Nuptial, a. — Webster enters it under “nuptial”
Etymology: [L. nuptialis, fr. nuptiae marriage, wedding, fr. nubere, nuptum, prop., to cover, to veil, hence, to marry, as the head of the bride was covered with a veil; cf. Gr. nuptial.]
Of or pertaining to marriage; done or used at a wedding; as, nuptial rites and ceremonies. Then, all in heat, They light the nuptial torch. Milton.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Nuptial, n.; pl. Nuptials (.
Marriage; wedding; nuptial ceremony; -- now only in the plural. Celebration of that nuptial, which We two have sworn shall come. Shak. Preparations . . . for the approaching nuptials. Prescott.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for nuptials; he lists it under marriage.
Where he writes about it:
Wedding denotes the ceremony, with any attendant festivities, by which two persons are united as husband and wife, nuptials being the more formal and stately term to express the same idea. — from marriage