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During the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones Emdure Tully and "Roslin Frey" have their clothes taken off and are carried out of the hall for the bedding ceremony. As they leave we see dialogue between Roose Bolton and Catelyn Stark:

Catelyn: Poor girl.
Roose: Every bride suffers the same... I'm sure you endured yours with grace.
Catelyn: Oh, Ned forbade it...he said it wouldn't be right if he broke a man's jaw on our wedding night.

So what did Ned forbid?

The obvious answer would be the actual bedding ceremony but surely he wouldn't do that. Besides, I don't understand how that could end in breaking a man's jaw, unless you're into that kind of stuff. I then thought that maybe she meant being carried to bed by the men but in the latest season we find that they don't do that in the North anyways. So what was it?

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    I think it was "Having Catelyn stripped naked by a group of drunk, horny men attending the wedding service" that he prevented. He wanted to unwrap his 'prize' in private..
    – Andrew Thompson
    Jul 15, 2015 at 7:34
  • @AndrewThompson yes that what it is about.
    – Panther
    Jul 15, 2015 at 9:18

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It was the bedding ceremony itself.

The bedding is a Westerosi wedding tradition, practiced throughout the entire continent. It's intended to provide evidence that the bride and bridegroom have consummated their marriage.

The bedding is commonly held after the wedding feast is over. Male guests carry the bride while female guests carry the bridegroom to the bedchamber, removing items of clothing along the way and making ribald jokes. Although a popular tradition, it is optional, and can be dispensed with.

It doesn't mean that they didn't go to bed, it means that the actual ceremony, i.e. carrying the bride, removing the clothes, etc. was forbidden by Ned. Apparently he didn't have patience for drunk guys undressing his wife and making jokes about it.

Regarding why it didn't happen on the wedding of Sansa and Ramsay:

For unknown reasons, the bedding ceremony is not performed in Ramsay's wedding, neither in the novels nor in the show. It is probably because of the northern lords' hatred for House Bolton due to their involvement in the Red Wedding and Ramsay's sack of Winterfell.

Interestingly, in the books Catelyn had a bedding ceremony:

At Edmure's wedding, Catelyn recalls her own bedding: Jory Cassel tore her gown in his haste to undress her; Ser Desmond Grell, the master at arms of Riverrun, kept apologizing for every ribald joke he told, only to make another; and when Lord Willam Dustin saw her naked, he told Ned that the sight of her breasts was enough to make him wish he'd never been weaned. Ned's response is not mentioned, but it is unlikely that he broke Lord Dustin's jaw.

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    You might also want to point out the relation to "breaking a man's jaw".
    – Napoleon Wilson ♦
    Jul 15, 2015 at 9:14
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    As far as "evidence of consummation," the party-goers also stay outside the door and listen to the new couple as they...ahem...consummate.
    – Darrick Herwehe
    Jul 15, 2015 at 13:47
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    @Panther as far as I understand it they never actually had the ceremony and Roslin wasn't actually a Frey, rather a whore, payed to act like one. I'm pretty sure he was lead straight to the dungeons and forced into a cell by the soldiers.
    – Matthew Stevenson
    Jul 22, 2015 at 8:11
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    Ok so it turns out she actually is a Frey but I still believe that they never actually had the ceremony due to the fact that the next morning, Walder Frey says that he "spent his wedding night in a dungeon. Anyway, there were more important things going on at the time.
    – Matthew Stevenson
    Jul 22, 2015 at 8:29
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    @MatthewStevenson There is no evidence that Roslin is a whore or not a Frey. In fact, in the books she is pregnant with Edmure's child (conceived on their wedding night). This child is a threat, since if it's a boy, then he could potentially grow up and lay claim to Riverrun. Which means that the fear is that the child is legitimate...
    – Möoz
    Feb 12, 2016 at 4:50

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