This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 11:57 pm and is filed under Wedding, wedding gifts, wedding novelties. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Old world customs are a very important element in many weddings today. The wearing and throwing of the garter is one of those. This tradition dates back to 14th century Europe. Many guests of the bride and groom believed having a piece of the bride’s clothing would bring good luck. They would actually destroy the bride’s dress by ripping off pieces of the fabric. As you can imagine, this didn’t make the bride very happy. In an attempt to save her beautiful dress, one smart bride decided it was better for her to initiate the process herself by throwing various articles of her clothing to the guests – the garter being one of them. It then became customary for the bride to toss the garter to the men. Unfortunately for the bride, the often drunken men would become impatient and try to remove the garter ahead of time. That is how the tradition evolved into today’s custom of having the groom remove the garter from his bride and then toss it to the men. This change also brought forth the tradition of the bride tossing her boutique to the unwed girls who were eligible for marriage.
Whether you incorporate the risqué performance of the groom removing the garter from under your dress and throwing it to the pack of single men or if you simply want to have a wedding garter as a keepsake of your wedding, there are many colors, styles and even themes available. You can find pink camouflage, white satin, and even seaside themed garters just to name a few. Another tradition to consider, a garter is a great way to discreetly add that “something blue” to your wedding day ensemble.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:55 am
Thanks for the history lesson. I always knew this was a tradition, but I’d no idea where it came from. Great post!