A little history
The history of the beautiful tradition of throwing a bouquet has its roots in the distant past. In Rus', newlyweds, at the end of the holiday, handed over wedding wreaths to unmarried girls and unmarried guys, and also carried out such a beautiful custom: unmarried girls blindfolded their newly-made wife and danced around her, and she randomly gave her wedding bouquet to the future lucky girl.
The custom of throwing a bouquet behind your back, rather than passing it in a round dance, came to us from Medieval Europe or the USA - there is no consensus. This tradition became popular after its widespread appearance at American weddings, which most likely borrowed it from medieval brides.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, it was believed that if an unmarried woman touched or even tore off a piece of her wedding dress, she would certainly be happy and get married soon. Brides, fearing for their wedding dress, began to come up with alternative options: for example, French women began to decorate the hem of their wedding dress with flowers that guests could pick out. It was not very convenient to pin flowers to an outfit, so brides began to take a bouquet with them to the wedding and throw it to their single girlfriends. In other European countries, instead of a bouquet, girls threw garters, chains or pendants to lonely people, and this is how the tradition of throwing a bride's garter to unmarried guys arose.
Over time, the tradition of throwing a wedding bouquet to your unmarried friends has become popular all over the world and to this day not a single wedding is complete without it.
Alternative to a bouquet
If the newlywed does not want to part with her bouquet, then you can use a double or other original things. At the same time, when throwing a thing, you need to endow it with special symbolism.
For example, a bride can throw a bag of natural coffee or sweets with a hint that her friend should invite her for a cup of coffee with sweets at any time.
Soft toys, pillows, and paper airplanes are also suitable . The imagination when choosing an alternative option is limitless.
Should we keep the tradition?
Whether to throw a bouquet or not is your personal decision, as there are both pros and cons to this tradition.
Pros: Throwing a bouquet is a fun event that will entertain guests and especially delight unmarried girls who are looking forward to this ceremony.
Cons: some girls take this ritual very seriously, which can lead to offense or even quarrels; therefore, if such persons will be present at your wedding, it is better to either abandon the traditional throwing of the bouquet altogether, or replace it with a beautiful transfer of bouquets to all unmarried girls.
Tips on how to catch the bride's bouquet at a wedding
The ceremony of throwing a bouquet can be classified as mystical. But it often happens that girls only remember why they should catch the bride’s bouquet, but they forget how to do it. Therefore, often caught bouquets “do not work.”
When the girls, while waiting for the bouquet, start a real fight and snatch it from each other, it looks funny from the outside, but unfortunately, all the magic of the ceremony disappears in this case. For the sign to be effective, the bridesmaids must stand behind her so as not to jostle or interfere with each other.
When the bride throws a bouquet, she does not see what trajectory it is flying along, so the flowers fall into the power of the Higher Powers. Only the girl into whose hands the bouquet flies itself can catch it.
Throwing a bouquet is not the easiest task, but catching it is even more difficult. There are several tricks that you can follow to increase your chances:
- stand in the first row in the center, approximately opposite the bride;
- when the countdown starts, start raising your hands;
- think not only about the treasured bouquet, but also about the girls standing nearby, so as not to hit them with your elbows.
Girls catch a bouquet from the hands of the bride
Throwing a bouquet: from classic to creative
For your celebration, you can choose either the traditional option of throwing a bouquet over your shoulder or more original options. It all depends on your personal preferences and wedding style:
- for a classic celebration, you can choose the traditional option of throwing a bouquet over your shoulder,
- for a folk wedding - round dance,
- in the case of a pirate wedding, you can lock the bouquet in a chest,
- For a Greek style wedding, the ideal option would be to write the girls' names on the bride's shoe.
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The meaning of rituals associated with flowers
In Rus', the choice of flowers was treated with reverence. The groom himself picked flowers in the meadow, casting a spell. The spell words were supposed to invoke good luck and prosperity in family life. The groom gave the collected flowers from the bottom of his heart to his betrothed.
The bride held flowers in her hands throughout the wedding. The positive energy of the groom was transmitted to the bride through plants. The tradition has survived to this day - the groom gives a bouquet to his beloved after the ransom. The bride, in order not to lose luck, does not part with the composition for a minute, does not betray it to her friends and relatives. To free your hands, bouquets are collected in the form of a bracelet. A standard bouquet is hung on the wrist by the handle. Non-superstitious brides place flowers in a vase during the feast. Here are tips on how to properly handle your wedding bouquet.
