What should be the bride's bouquet according to signs?
There are many signs and traditions associated with the appearance of the bride’s wedding bouquet.
Important! A festive bouquet is a kind of reflection of the bride, just as delicate, beautiful and fragile.
When creating a link, you must follow the following rules:
- For festive decorations, snow-white, cream, soft pink and pink flowers are most suitable;
- the shape of the bundle also matters - it is advisable to choose a round, teardrop-shaped or hemispherical shape of the composition;
- The tea rose and any yellow flowers should be excluded from the composition - such buds predict a quick separation of the newlyweds and an unhappy marriage;
- It is also not advisable to include flowers of dark purple, brown, burgundy in a flower arrangement - to quarrels, betrayals in the family;
- The red color of the buds, as a symbol of passion, is preferably combined with other colors, for example, white;
- you should avoid compositions of flowers of different lengths, symbolizing conflicts between future relatives;
- when choosing the number of buds, you should focus on the dates of birth or acquaintance of the newlyweds;
- when composing a composition, numbers 11 and 13 should be avoided, as they are considered unfavorable for family relationships;
- buds in a bunch should be opened half or fully;
- thorns on rose stems must be removed.
Different flowers carry different energy. Each flower symbolizes the groom's feelings for his future wife:
- rose - love, passion;
- peonies - a happy marriage;
- chrysanthemum - joy, adoration;
- dahlias - dignity, elegance, grace, eternal love;
- hydrangea – mutual understanding and harmony in the family;
- lavender - calmness, fidelity, devotion, admiration;
- orchid - extraordinary beauty, sophistication, fertility;
- tulips - love, fidelity;
- lily – long marriage, abundance;
- gerbera – sincerity, loyalty, friendship.
When making wedding decorations, you cannot use carnations, daffodils and gladioli - this will lead to disagreements and quarrels in a young family.
It is not recommended to include lilies and callas in the composition, since in some countries these flowers symbolize mourning and melancholy, however, in modern compositions such flowers symbolize a long marriage, abundance, beauty, and sophistication.
Azalea personifies sadness, so this flower also has no place in a festive composition.
Fern and palm leaves have no place in a wedding composition, as these plants prophesy conflicts and resentments between spouses.
Important! Callas, despite their reputation as mourning flowers, are now increasingly included in weddings as a symbol of tenderness and sophistication.
Bouquet traditions
In the old days, bouquets were collected from forest herbs and wildflowers. Today, a wedding bouquet has become a real work of florists. But, as in the distant past, many legends and customs are associated with the bride’s bouquet.
Nowadays, the tradition of giving a bouquet has been preserved - the groom presents flowers to his chosen one as a sign of his love and fidelity. If the bride accepts the bouquet, she agrees to marry this person. In addition, guests give a huge number of flowers to the newlyweds as a symbol of the freshness and purity of young hearts in love.
Why should you not give a bridal bouquet to anyone?
A wedding bouquet carries powerful energy. Since ancient times, the bride's bouquet was collected from wild flowers and herbs by the future husband. It served as a kind of amulet against evil spirits for the bride and her future husband.
According to ancient tradition, the bride's wedding bouquet is purchased and given by the future husband immediately before the wedding ceremony.
As a last resort, the groom's father or his close relative can purchase the attribute. This task cannot be entrusted to a woman.
During the wedding ceremony, the bundle can only be given to the groom or mother.
Warning! By leaving it unattended or handing the bouquet to guests, according to the sign, you can miss your happiness.
Others, even the closest people, should not touch the buds during the celebration.
According to wedding tradition, throwing a bunch into a crowd of girlfriends is also undesirable; for this you need to use a double bouquet.
From the history of the appearance of signs
Traditionally, the bride must throw her bouquet during the wedding celebration and all the girls present at the celebration strive not to miss this moment and become the happy owner of the bride's bouquet. Nowadays, few people think about how this sign appeared, and yet the history of its occurrence is in no way connected with an imminent marriage.
