Table of Contents Show
The bouquet toss, together with the garter toss has always been one of the most traditional parts of the wedding festivities. During the bouquet toss the Master of Ceremonies will invite the ladies to the dance floor and play an upbeat song as all the single ladies gather to try and find the right angle to stand so that they can catch the bouquet!
It is always the same old predictable tradition In some cases, the groom will spin the bride around a few times before she tosses the bouquet.
The throwing of the bouquet dates to hundreds of years ago. It was originally thought that owning a piece of the bride’s dress was a good luck charm. This superstition was taken seriously by the single ladies at the wedding, and they would practice no restraint when it came to getting a piece of the bride’s wedding gown.
In this article, we will discuss the tradition of the tossing of the wedding bouquet and discover various new ways in which the bride can add a bit of a twist to the traditional bouquet toss. This is the perfect place if you’re looking for toss the bouquet ideas.
Throwing of the Bouquet: The Tradition
Of course, this would sometimes cause a little bit of anxiety for the bride as she was often caught unaware as a guest would tear off a piece of her wedding dress at the reception.
Eventually, with time the tradition changed, and the bride would toss her bouquet into the crowd before she ran off with her groom leaving her wedding dress unscathed.
Different Ideas for Throwing The Bouquet
Traditionally, it has come to be known that the lady who catches the bouquet is going to be the next to marry. This festivity normally happens towards the end of the reception and signifies the celebration of her single friends and wishes them luck when it comes to love and marriage.
This can sometimes be quite a competitive exercise and the single ladies will often go crazy and bump each other out of the way just to catch the bouquet to honor the tradition of being the next to walk down the aisle or simply go home with a beautiful centerpiece!
Here are few ways in which the bride can make the throwing of the bouquet unique and different:
The Break-Away Bouquet
Sometimes a bride will have two bouquets made. One will be used to throw into the crowd and the other one will be for her to keep.
The bride can also ask her florist to create a bouquet made of three or four mini bouquets. These will be loosely tied together to give the guests the illusion that they are only going to be trying to catch one bouquet.
Once the bouquet is tossed the bow will come apart allowing multiple guests to catch one of the bouquets.
A breakaway bouquet is, however, slightly different. The bouquet will look like a solid bouquet to the naked eye but once it is thrown it will separate into several smaller prices allowing for all the single women to get a piece of the bouquet and an equal chance for them to be the next one to walk down the aisle.
The Flower Ceremony
When it comes to smaller more intimate ceremonies the bride can ask the master of ceremonies to announce a flower ceremony.
This is when all the bride’s friends meet on the dance floor and the bride will hand them each a flower from her bouquet.
To make the flower ceremony even more memorable and special the bride can tell each of her friends what she loves about them or quite simply thank them for coming to her wedding.
The Anniversary Dance
The Anniversary dance is often used in weddings that consist of a lot of couples who are in a relationship. They can be dating or married. The Master of Ceremonies will ask these couples to join the bride and groom for a slow dance while a romantic song plays in the background.
The Master of Ceremonies will then start counting down and periodically ask couples who have been together for less than a year to leave the floor.
Thereafter the count will go up to two years, four years five years, and will carry on until the couple that has been together the longest will be the only ones left on the dance floor.
The bride will hand her bouquet to the couple left on the floor who have been together for the longest.
Give Pieces of The Bouquet to The Most Important Ladies
If the bride wants to use this tradition to honor the special woman in her life, then this would be the best chance in which to do it.
The bouquet can be split into two pieces and given to the bride’s mother and possibly her mother-in-law to thank them for the part that they have played in her life.
For the Kids
If the bride’s wedding is going to be comprised of a lot of children, then why not prepare a special moment for them just before the bridal bouquet toss.
The bride can toss a teddy bear or a smaller bouquet for the children to catch before she throws her bouquet. Not only will this be fun for the little ones, but it will also make for some unique photo opportunities.
The Switch
If the bride wants to change things up while making the bouquet toss extremely entertaining, then a good idea would be to throw the bouquet to all the single men instead! The women can have their chance too by catching the garter that will be thrown by the groom.
Include Everyone
Throwing of the bridal bouquet does not have to be limited to only single women. If you want to be a little different then invite all the guests to join in on the fun of trying to catch it.
Put Prizes In The Wedding Bouquet
This is a good idea if the bride would like everyone to participate in the bridal bouquet toss. Ask the Master of Ceremonies to announce the tossing of the bouquet and let the guests know that there is going to be a special prize for the person who catches it.
Once everyone is gathered the bride can ask the DJ to play a song that will add to the suspense of the moment just before the bride is about to toss the bouquet.
The prize can be a voucher, cash reward or even a special dance with the bride and groom!
Other Things To Remember
There are some other important things to remember when it comes to the throwing of the bouquet and for the bride who wants her wedding day to be perfect, she should look at the following guidelines so that her wedding toss goes off exactly as she has envisioned.
Practice Tossing
Practice the toss with something of similar weight to the bouquet. While this may seem a little extreme for something that should be relatively simple, the last thing you want is to toss the bouquet and have it land at your feet.
Time The Throw
The bouquet should be thrown at a time that the reception is at its liveliest with the drinks flowing and the guests dancing and having fun. Try not to leave it too late as some guests may have left before you have done the toss.
Go Through The Guest List
If you have a guest list that is full of single ladies, then your bouquet toss is going to become quite an event on its own! Encourage some competition between the girls to make bouquet toss even more memorable!
Keep It Fair
The bouquet toss must be done fairly. The bride shouldn’t make it easy for her sister or best friend to be the ones to catch the bouquet as guests are going to notice this.
The best way to throw the bridal bouquet is to simply aim down the middle of the crowd of women and let the bouquet choose who is going to catch it.
Skip It Altogether
If throwing the bouquet is something that does not appeal to the bride then there is no need to do it. After all, it is her wedding and her time to shine so she gets to choose whether there is going to be a bouquet toss or not!