The Flower Girl

     Young, innocent, whimsical, those are all words people have come to associate with flower girls. It is because of this that they symbolize so much at weddings. It is also because of this that they have been around for so long, for they have been incorporated into just as many weddings nowadays as ever. When you think about it though, you come to wonder how the tradition started in the first place.

     In medieval times, it was customary for royal weddings to have large amounts of particularly young guests. It became tradition of sorts for these young guests to bring herbs and flowers of all kinds with them to scatter before the wedding reception as a way of adding a bit of sweet and subtle beauty to the marriage ceremony. The flower girl we see nowadays mainly evolved from such traditions seen at Victorian weddings, back in the mid seventeenth to early eighteenth centuries. Then, a young girl was chosen to walk down the aisle right before the vows and exchanging of the rings wearing a white dress with a colored sash, carrying a decorative basket filled with flower petals. This same tradition is seen quite commonly all over the world now, as many people cannot help but wish to incorporate such a sweet and innocent image into their wedding celebrations.

By Julia Dankov

Why Do Brides Throw Their Bouquets?

     It's customary all around the world for brides to carry bridal bouquets with them at weddings. Even someone who's never attended a wedding would know that. This someone would also know that at some point during a wedding, the bride tosses this bridal bouquet of hers into a crowd of her closest female friends. It's believed that whichever woman catches the bouquet is next in line to marry. This tradition is old and long-standing, but how did it all start?

     Ever since the general idea of weddings was introduced, people have considered brides to be particularly lucky people. Everyone wanted a piece of that luck. When a bride and groom would gather to throw their wedding, they would of course invite wedding guests. During the wedding, these guests would go to quite desperate measures to try and symbolize their desire for a piece of the brides luck; they would go so far as to chase her down and try to tear off bits of her bridal gown. Naturally, the bride would oppose this. That's why the idea of tossing the bridal bouquet came to mind, as a way of distracting the guests and leaving the bride with plenty of time to get away unscathed. Over the years, the activity evolved and replaced the act of tearing off bits of the bridal gown. Now, the tradition is seen at almost every wedding and still continues to symbolize the sharing of the brides luck.

 By Julia Dankov

Sweden's Unusual Wedding Bouquets

      Flower bouquets are customary additions to weddings all around the globe, whether they stand in pots around the room for decoration or in lay in the hands of the bridesmaids. The Swedes, however, have quite an unusual take on the average wedding flower bouquet. If you ever choose to attend the wedding of any Swedish couple really wishing to follow one of the oldest wedding traditions in the book, then get ready to spend your entire night trying to breathe as little as humanly possible. Why, you ask? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that the Swedes often replace lilacs and lilies for smelly weeds.

      This old wedding tradition requires the bridesmaids to carry bouquets of putrid-smelling weeds in their arms for the entire night, just as any common wedding requires the bridesmaids to carry around bundles of pretty little blossoms. This is done to supposedly ward off trolls and other such evil spirits. You can only imagine how much fun the guests have at weddings like these, having to hold their breath for large portions of the entire night. On the bright side, at least they'll be sitting in rooms or restaurants that are virtually evil spirit free!

By Julia Dankov