In the old days in Rus', girls getting married spent years hand-sewing their wedding dresses, decorating them with intricate embroidery. There was a belief that touching a newlywed’s dress promised great luck, and tearing a piece from it meant good luck. Protecting her dress from danger, the bride tried to divert attention from herself by throwing a wedding bouquet into the crowd.
The sign, which promised great luck to the one who managed to catch the bride’s wedding bouquet, did not always exist in this form. At first, the bride did not throw the bouquet, but handed it to one of her girlfriends, being in the center of the round dance that the girls led. Moreover, her eyes had to be closed, and she handed over the bouquet at random. This action meant that the newlywed, along with the bouquet, was giving the lucky girl a piece of the magic of the wedding, and the girl would soon find her happiness and get married.
Signs about an artificial bridal bouquet
Modern artificial analogues for wedding celebrations look no worse than living bouquets.
However, signs about an artificial wedding bouquet do not predict anything good for the newlyweds.
There is a belief that artificial flowers predict false relationships in a future family.
The use of jewelry, hairpins, and other decorative elements as wedding attributes is also not recommended. It is believed that artificial elements in combination attract problems and create obstacles when creating a young family.
Some florists use pearls and satin ribbons when creating holiday decorations. Strings of pearls are considered a symbol of strong family ties, and a satin ribbon is the key to a happy and long family life.
What to do with a caught bouquet
The girl caught the bouquet at the wedding.
After the end of the wedding celebration, you suddenly find yourself with a flower arrangement in your arms. What to do? This is the question that is asked most often. The girls, unfortunately, do not know what to do next with the bouquet. After all, it is so symbolic and emotionally charged that you need to know exactly where to put it next.
Perhaps it’s worth throwing it away or, on the contrary, keeping it as a long-term memory. Further actions depend on what kind of bouquet was caught: artificial or natural.
What to do with a living bouquet
What to do with a caught bouquet at a wedding? The belief says that flowers must be preserved. At the beginning, freshly cut inflorescences will have a blooming and pleasant appearance. However, a lot of time will pass and the bouquet will turn into dried grass. Unfortunately, the former beautiful appearance is lost. And there is a completely understandable justification for this.
You can arrange the bouquet and leave it as is. With its help you will get an interesting composition. Carefully cut the buds and place them in a vase with pebbles. The design solution will suit any interior, and at the same time you will save your wedding bouquet.
Florists advise storing it for a year. Although there are those who believe that a flower arrangement should be kept until marriage. In this case, you can make fragrant bags out of it by placing petals of dried inflorescences in them.
Many girls experiment and cut off buds. Still blooming and fresh inflorescences must be sprayed with varnish. In this version, it will retain its appearance for a long time. The resulting flowers can be placed in a vase or made into a beautiful and fragrant necklace.
A special tradition should be observed by the bride who got married. The bouquet that went with her to the wedding should be left in the church. It will be imbued with religious symbolism and the emotions of the emerging family. It is not recommended to bring it into the house.
The bride's accessory will need to be dried over time, but it should be done correctly so that all the inflorescences remain in place and are not damaged.
- Dissolve the entire bouquet and take it apart. Separately fold the flowers and twigs. Those elements of branches that fall off should be removed immediately. There will be no beauty from them.
- Tie the flowers one at a time using wire, that is, carefully tie them together so that you end up with a complete composition.
- Hang the buds upside down and leave them in this position for several weeks.
- Now your herbarium is ready and you can place it in a vase for further storage.
How to use a bouquet of ribbons
The situation is much simpler with a bouquet of ribbons. Not all brides prefer floral arrangements; there are those who much prefer original design solutions, such as ribbons. They make buds that are difficult to distinguish from real ones. This composition will be universal at a wedding.
You can bring a caught bouquet of ribbons home and decorate your room. It has no shelf life, so you can admire it for a long time. If you do not want to store the flowers in this form, then you can open them and weave a satin ribbon into the head.
What is the meaning of catching a bride's bouquet at a wedding?
The sign of a caught wedding bouquet appeared in Russia not so long ago. An interesting tradition with this wedding attribute came from Europe.
Just a couple of decades ago, brides carefully kept their wedding flowers and did not allow anyone except the groom to see them. Nowadays, not a single celebration is complete without this cheerful tradition.
