How we Do Our Garter and Bouquet

THIS FORMAT IS OPTIONAL AND LEFT TO YOUR DISCRETION!!

Our format is to call upon all of the single women in the room first.  We have both the bride and groom involved with both segments.  When we have all of the single ladies on the dance floor, we begin by telling them that the bride has informed us that she never dreamed how fantastic this marriage thing was until now and we have the groom kiss her passionately just to prove it.  We then say that the bride is sad to see all the ladies she cares about, so lonely and unwed and that the only way they are ever going to attract a husband is if they dance (boom....in comes dance music usually fantasy by Mariah Carey.  After the ladies dance for a bit which is not hard to get them to do we have the bride toss the bouquet.  we then tell all the men that they have nothing to worry about we are not going to get them to dance...we don't want to see them dance and just to get on the dance floor cause this is the fun part.  When they arrive on the dance floor in front of the seated bride we tell them "what's good for the goose is good for the gander"  and if we don't make them dance that the women will hound us all night.  In order to coax them (cause they always need it) we say "why don't you show the bride what she's missing now that she's married.  We will usually have two fools or so ready to strut their stuff, but if no one starts to dance we start hounding them and saying what terrible spouse's the ones that aren't dancing would be and that they can't even do simple commands.  Either way we get them dancing and when they've put on enough of a show we tell the groom to out and join his so called friends and show them how a real man dances.  he must then crawl in to get the garter (optional).  The music we choose for the Garter is You Can Leave Your Hat On by Joe Cocker.

Old Customs

In early days, men had to capture their brides with the help of their friends.  The "best man" would distract the bride's family while the groom kidnapped her.  The "maids" would stay with her to comfort her and protect her.  The couple would go into hiding for the month to get to know each other better.  This is now called the honeymoon.  When the couple returned, it was the best mans duty to unite the families in friendship.  Later, men began purchasing their wives instead of kidnapping.  Families figured that if the man had enough money he would be able to keep care of their daughter.  

Superstitions

	To protect the bride and groom from evil spirits, the bridesmaids and groomsmen dressed like the couple so the spirits wouldn't know who was getting married.
	Wearing a veil helped ward off evil spirits
	Throwing rice represented fertility and growth
	If the engagement ring is lost the marriage suffers.
	Your wedding ring shouldn't be worn beforehand.
	It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress before the wedding.
	Honking horns and making noise scared off evil spirits
	Ancients believed that the ring finger has a vein that runs straight to the heart.

Flower Meanings

Red Roses............................Love

Red & White Roses...............Unity

Carnations....................Pure Love

Daisies...Intimate, Sharing feelings

Honeysuckle...................Devotion

Violets.......................Faithfulness

Lilies

Buttercups........................Wealth

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