The traditions of tossing the bouquet and grater date back to the fourteenth century. As different as they seem today, they share the same roots. Any piece of the bride’s attire was considered lucky, so guests were eager to claim their own bit of good fortune. Overeager guests would rush to the bride to grab at her bouquet, so to protect themselves from a mauling, brides started preemptively tossing their bouquets to the crowd. The garter toss came from the (kind of creepy) “bedding ceremony.” Guests would accompany the newlyweds to their bedchamber, and the groom’s friends would try to remove the bride’s garters. To avoid being groped by a bunch of men, brides began tossing their garters in their direction. The moral of the story? Watch out for all the singletons.Both the bouquets and garter toss are completely and utterly optional. Some brides love these rituals, some find them appalling, and other’s can’t wait to toss the bouquet, but wouldn’t be caught dead even touching a garter.
Take a look below as I have provided you with some of the best pros and cons to deciding if this tradition is right for you.Remember, this is your wedding. You can do one and not the other, neither, or both, or devise some creativity variation.Through the garter toss is obviously a light moment, it shouldn’t be va-va-voom raunchy. I have seen one too many grooms remove the bride’s garter with his teeth! Please, exercise a little restrain – this isn’t the bachelor party!Whoever you have entertaining the guests for the night, have them call the single men up for catching. Don’t toss away that expensive silk garter. An inexpensive “throw garter” is made just for this purpose.Wear the garter on your right leg, just above the knee. It’s not the most comfortable thing, so slip it on right before the toss. The bouquet toss, though still whimsical, is obviously a much less tongue-in-cheek moment. It’s something I see more often than the garter toss. When the bride tosses the flowers over her shoulder to her single friends, it’s as if she’s casting her last tie to the single life.
It’s also a gesture of generosity, sharing her bounty of love and commitment. The one who catches the bouquet, as we know, is supposed to be the next to marry.The bouquet toss has gotten some bad press in the recent years. It can be sort of embarrassing for the single women to be – for lack of a better word – singles out like that.Think about the number of single women at your reception, and take age into account. If your expect to have only six, and most of them are north of thirty, the bouquet toss could prove an acute source of embarrassment. It might be better to skip. If you’ve got a large group of young, single friends and relatives, however, it could all be in good fun.For sentimental reasons, most brides want to hold on to their actual bouquet. If you do, ask you florist for a tossing bouquet.In the past, the bouquet toss was done right before the bride and groom departed, but now people extend the party longer and many guests leave before the end, so it makes sense to hold nit while you’ve still got a substantial audience, and photographer.If you’ve also doing a grater toss, it’s tradition to hold that first, but there’s no hard rule.
