Wedding Traditions Going Out of Style

Bouquet Toss – The English Tradition of tossing of the bridal bouquet The belief was that the bride give good fortune to others. To obtain this fortune, female guests would tear away pieces of the bride’s clothing and flowers. The bride would toss her bouquet in her attempt to escape. According to the tradition the single woman who catches the bouquet is the one who receives the bride’s good fortune and will be the next to marry.

Today – Many brides are marrying later in life and their friends and other guests are primarily already married and this leaves few to participate in the bouquet toss. So rather than put those few single women in what many believe to be an embarrassing position, the toss has been eliminated in many of today’s weddings.

Throwing The Garter – Believed to have originated in the 14^th century when the bride’s clothing was torn or removed by guests. In an attempt to avoid having her undergarments removed by sometimes drunken guests, the brides began removing the garter themselves and tossing it to the gentlemen. This allowed the gentlemen to share in the good fortune of the groom and it was believed that the gentleman catching the garter would be the next to marry.

Today – Many couples are uncomfortable with this custom which can get out of hand and become a very embarrassing moment for those involved. Instead, many are replacing the bouquet and garter toss with an announced anniversary dance where married couples are asked to stand up and the emcee then calls off the years married, usually in five year increments. The couple married the longest or the shortest are honored with the bouquet.

Receiving Lines – Although not technically a tradition but a custom, the purpose of the receiving line was to greet each guest individually. This process welcomed each guest and the bridal party accepted their best wishes and congratulations.

Today – Due to the high price tag put on the wedding ceremony and reception time, the tradition has all but become a thing of the past. Most ceremonies are limited to one hour and receptions to four hours. With a receiving line you can lose anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes of your time. Instead most couples now choose to mingle and table hop to greet each guest.

This entry was posted on 4. August 2008 at 21:49 and is filed under Traditions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.