A poem written to celebrate a marriage. One of the best known epithalamions was written by Edmund Spenser in 1594 on the occasion of his marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. See also prothalamion.

In ancient Greece an epithalamion was composed to honor a newlywed couple. The word derives from the Greek epithalamios which means "of a wedding", epi (of) + thalamos (bridal chamber.) The epithalamion was revived as a poetic form in 1595 by Edmund Spenser in Amoretti And Epithalamion, a composition of 89 sonnets, a lyric conclusion, and a 433 line epithalamion.