Tossing the bridal bouquet is a tradition that goes back as far as the fourteenth century. According to one legend, a bride was believed to be extremely lucky on her wedding day. After the ceremony, guests would rush toward the bride in order to tear off a piece of her dress to take home as a good luck charm. Often, a huge scuffle would ensue that became dangerous to both the bride and her guests. Brides began to throw their stockings, garters, and bouquet in order to fend off her would be attackers.
Other people believe that this tradition dates back to when it was a common tradition for friends and family to witness the "honeymoon." The witnesses would then take the garter as proof that the marraige had been consumated. consummate their marriage. But in order for it to be proven it was common tradition to have people like family and friends come into the room with the couple to witness it. The "witnesses" would obtain the garter as "proof" of the consummation.
At some point, the tradition changed, the attacks died down, the wedding night got more private, and the tradition switched to simply throwing the bridal bouquet and the bride's garter. Today, many brides often wear two garters or switch garters right before the toss in order to preserve one garter. Typically the groom makes a big show about removing it from the bride before the garter toss. For that reason, you may want to select two songs--one for when the groom removes the garter and another for when he tosses it.
Where once it was believed that the man whou caught it would be the next to marry, today he is more likely to be the next to dance--often times the man who catches the garter will then place it on the leg of the woman who caught the bouquet and then they will start the next dance.
While some couples are doing away with these traditions, most are either continuing them or doing something similiar. One example that can be done either in addition or as an alternative to the garter toss is the teddy bear toss. This is especially fun for any children who have attend the wedding. Purchase special bears dressed in wedding outfits and then toss them to a group of kids. Don't be surprised if you find a few adults lurking in there trying to catch the bears for themselves!
Should you decide to toss the garter (or bear) we have found some of the most popular songs used for this occasion. We have all types of songs from slow, fast, rock, country, oldies, and modern hits. For your convenience, we have included links to the sheet music on Sheetmusicplus.com as well as the CD on Amazon.com whenever available. If you are looking to purchase the mp3 or would like to listen to a sample, then click on either the Amazon, Rhapsody, or iTunes links. If a link to one of these sites is absent, it is generally because that site does not offer it for sale.
Rhapsody provides both music subscriptions as well as individual mp3s for sale in WMA format and iTunes only provides MPEG-4 audio files for sale. However, Amazon does offer mp3s that are compatible with both Windows Media Player and iTunes. For more information about where to purchase music online, we provide it on our Music Downloads page or our Music Subscriptions page.
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For more garter toss songs go to page 2 or scroll down for more wedding reception song pages. Don't forget to check our numerous pages on Love Songs for more songs appropriate for weddings.
For more reception songs, go to Best Wedding Reception Songs or select one of the pages below:
For more ceremony songs, go to Best Wedding Ceremony Songs or select one of the pages below:
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