Wedding Tradition: The Bouquet

Did you ever consider walking down the aisle clutching a bundle of garlic and dill?

Well, if you're a stickler for tradition, you might want to think about it. Until modern times, brides did carry garlic and dill. The practice probably originated from the time of the Plague, when people clutched the herbs over their noses and mouths in a desperate effort to survive.

Survivors of great tragedy can affix tremendous protective powers to anything that has provided comfort, and the herbs made it into the ceremony marking renewal. Over time, brides added better-smelling flora to the arrangement, and a whole dictionary of meaning arose to define each type of blossom

Wedding Tradition :Carrying the Bride Across the Threshold

This tradition is thought to come from a few different roots. For example, let's begin our bride-toting origins tour in medieval Europe. This story goes something like this; during the Middle Ages, it would have been improper for a bride to show any eagerness or desire to consummate her marriage -- and therefore she needed to be carried over the threshold by her groom.

Virginity aside, most other origins of this tradition come from superstition and belief in evil spirits. Carrying the bride across the threshold in Western Europe, for example, was once thought to help keep away evil spirits. You wouldn't want a clumsy bride to trip as she walked through the threshold and bring bad luck to the marriage, nor would you want the evil spirits hidden in the soles of her feet to curse the house as she walks through the doorway.

Today the tradition is considered a romantic gesture rather than a result of superstition or modesty.

Wedding Tradition: Grooms: Don't Look at the Bride Before the Ceremony

The superstition that it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding dates back to the time when it was more common for marriages to be arranged by families -- more business transaction, less love. Because it would be embarrassing for everyone involved if the groom backed out before the ceremony if he didn't like what he saw, the pair were kept separate.

Today couples interpret this tradition in their own way; some honor it, while others prefer to shake off their pre-ceremony nerves together -- and it's a great time to take at least some of your photos because no one (likely) has cried yet.

Wedding Tradition :Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue ... and a silver sixpence in your shoe." It's a Victorian rhyme listing popular wedding traditions that were thought to bring a bride good luck -- and each piece of the rhyme has roots in its own superstition. For instance, something old ties the bride to her family and her past, while something new is supposed to give the new couple a happy future.

The bride should borrow something from a happily married wife to bring happiness, health and longevity to the newlyweds. The something blue is supposed to represent love and fidelity. And a silver sixpence in my shoe? Sure, it's cold hard cash, but superstition suggests fortune will smile upon a bride with some small change in her slipper.

Wedding Traditions: Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids: Your Matching Dresses Make You Decoys

While it may feel like cruel and unusual punishment for several women to show up to the same event expected to wear the same dress -- not only in the same color but in the same style -- there's a reason behind the tradition. Or, at least, there's a superstition that started this whole matching thing.

If you've never been able to reuse a bridesmaid dress, you're not alone, but the wedding tradition didn't take hold to make you look bad (and the bride even better). Really. Instead of blaming the bride, blame the Romans. Because of Roman superstition, Roman law required 10 wedding guests to dress similarly to the bride and groom (groomsmen, your matching tuxes also fit here) for good luck -- the matching outfits were thought to confuse any evil spirits who might want to curse the couple

Wedding Traditions: Te Wedding Dress

When Queen Victoria wore a white wedding gown, it was considered stylish but a rather conservative fashion choice. (And when she married her cousin Albert in 1840, it was also a color you'd wear while in mourning.) Trends at the time were toward colorful dresses, or, for many women, wearing their best dress along with all their best accessories. Victoria's white dress adorned with orange blossoms, however, was an immediate fashion hit, inspiring women to wear white; the color quickly became a symbol of purity, innocence and chastity.

 

 

Queen Victoria Wore White ... Now It's Tradition

Queen Victoria's wedding dress on display in Kensington Palace in March 2012

Vera Wang, classic Bridal

I just love this design from Vera Wang. The color is so beautiful & unique!

Front View

Back View

This pair of shoes looks so romantic

Can be wore during the wedding dinner:)

How about these beautiful shoes for the wedding ???