The Tradition of the Wedding Garter

Today, we are pleased to introduce Jodie Ford as our guest blogger, who has written a piece on the traditions of the wedding garter.

"Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue."- Opt for a wedding garter with a hint of blue to fulfil ‘something blue’, which symbolises purity, loyalty and faithfulness… or maybe, you could try ‘something different.’

Like a four-leafed clover, the tradition of tossing the bridal garter is seen as a symbol of good luck, dating back to the 14^th century. The romantic history of the garter still lives on and is a fundamental custom to any wedding ceremony.

It then came to be that the bride would instead throw various items to the crowd - including the garter. The accessory is taken off and thrown into the sea of bachelors or groomsmen, as opposed to the bouquet in which eligible ladies have their eyes fixated on and anticipate that it will fall to their hands.

The removal of the garter originated from the view held by guests at weddings that owning a piece of the bride’s clothing, would bring them good luck. As you can imagine, this did not bode well with the bride, having guests lunge at her to ruin and rip at her wedding dress.

The wedding garter was also associated with the bride’s virginity. When the groom removed this item from her leg, it represented the idea that she would be forsaking her virginity.

Generally brides have two garters - one to carry out the tradition during the ceremony and one to keep as a cherished keepsake. Charms can be added such as a horse shoe, double rings or hearts which add a personal touch.

Wedding garters are still very popular and they are lovingly-made with silk, lace and bows. However, lots of different materials and colours are available to take your pick from – wedding garters don’t have to be blue! Choose one that means something, reflects your personality or simply integrates with your wedding theme.

Wedding Paraphernalia offers a wide variety of beautiful wedding garters (blue or not), ranging from traditional, vintage garters to contemporary, pure and delicate pieces.

It's your Wedding DAY, not a mish mash of colour

Recently, we have found that brides are purchasing lots of items in their colours but from lots of different suppliers - maybe because they are cheaper or maybe at that moment in time you just love those so have to have them!

But stop and think for a moment. Is everything going to match? Whilst we don't want everything exactly the same colour, we want tones coming together; remember that there are different sides to every colour. Your purple bridesmaids may be the red side of purple, but the chair cover sashes you have ordered are the blue side and will actually clash on the day.

Slow down a bit, use suppliers that will work backwards with you. Make you look at the whole picture of the whole day. It's your wedding; it's not your wedding favours are from here, your invites from here and the chair covers are here; it's a day, it's your wedding day.

So you've already bought the wedding favours, because you couldn't resist. Let's start from there. Let's put that wedding favour on the white tablecloth, with a white napkin, glassware and cutlery. Now let's add a ribbon round the napkin, that complements the wedding favour. Now let's add a place name tag to that ribbon. Ooooo let's use that lovely plum card as a backing because it complements the wedding favour box and the napkin ribbon - and suddenly your wedding stationery "look and design" starts coming together.

Don't be frightened to say to your suppliers "how will that flow with everything else?". A good wedding supplier will walk you through it - we do it every day, hopefully you will only do this once and we only get one day to make it work.

At the end of the day, it will also save you money - stop buying lots of bits on e**y and hope for the best .... look at your day as a whole and it will come together.