It would seem, why does the bride throw the bouquet? The fact is that at weddings it has always been customary to wish well-being to the guests. One of the forms of expressing good intentions is presenting a gift of flowers to an unmarried girl. Many young girls were present at the weddings. They danced around the bride, who was blindfolded with a ribbon. When the dance ended, the bride handed the bouquet to the girl who stopped opposite. The enchanted bouquet promised a quick wedding for an unmarried friend.
The tradition is not originally Russian. The idea of throwing a bridal bouquet came to us from Western Europe. At a European wedding, the bride’s outfit itself was considered to bring happiness. Unmarried ladies tried to grab the edge of the dress, because even touching the wedding dress was considered a great success. The ladies tried to tear off a piece of material from the hem.
Not a single bride wanted to be left without a toilet at the end of the evening, so resourceful girls began to attach live buds to their veil or skirt. They were easy to tear off without damaging the wedding dress. However, this method was not tired of European brides, which is not surprising - what kind of girl would like it that all the women strive to touch her dress.
Some alternative was needed. The ideal solution was to replace the living trim of the dress with flowers in the hands. This is how the tradition of throwing a bouquet over the shoulder arose. The girl who caught him gained hope for a quick marriage.
Competitions, auctions, lots
The delivery of the bride's bouquet can be carried out in the form of a competition, quest or lot. There are many options here:
- Unmarried girls are invited to a competition, during which the owner of the wedding bouquet is determined.
- You can draw lots: write the names of the girls on pieces of paper and put the pieces of paper in a beautiful bowl; the girl with whose name the piece of paper is drawn will become the owner of the bouquet.
- A similar option: wrap pieces of paper in candy wrappers and draw a bouquet on one of them. The girl who receives the candy wrapper with the coveted piece of paper will become the owner of the bouquet.
- Come up with a quest for the girls to find a bouquet; they will have to solve simple tasks in order to find the treasured item.
Lottery
Lottery at a wedding
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Ritual in new original versions
You can either throw the bride’s bouquet in an original way or carry out this ritual traditionally. For example, you can please all your guests at once if you prepare a floral arrangement of several mini-bouquets in advance.
During the ceremony, the bride throws the wedding bouquet, having previously turned her back to her friends and discreetly untied the ribbon. Thus, every girl will be able to catch flowers and find her happiness. The main thing is not to reveal the surprise to your girlfriends.
Interesting! Read how to make a backup bouquet yourself so as not to throw away the main bouquet.
Many people are interested in what kind of bouquet the bride throws at a wedding, if she keeps her own after the celebration. So, especially for the ritual, they use a backup composition, which will remain with the winner.
For a wedding, you can order a composition made from non-living materials, for example, toys, ribbons or paper buds.
Beads or buttons will make the composition too heavy, which can injure the bridesmaids.
DIY rose composition
Most often, brides choose noble classic roses as artificial flowers, especially since satin allows you to create them in any color.
There are dozens of tutorials on how to make rosebuds, but we have chosen the easiest one for you, which results in elegant flowers.
Step-by-step instruction:
- Cut the satin ribbon into equal rectangles about 8 cm long - the wider they are, the larger the final petals will be. One rose requires an average of 25 blanks.
- Burn all cut areas with a lighter so that the flowers retain their original appearance for as long as possible. If the pieces are very small, then it is better to hold them not with your fingers, but with tweezers.
- In each petal, bend two corners located diagonally over the entire length of the rectangle and sew with a machine.
- Roll one of the petals into a tube and tighten it with threads from below - this will be the middle of our rose.
- Now, one by one, wrap the tube with the remaining petals , carefully sewing each one to the center.
The rose is ready, you can sew it to the base of the bouquet, glue it with a gun or secure it with a pin with a pearl head.
Step by step video
A wedding bouquet made of satin ribbons is an excellent alternative to compositions made from fresh flowers. An airy, luxurious bouquet will never wither, and will delight its owner with its beauty for many years. For those who want to make this outlandish thing with their own hands, video:
Photo
Fresh flowers are beautiful and tender, but short-lived. That is why more and more brides are choosing a bouquet of satin ribbons.
