As I grew up I was perplexed by weddings and all the "rituals" within them. All weddings looked the same! When I got older I worked in a bridal shop, the number of times I heard brides say they "had to" to do this or that.. the number of times I would hear of a bride her "concerns" over wearing the color "white". The only correlation I was aware of with white and "virginity" was for sacrifices not for a bride .
If tradition was the most important part, the groom would be paid to take the burden of a daughter of her parents' hands. Or the groom would be kidnapping and hiding the bride until no one is looking for her anymore. Thank goodness these "traditions" are not the norm!Have you ever noticed the most memorable weddings are the ones that break tradition?
Think about it, what makes a wedding memorable? It certainly is not the cookie cutter wedding. It is not throwing every tradition in it because you either think it is required or you think it would be a "good" idea.
What is most important part of the wedding? The most important is the couple getting married and the love between them. It is not their parents, their friends, the decor, the dress, or anything else! The wedding should be enjoyable and fun!
The dress... this is what blows my mind. Why on earth is it suddenly rational to pay an excessive price for something that is worn for one day!?? Some think they will hand it down, as an heirloom, but how often does that real happen? How often will styles stay that consistent? How likely will it be she will be the height and size of the bride (and not need additional fabric added?)? To think a puffy white gown is timeless is misguided, since the poufy was popularized by the 1950s and the white was just over a century ago. So choosing a gown for a future generation is not realistic, the gown should fit the style of the bride, as well as fit the bride in general, she should be comfortable!
Cakes... wow how did this get so ridiculous? What started out as a pile of baked goods became an overpriced confection!
Things to Toss... garter, bouquet, rice... Somehow the bizarre strip ritual of one piece of clothing (garter)replaced other bizarre rituals. Anything on the bride was considered lucky, brides would be ripped to ribbons as they fled the ceremony. Brides ribboned their clothes on their own, so she could toss ribbons to the crowd to make a quick escape. The tossing of the bouquet became another method of a quick getaway.
Modern changes:
Break-away bouquets (break apart in the air so many people get a mini-bouquet).
Charms: these have been added to the break-away bouquets as well as being pull-charms in a cake. These charms each represent different meanings.
Charm meanings: