Most weddings you attend will have a moment during the wedding reception where the bride tosses her bridal bouquet. During these events, the single women line up in the center of the room and prepare themselves to be the lucky ones who catch the coveted item. It is said that the single woman who catches the bridal bouquet is the next to be married.

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Discover the origin of the bouquet toss.

The bouquet toss stems from an age-old European belief that it was lucky for single women to steal a piece of the bride’s gown. Women would chase the bride down after the ceremony and rip pieces of her dress off for themselves to hold as luck for their future marriage. As wedding gowns became more expensive, and more brides planned on keeping their gowns, personal objects were thrown to single women to keep as good luck charms. This eventually led to the organized bouquet toss, one of the most well-known wedding traditions.

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What if I want to keep my bridal bouquet?

For my wedding, I made my own bouquet from fresh flowers at the local farmers market, and had no problem letting it go after our ceremony. Some brides however spend several hundred dollars on a large bouquet designed and crafted by a professional florist. I have known many friends who have had their bouquets freeze dried and preserved in a shadow box. They chose to have a small inexpensive bouquet made to toss at their wedding receptions.

Eddie Marroquin Photography

Wedding traditions are fun, but feel free to customize your day.

While many women enjoy the tradition of tossing the bouquet, for a variety of reasons others are less fond of the custom. Many modern brides are modifying or opting out of the bouquet toss. A popular modification is to throw a loosely tied bundle of flowers (one for each single woman in attendance) that separates when tossed,  so each lady gets a flower. Of course, it’s absolutely okay to not include any wedding traditions you don’t want to—it’s your wedding after all! Simply omit them from the festivities and spend more time dancing!

Did you have a bouquet toss at your wedding? Did you do anything special to make it unique? Tell us by commenting below!

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