If you do a Google search for wedding traditions you will find a million ideas pop up:

• Wearing your wedding ring on the 4th finger of your left hand
• White wedding dress
• Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
• Tossing rice as the bride and groom exit
• Bouquet/Garter toss

The list goes on and on. But have your ever stopped to think about where these traditions came from or why we do them? Is it okay to break away from tradition and do you own thing? In a new blog series I will be looking at some basic wedding traditions and breaking down the history behind them.

In this post we will be looking at the tradition of bridal bouquets~

The wedding flower industry is a very large, and lucrative industry. Next to the dress and photography, most brides will say that flowers are at the top of their priority list, with the bridal bouquet being of utmost importance. But what is the significance of carrying a bouquet of flowers down the isle?

Before the use of flowers in the bridal bouquet, women carried bunches of garlic, herbs, and grains to drive evil spirits away as they walked down the aisle. It was also used to mask the odor of the bride back before regular bathing was the norm. Over time (and with the invention of the shower), these were replaced with flowers, symbolizing fertility and everlasting love. Specific flowers have special meanings in many cultures. In Hawaii, the bride and groom wear leis; newlyweds in India don floral headdresses.

There is also the tradition of tossing a bouquet to the single women during the reception. In ancient times the bride was considered to be lucky on her wedding day. Family members and guests would rip parts of the bridal gown off the bride through out the wedding as a way of taking the luck with them. Not all brides liked this tradition – what bride wants their clothing ripped off of them during their special day!

So the brides began outsmarting her guest by enabling one lucky guest to obtain a luck piece of her attire while allowing her to keep her clothing intact: she starting throwing her garter and bouquet in lieu of pieces of her dress.

 

 

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*Kendra Swalls is the photographer behind Paisley Layne Photography, and is a boutique portrait and wedding photographer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She specializes in, beauty, senior and boudoir portraits as well as wedding photography. Kendra’s style is fun and personality-driven while still retaining the timeless features of photography that create family heirlooms. She currently lives in Justin,TX  with her family: a husband that is convinced he needs a drone, a four year old daughter who loves all things girly at the moment and a new baby girl that is the happiest baby on earth.  Kendra is currently booking 2016 & 2017 Portrait Sessions and Weddings in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Denton, Flower Mound, Southlake, Keller, Lewisville, Argyle and all of the North Texas area.

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