Wedding Traditions

You Are Saving the Top of Your Cake Right? And Other Commonly Asked Questions…

Are you having bridesmaids?  What are they wearing? Are you saving the top of your cake? Are you doing a bouquet and garter toss?  Have you ever wondered where all those wedding traditions come from? We did too so we did a little research to find out and they definitely have some interesting meanings!

Are You Doing a First Look?

You have been told that seeing each other before the ceremony is bad luck right?  Let us be the first to say, there isn’t much luck involved in marriage. And second, we’ll explain where the tradition of not seeing each other came from. It stems back to arranged marriages where the couple getting married may not have met. At all. Talk about a blind date…

The wedding was a business deal of sorts (don’t get me started ladies) and the family feared if the groom saw the bride before the wedding he may not want to go through with it.  Ummmm. We sure have come a long way.

What are Your Bridesmaids Wearing?

Do you guys remember those crazy bridesmaids dresses in the 80s?  Even if you didn’t live them, take a gander at your parents wedding album, I bet you can find some there. The tradition of bridesmaids dresses goes even farther back than that. We’re talking ancient Rome.

It was thought that the celebration and the bride would attract evil spirits so friends would dress up in matching wedding attire (yes, exactly like the bride and groom) to serve as a decoy to confuse the spirits. Somewhere around the Victorian era things relaxed a bit and the bridesmaids could stop dressing exactly like the bride. Thank goodness, can you imagine all seven of you in your Hayley Paige dress?

Why do Brides Carry a Bouquet?

If you have been here long you will know that we love flowers. They are soft and gorgeous and really add to the ambiance. But why do brides carry a bouquet in the first place?  Well, there was a time when showering wasn’t as popular as it is now (yeah, we are really thankful we live in the present era) so the bouquet worked to mask body odor. It was also full of herbs that were thought to ward off evil spirits.

In the Victorian era different flowers had meanings associated with them and it was popular for couples to send messages to each other using these flowers. It is a bit more romantic than that text message I got last night…

The boutonniere stems from medieval times (not the kitschy restaurant) and traditionally matched the flowers in the bouquet.  The groom would wear his lady’s “colors” as a symbol of his love for her.

Are You Going to do a Bouquet Toss?

No, it wasn’t originally designed as a source of embarrassment for your single friends or an excuse for your widowed Nana to get out there…

Many years ago it was thought to be good luck to touch the bride and even to rip off parts of her clothing. In order to deter the guests from ripping her gown to shreds the bride would toss her bouquet at them as a distraction while she and her partner made a fast getaway.  Once they were safely inside the bridal chamber the groom would toss the garter out the door.  We’re glad all the clothing stays intact these days…

You Are Saving the Top of Your Cake Right?

Nothing says first anniversary like year old wedding cake. Right? We all know it is tradition to save the top of your wedding cake, but why? Back in those old days (gosh, there were a lot of old days) it was expected that a year after marriage you would have a baby on the way. Wellll, cakes were expensive so the top tier was saved for the baby’s christening. Hmm, no pressure from your mom on this one right?

What About the Wedding Rings?

When I got engaged I would seriously have accepted a twisty tie around my finger, but my current band has held up much better than a twisty tie.  The wedding bands are worn on the left “ring” finger because the Greeks and Romans believed that there was a vein there that connected directly to your heart.

There are so many other traditions and superstitions for wedding day! Which are you planning to incorporate? You can see us talking about this on Planning + Prosecco here. Happy Planning!