along with her bridesmaids. They would sleep in their wedding attire in order to be ready.

Once the groom had the rooms prepared for his new bride, he had to wait for his father to give the order to go get his bride. It oftentimes came in the middle of the night. The groom and his groomsmen would go through the streets waking everyone up to say it is time for the wedding. He would retrieve his bride and take her back to his father's house. Once everyone was inside, the door was shut and locked. If the guests were not ready, they were locked out and missed the wedding feast entirely, as the door would not be opened for them.

Make sure you are prepared and ready for the coming of the bridegroom, else you may find yourself on the wrong side of a locked door.