My Wedding Notebook Blog

WHY DO BRIDES TOSS THEIR BOUQUET?

The bouquet is one of the main features of Brides attire, and this tradition comes from hundreds of years ago. But why on earth do brides to throw their beloved bouquets at their single friends?
Well, there is an explanation for every peculiar tradition…
Once upon a time the Egyptian already carried a bouquet; it was composed by herbs to drive away evil spirits. In Europe, orange blossoms were used instead of herbs, as they symbolised purity and fertility. You may have guessed by now that this tradition emerged from superstitions and beliefs… and Brides were considered to be very lucky.

In the old days, it was known that touching the bride helped you gain some of her good luck. Or managing to tear off piece of her attire to treasure was even better. Now this was not an uneventful situation, all the single ladies would chase the bride like agitated wolves to rip pieces of her gown off when she was attempting to leave the party!
In these stressful moments Brides would throw objects that they were wearing at the stampede of ladies as a decoy to escape, and the bouquet is one of them, so ladies would chase after the flowers and not her and her gown. There you have it!

Basically brides found a way to avoid ruining their dress, and leaving in shreds.

As the years went by, brides would cherish their wedding dresses more and more, and increasingly spend more money on them. On the other hand, flowers perish, so out of all the objects thrown, the bouquet is the one that remained. Luckily guests were happy with this, they did not have to chase the bride and they knew they would have their moment.

In our days it is known that the guest who catches the bouquet will be the next one to get married, but not all modern couples continue with this tradition or they find an alternative to surprise their guests. What will you do on your special day?

 

Image credits: Bouquet by Pixabay