A sign if an unmarried girl caught the bride’s bouquet
A festive attribute caught by an unmarried guest promises the girl a quick marriage proposal. If the girl does not have a partner, then according to the sign, within a year the girl will meet the person destined for her.
The gift from the bride needs to be dried and preserved. The day before your wedding, the dried bunch can be removed or destroyed.
Why catch a married bride's bouquet?
For married ladies, such an event foreshadows a woman’s changes in relationships, for the better, as well as a long and happy family life.
A woman needs to keep the gift and do with the flowers as a bride would do with her bouquet. It is advisable to place the caught trophy in the bedroom, then it will become a talisman for the family.
If the bunch fell to the floor, according to popular belief, none of the unmarried girls will get married in the near future.
In the case where a guy caught the wedding attribute, the unmarried girl closest to him can be considered lucky.
History of tradition
One of the most significant symbols at any wedding are flowers, and catching someone at a wedding is a sign that has become the favorite for any free girl.
Since time immemorial, it has been a kind of sacred symbol at a wedding, which reflects the purity and purity of the bride. However, our ancestors did not abandon it, but rather took care of it. Instead, scraps of dress were used, which the bride threw over her shoulder to her bridesmaids so that they too would soon get married. Nowadays it is often used at weddings.
Then the tradition changed and the dress was no longer torn into pieces. The bridesmaids instead danced around the bride, passing in a circle and thus charging with the magical energy of the sacred ritual. This pagan tradition is now almost lost.
According to tradition, the girl who caught the bouquet should keep it at home. You can throw it away only the day after your own wedding. Thus, she says goodbye to unmarried life and completely devotes herself to the groom.
The modern custom of throwing over the shoulder was introduced, according to historians, by the great Emperor of Russia Peter the Great. He borrowed this tradition from Western Europe during his well-known trip to Holland.
The wedding ritual was popular in Rus' and soon the sign that catching one was a great success became widespread even outside the state. Today, almost all countries that were once part of Russia still use the tradition to this day.
Other signs and superstitions about the bride’s bouquet
There are plenty of beliefs about wedding attributes. There are both positive and negative signs, however, most of them not only warn, but also protect the future family from troubles and misfortunes.
Other signs about the bride’s wedding bouquet:
- a bundle falling on the floor promises a series of troubles for a young family;
- a festive attribute seen in a dream on the eve of a wedding means fun and good luck;
- a bundle given, even temporarily to strangers, during a wedding - to quarrels and divorce;
- a bride's bouquet pinned to the belt of a wedding dress means a difficult birth;
- if the bride accidentally pricks herself on the thorns of roses from the bunch, this means frequent quarrels in the future family, so the flower stems are carefully treated to remove thorns and prickly elements;
- If you strew the newlyweds with petals from the dried wedding bouquet of the bride or groom's parents, there will always be peace and tranquility in the house.
Warning! The festive bouquet cannot be shown to the girls until it is handed over to the bride.
Brides often decorate their hair with fresh flowers. According to ancient beliefs, you cannot decorate a girl’s hair with flowers if she does not have a veil or wreath.
A flower falling out of the bride's hair predicts an imminent celebration for someone present.
Sign No. 1 – throwing flowers to the bride
The beliefs that a girl of marriageable age must know include a whole list of superstitions about a wedding bouquet. All stages deserve attention: from the formation of a flower bunch to the moment of farewell to the delicate attribute of a special event.
However, the most fun and unforgettable ritual, in which the wedding bouquet is the central link, has for many years been considered the ritual of handing it over to a holiday guest free from marriage, chosen, so to speak, by the will of fate.
This custom has come down to this day from the Middle Ages, becoming a replacement for the more barbaric tradition of Europeans - cutting off a shred from the bride's dress for good luck. Agree, when a crowd of nimble, squeaking girls pounces on a young woman with scissors and shreds her snow-white outfit, the hero of the occasion is clearly not having fun.
