If you have ever been to a wedding, are planning your wedding or lived to tell the story of your wedding, there are most likely time honored wedding traditions taking place. Ever wonder how those traditions like throwing the bouquet or placing the wedding ring on your left ring finger got started?

Sometimes, knowing why these events have originated can help you determine if it is something that you would like to incorporate on your day. We have done some investigating to find out why these events have been deemed so important to the wedding day:

The Bride & Groom seeing each other before the ceremony

This became a superstition during a time of arranged marriages. In some cases the Bride and Groom had never even met before, therefor there was no risk that they would change their minds and run away when in front of the pressure filled eyes of their guests. Today, lots of couples are still honoring this tradition because it generates excitement and emotion in front of their friends and families and lets be real, who doesn’t love to see the happy couple shed some tears during the ceremony?

Tossing the Garter

In medieval times, it was said to be good luck to have a piece of the undergarments of the bride. Family & friends would wait to snatch this as proof that the marriage had been consummated. Unfortunately, the quest to prove this would sometimes get out of hand, resulting in the groom deciding to throw the garter out of the bedroom so that none of the guests would bother the newly married couple. Today, this has become a fun reception past time and the man who catches the garter indicates that he will be the next one getting hitched.

Throwing the Bouquet

A similar story to the Garter Toss. Anything obtained from the bride’s dress was said to be lucky and so to distract guests from basically attacking the bride for their good luck charms, the bride would throw her bouquet into the crowd and then her and the groom would be free to  get away. During modern weddings, the bouquet toss is a fun way for all of the “single ladies” to get their chance at happily ever after.

The Traditional “Ring” Finger

Because the rings are circular in shape and represent a love everlasting, they have been placed on the left hand next to the pinky because the Romans believed that finger is connected to the heart.

Something Old, Something New…

The tradition of the bride having “Something borrowed, something blue, something old and something new” is still going strong after hundreds of years after originating from an Old English rhyme. Brides either carry with them (usually added to their bouquet somehow) family heirlooms, passed down jewelry, borrowed hankies. Wearing blue hued shoes is also a popular way to incorporate her “something blue”. According to The Knot.com, the meaning behind “something borrowed” is a symbol of borrowing happiness for the marriage, “something blue” is thought to represent purity, fidelity and love, “something old” is for continuity (the continuation of this tradition) and “something new” represents an optimistic future.

The list of these wedding traditions can go on and on. We thought it was interesting to discover how and why some of these traditions became so popular and some of reasons why they were started are not what we thought, either. During the wedding, guests actually look forward to these events and have a great time scrambling for the bouquet or garter. Thankfully, we have not witnessed any brides and grooms being tackled after the ceremony and we hope we never do!