Weddings are looked at by men and women alike as their biggest day — the day they quit going at the world alone and start a family and take on the world together. And, the biggest day of your life doesn’t just happen. There is the preparation, the wedding itself, the reception and hopefully an open bar.
The bride tosses the bouquet and the groom bites the garter and throws it and, of course, they smash cake into each other’s faces, which is far more amusing if there is an open bar. These are examples of today’s wedding traditions, but from where do they hail? Why do we do what we do and were they done differently before? In a word, yes.
The Traditions — Both New and Old
Weddings have been around for a very long time, though way back when you couldn’t just marry whoever you loved many weddings were arranged and conducted like business deals to promote both families.
That said not all marriages of old were like this and sometimes the proposed marriage candidates did actually fall in love with each other. So, the wedding came, whether they liked it or not and then the after party.
Tossing the bouquet: We all know this one, but do you know how it started? Back in England, marriage was good luck, as the combining of a family meant more money and less poverty.
The crowd at a wedding, believing that the bride was somehow lucky, would rip at her dress to get a piece of the ‘luck’ and the bride would toss the bouquet and run away. Today, the bride just tosses the bouquet and the woman that catches it is supposed to be the next to wed.
Giving away the bride: This is for you, men. You know how you are supposed to ask the father of the bride if he approves of you taking her hand in marriage before she even knows she is going to be the bride. Well, that stems from the past too.
Only back then when arranged marriages were common, the groom to be and his family usually had to actually buy the bride. Luckily now, it’s just a permission thing. That’s because the trend of looking at humans as property is now considered morally corrupt and disgusting.
Traditions and Wedding Flowers
Traditions come from somewhere and with time they very clearly change, which looking at what they were it is probably for the best that they changed. We hope our blog on wedding traditions has proved entertaining and informative. 
When it is time to plan for that big day, be sure to check out any one of our San Diego locations for all your wedding flower needs, including wedding bouquets, wedding flower centerpieces, cake flowers, wedding ceremony flowers and wedding reception flowers.
