Wedding Traditions: Keep them or Throw Them out the Window?
There are so many wedding traditions that have been developed since the beginning of time. Thankfully, they have stopped hanging the wedding sheet outside of the honeymoon suite for all to see. However, this begs the question of whether or not there are other traditions that should be left in the past.
The Bouquet Toss
The bouquet toss was traditionally done towards the end of the reception. All of the single ladies would join the bride on the dance floor and the bride would toss the bouquet. Whoever caught it was “the next to get married”. Most modern brides are doing away with this tradition for a few reasons. As a single lady, it is embarrassing to get on the dance floor while everyone watches you vying to catch the bouquet. As the bride, you may want to keep your bouquet as a keepsake! This is a tradition that seems to be getting steadily less popular with brides in favor of creating their own style at their wedding.
Garter Toss
The garter toss typically goes right along with the bouquet toss. The groom would reach his hands up his new wife’s dress and retrieve the garter from her upper thigh. More and more brides are getting rid of this tradition. I can understand how this might be uncomfortable. Who wants their dad or their grandparents to watch their new husband reach up their dress and insinuate a little hanky panky on their wedding day? It could make everyone else feel uncomfortable and awkward, as well. Everyone already knows what is going down that night in the honeymoon suite; no one needs to see it come true on the dance floor! As if the tradition could be any worse, the groom would then fling the garter backwards to all the single men in attendance at the wedding. Whoever caught his wife’s sexy garter was the “next to be married”. Sometimes they would even have to dance with the woman who caught the bouquet! Many wedding goers are thankful this tradition is being thrown away.
Bridal Parties
Bridal parties were traditionally a group of the bride’s closest female friends standing next to her on her wedding day in matching dresses and matching jewelry. This has been evolving over the past 5-10 years in so many ways. For one, the matching dresses have fallen to the wayside. Some brides are asking their bridesmaids to all wear the same color, but the dresses are totally up to them. It is so hard to find a dress that will match each girl’s style and body type and different dresses can really relieve some of the stress that goes along with this. Some are even letting it be a free-for-all and do not even care about matching colors.
Brides and grooms have also begun including members of the opposite sex in their bridal party. If you have grown up having a guy as your best friend, why not include him with the rest of the bridesmaids? The term “bridesman” has been coined and is a new popular trend! There are so many things that could change with this new trend. Does the bridesmaid walk down the aisle with the bridesmaids, or wait at the front on the bride’s side? Does he get ready with the girls or with the guys? However, there are so many brides willing to take this risk, because it means they can include their best friends, regardless of gender, in their special day!
Photography
After the invention of the camera, wedding pictures became a great tradition. This tradition will probably never die. It may evolve, but the vast majority of people want to be able to look back on their wedding day and show the pictures to their children and grandchildren. It has already begun to evolve with photo booths for the guests to enjoy. The poses have become less traditional with everyone standing in a straight line or the typical shots everyone expects from a wedding. The photography has become more creative and stylistic than just the professional posed pictures your grandparents had taken at their nuptials. This is an exciting transition away from the traditional. It requires more artistic interpretation. The pictures are eye-catching and exciting to look at.
Cakes, DJs and more
With the invention of sites like Pinterest, Instagram and other social media sites, information about weddings are so much more widely available. People are constantly sharing ideas or new information you may not have thought about before. One of the new traditions is having cupcakes, mini pies, cheesecake or an ice cream sundae bar instead of the widely accepted practice of serving cake. This also eliminates the obligatory cake smash in the face as the bride and groom feed each other a slice of cake. Cake is still served at some weddings, but the options are opening up to include a variety of more dessert options. DJs still seem to be widely accepted, but will this continue to change as well as technology evolves? There are some engaged couples who ask their friend to coordinate the music for the wedding instead of hiring a DJ. They can get all the music they want to be played and load it onto a device that can be hooked up to a sound system. Of course, there are many professional DJs who have valid points as to why this shouldn’t be done.
Are you planning on keeping the old traditions or adapting to some of the new ideas floating around? We would love to hear from you in the comments if there is anything you have thought about doing or have already done at your wedding!