Are you throwing a bouquet?

I'm not sure if I'll throw it. I don't have many single women coming to my wedding so it might be a bit of a ghost town on the dancefloor for the bouquet throw! But since we're not having a first dance, who knows? It depends on how much I;ve had to drink and how sick of it I am by the evening.

Whilst traditionally the bridal bouquet was thrown, because bouquets these days are more intricate and contain things like pins, brooches, wired flowers etc, some styles of bouquets are better not thrown as they end up getting badly damaged or, worse still, hurting someone in the process of catching it.

If you are having a hand-tied bouquet without any embellishments, then you should be OK to throw that if you aren't bothered about it getting heads knocked off or squashed. Otherwise, a small simple posy for throwing is a safer bet.

Edited to show our daughter's throw if that helps! I did her a small tightly packed posy to throw as her actual bouquet she wanted to keep. She throw it backwards over her head - here's the catcher too!

At my first wedding I had a separate, smaller posy that I threw. My married aunt caught it (she's also very competitive) and gave it to her granddaughter who was a toddler at the time.

this time around we're having a small, informal wedding and won't be having much tradition at all. We only have 3 unmarried female guests. 2 are teenagers and 1 will be 12 so there's not much point anyway.

Thanks guys.

It's not really something that I am comfortable with. I do have a few single friends but I'm not keen to do it. I'm also loathed to spend more money on a another wedding item, especially as I don't see the value of throwing the bouquet. So I'm not going to do it, not make a big deal of it and hope that my SIL will be so squiffy by the end of the night that she doesn't even miss it. If she does she'll get over it and she can do it when she gets hitched

Thanks for your advice.

Bridget x

Thanks for your post with photos, fab!

I love your daughter's dress by the way. the top is stunning and very different.

Thanks again

Bridget x

I didn't even consider it at our wedding as i don't like the message it gives out. If you're embarrassed about your throwing you could just not do it and just say its because you don't agree with it if anyone asks.

Thanks I-go-by-many-names, that is good advice. I have asked lots of friends for one piece of advice they would give for a wedding. Many people have said take a moment with your OH to stand back and take it all in ... yadda, yadda, yadda. Something else people have said is to please yourselves and don't worry about anyone else. We can do this largely because we are paying for the majority of the wedding ourselves. My new family-in-law are lovely but certain members are very competitive, they love a race of any sort. I know that the bouquet toss would go down well but as you said I'm not comfortable so I just won't do it. Anyone that doesn't like this will get over it I'm sure.

Thanks for your advice and yes your wedding report is long but what beautiful wedding you had. You looked stunning, I love your dress, the back is to die for, the transport to the wedding inspired and the whole day looked like a very classy affair.

Bridget x

I personally would only do something If you want to, if not then don't do it.

I also don't see the point in throwing your bouquet if it's not actually your bouquet, then you're just tossing some flowers. In my opinion, if you're really wanting to do it then throw your actual bouquet that you used. If you don't want to ruin it, which I understand, then don't it =)

If you have any reservations about it then don't do it. I'm a wedding photographer and a lot of my weddings are in the Yorkshire area. Up here, brides rarely throw their bouquets. Less than 1 in 10, I reckon. I remember a bride throwing hers 2 years ago... I don't think I've had a single bouquet toss this year.

It's a tradition that people think happens but in practice it doesn't happen very often.

Thanks Bridget, I'm old news round here so its good to know people still read my report. It's not even been sixth months but feels ages ago.

You are so right, sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees. If I don't throw my bouquet (and I won't at nearly £100, I might try and press the flowers) then I might as well pick up any flowers and chuck them across the room!

Are you throwing yours?

B x

I didn't throw mine when we got married. I took a rose out of it and pressed it in a dictionary which I still have today so it's nice to keep a little memento.

I think that it is talked about more than it is done. But having said that, because it seems to be talked about more it is bringing it to the attention to people who may never of heard about it.

So now I have seen that after many years as a wedding photographer in Leicester and 100s of weddings I had only seen 2 done and now all of a sudden I have seen 2 in this year alone.

I think it can be good fun and when you think about it, when it is done later on in the day or evening so by then flowers are way past their best anyway from being plonked on the floor, squashed by the groom and used as a wasp swat !, so by then they have played their part and done their job.

Throwing them and being caught will not cause that much more damage, unless there is a fight for them.Yes they can be expensive but that could be a reason to get some extra mileage out of them by doing a throw.

Also perhaps you are going on honeymoon for 2 or 3 weeks so they will not be looking the same when you get back anyway.

I'm not throwing mine. I don't really know many single women.

I also don't want my bouquet destroyed and I'm not buying one just to throw, what a waste!

I have never actually seen it done at a wedding. I attended plenty of weddings as a single woman and if I had ever been encouraged to take part in a bouquet toss I would have been mortified,

I think I'll be throwing mine. I've been involved in quite a few of these and it's always a bit of fun! :-)