The traditional tossing of the bridal bouquet goes all the way back to medieval Europe and stems (please excuse the pun) from the fact that the bride was said to be especially lucky on her wedding day. After the wedding ceremony was over, the bride was essentially attacked by guests who attempted to rip off pieces of her dress to take home for good luck. In order to avoid the post-ceremony riots, brides began tossing their stockings (hence the garter custom) to the ravenous crowds. Finally the tradition settled on the tossing of the bouquet which was a more lady-like option for brides.
A story for my women friends...
Today I attended a "goodbye" party for a friend of mine who got a great new job and is moving out of state. I asked what I could bring to the party and the hostess said that pastries would be wonderful.
Last night I went out to the store and bought puff pastry sheets and all the ingredients to make "Strawberry Napoleons" which include layers of strawberries, vanilla pudding and whipped cream... a recipe which I found on the side of the box. Everything went very well this morning when I made the whipped cream from scratch and layered all the ingredients. Then, just a few minutes before leaving my house, I went to cut the long pastry layers into smaller party size pieces and the whole thing promptly fell apart.
Chaos ensued as I tried to salvage the mess in between tears, cursing and chucking handfulls of pudding mush into my sink. Finally I had to call it quits and drive to the local bakery to buy pastries. I cried the whole way to the bakery and ordered a box of mixed pastries with bright red cheeks and a runny nose from crying.
Sitting in my car, trying to compose myself before going in to the party, I decided I needed to calm down. I began thinking of you brides-to-be out there and how stressful your lives must be. I've never been a bride, and while I do my very best to provide you with useful tips and information, I think it's important for me to acknowledge the fact that planning a wedding is an emotional process and it's not all Martha Stewart perfect.
I guarantee there will be times that you, too, will fall to pieces over the silliest little thing. I think that it's ok to have a breakdown from time to time. There is so much pressure involved and so many things to juggle.
So in reflecting upon today's catastrophe, I've decided that it's ok for us ladies to cry once in awhile over something stupid, or maybe for no reason at all. Crying made me feel better, so I must have released some tension or something.
Be patient, take a deep breath and take a break from being perfect. At the end of the day, the whole point is that you and the love of your life will be married and that is a wonderful thing... all the little speed bumps along the way are what make life interesting and make for a really good story for the grandkids years down the road.
Picking a theme is a great starting place for brides and grooms that really want their wedding to stand out. Everyone wants their wedding to be memorable for the guests, but lots of couples just pick colors to work with. Of course picking a color scheme is essential, but why stop there? Adding a theme can be very simple and makes it so easy to make other decisions about the logistical details.
I'm interested to hear what other brides are doing for their themed weddings!
Stacy LaCombe-Kraft