Therefore, becoming more and more cultivated, humanity replaced this version of the distribution of female happiness with a loyal and intelligent version:
Standing with her back to the groom hunters lined up behind her, the bride throws a bouquet over her shoulder, and the girls catch it - the one who catches it will, according to the sign, be the first of those present to get married.
This belief is significant more for the spectators of the ceremony, and not for its main participants - the newlyweds. But there are other details by which the bride and groom can predict their future together - and now you will find out about them!
Responsibility for purchasing a fragrant set of flowers with which the bride will spend the entire day marked by the wedding sacrament rests entirely with her future spouse. Only he (at least, the eldest male relative) should buy a wedding bouquet, and in the morning of the special day (not the day before, not in the evening, but always on the day of the wedding before noon).
Having left the threshold, the young man must refrain from talking with anyone until the point of sale. When paying for a purchase dear to his heart, the guy always gives the seller an amount that requires change - so that the family has material wealth. Having left the store (on the right foot), he can already talk, but he must choose a different way back than the one he came for the gift. Before presenting the bouquet to the beloved, the couple listens to the blessing of the mother-in-law:
“My son’s wife has become my daughter, so, my dear, be sensitive to him!”
The groom's mother says these words over flowers.
The bride's bouquet must meet the requirements of both an aesthetic nature: to be light, small, beautiful, in harmony with the girl's outfit, and to fulfill the main purpose of the amulet of the future family, so it must be collected taking into account the following nuances:
Red flowers in a bouquet are a harbinger of serious quarrels and discord in a young family, but the ideal, favorable option is white and pink buds.
The number of flowers that make up the bunch must match the age of the bride (if the number of years is even, then one more bud is added).
To prevent the newly-made husband from starting to cheat, there is no place for artificial decor in the bouquet - both leaves and additional plants, and even more so the main flowers should be natural.
Wedding traditions in Rus' prescribed a different treatment of the bride's bouquet.
- Firstly, the young woman could not give the accessory during the ceremony and festivities, even for a short period of time, to anyone other than her beloved. Naturally, there was no talk of any throwing of the wedding inflorescence.
- Secondly, during the feast, it was customary to place a vase with ritual flowers among the dishes, in front of the couple themselves.
- Thirdly, an accidentally dropped wedding bouquet, based on a sign, was considered a bad omen - it promised a quick loss of newly acquired happiness.
- Fourthly, after the celebration, the young couple dried and stored the cut plants as a family talisman. You could make a kind of “breathable” pillow from the petals, mixing them with dry herbs, or simply hang an elegant ikebana in the marital bedchamber.
In some areas, there was a custom of giving one flower - but not the entire bouquet - to the witness (bridesmaid).
Of course, it’s up to you to decide whether to follow the traditions of your ancestors, or come up with an unusual ritual, memorable for your family, yourself. Alternatively, you can mix cultural rituals by using a duplicate bouquet - this is what many getting married couples do now. The main thing is that your decision to marry is mutual, and the relationship is built on great love, honesty and mutual understanding. Then no signs of a family idyll will be scary!
A wedding is the most solemn, unforgettable and happiest holiday for a married couple. This is a very beautiful and significant event. And any such celebration is not complete without flowers. They bring joy and hope to people, decorate our reality, give delightful aromas and convey what cannot be expressed in any words. The most beautiful wedding flowers are, of course, the bride's bouquet.
What do you think you should do with the bride’s wedding bouquet after the wedding?
Most women carefully store the festive attribute in dried form. It is believed that such a talisman brings peace and prosperity to the home.
You should not put the bouquet in a vase; it is better to dry the flower petals separately and burn the remaining elements.
The dried elements of the bundle can be sewn into the newlyweds' pillows as a talisman for a young family.
In the West, it is customary to burn a festive bouquet on the first wedding anniversary. Moreover, the brighter the petals burn, the better for the couple.
In some countries, a dried flower arrangement is traditionally thrown from a bridge into the water on the first anniversary.
Throwing methods
To make the wedding more fun and varied, it is possible to come up with original competitions. This applies, among other things.
Let's consider several ways.
Russian round dance
A slightly modified ancient Russian tradition. The bridesmaids stand in a circle, in the center of which is the bride, and she closes her eyes and holds a bouquet in her hands. When the music starts playing, the girls hold hands and dance in a circle. The wedding host monitors the music, but he does not have the right to observe the round dance. At a certain point he turns off the music. The girl to whom the bouquet points and receives it.
With wishes
This method is suitable for small weddings with a small number of unmarried girls. In this case, the bride prepares bouquets for them in advance, in which she encloses letters with a wish to find her betrothed, and so on. This is more interesting and pleasant for guests than throwing a bouquet into an empty room.
With ribbons
A fair and unusual way. Each unmarried girl who wants to participate draws one of the ribbons, and only one of them is tied to the bouquet.
The ribbons need to be a little tangled so that it is not possible to see where their ends lead. Moreover, they all must be the same color. There is another version of this method. Each girl takes a ribbon and ties it to the bouquet. Then the bride closes her eyes and the bouquet rises up.
The bride makes 3 turns to get confused and begins to blindly cut off the ribbons. The bouquet goes to the one whose ribbon remains last.
How to avoid the consequences predicted in signs
To avoid the consequences predicted in the signs about the bride’s wedding bouquet, it is enough to follow simple rules:
- do not give your bouquet to anyone other than the groom or mother, even for a short time;
- use only fresh flowers as a wedding attribute, and use an artificial bouquet only as a backup;
- do not pin the bunch to the waistband of the wedding dress; as a last resort, use special bouquet holders on your hand;
- during the celebration, wedding flowers should be on the table in front of the newlyweds;
- It is better to store dried petals or buds in the couple’s bedroom, and burn the remaining parts.
There is no need to be nervous and harass yourself and your loved ones because of the misunderstanding that happened. After all, this wedding attribute itself carries powerful energy and serves as the strongest amulet for the couple.
Signs
In addition to throwing the bouquet itself, there are other beliefs, signs and traditions that are associated with this ritual. You can diversify your wedding and observe them, especially for those who really believe in various sacraments and supernatural powers.
According to tradition, it is the groom who must prepare the bouquet, and with his own hands, and not entrust this task to the bride or her bridesmaids. It is advisable that he collect flowers in the field or in the forest. Of course, it would be better to see a luxurious bouquet. But there is no point in this if it is simply bought in a store. A bouquet collected with your own hands, with love and tenderness for your future wife, will have a much deeper meaning and serve as a symbol of devotion and love.
A long-standing sign says that the bouquet should always be in the hands of the bride or in her sight. Under no circumstances should you give a bouquet to strangers or evil people, as it is believed that bad energy is transferred through contact. The bouquet can be entrusted to the groom, mother or best friend. No one else. Learn more about how to handle a bouquet during a celebration.
Another bad omen is that if the bride drops the bouquet, then the married life will be short or unhappy.
You can make two bouquets for a wedding: one for the bridesmaids and one for yourself. A copy is usually placed in the marital pillow in order to feel the aroma of celebration and fun at the wedding for some time. After it dries and stops smelling, it is used to make a composition in the form of a herbarium as a wedding souvenir, which is kept in the family in memory of a happy youth.
Interesting!
Find out, . Many of them are observed to this day.
Simply put, this means they agree to be together forever. Another option is this: on the anniversary day, a husband and wife go to any bridge over the river, take with them champagne and an old bouquet, which should be thrown from the bridge into the water and then drink a glass of champagne. It is believed that this will strengthen family ties. In fact, all the signs and beliefs that it is important to catch the bride’s bouquet at a wedding have a certain basis. This has to do with psychology.
Wedding signs
The bride should never let go of the attribute. If there is an urgent need for this, then it is best to give it to your new husband or mother. While the bouquet is on the table, you do not need to let it out of sight. In ancient times, people believed that using this attribute could bring harm to a new family. The wedding bouquet was quite actively used in magical rituals carried out by the bride’s rivals.
If you decide to store the bouquet at home, then it is best to do this in your own bedroom. You can store a garter with it, which the groom removes in the middle of the wedding ceremony. After a year of marriage has passed, you need to throw away the attributes from the bridge and celebrate this significant event.
