child giving bride a horseshoe/gift

Yes, I did it myself when I was a flower girl (actually, it was a black cat, I loved it and refused to hand it over! My mum managed to convince me to 'pretend' to hand it over so we could get a photo. You can still see the determination in my eyes to keep it though!)

I've seen it in weddings in Wales and Scotland - usually a horse-shoe. This is what I found about it:

Legend has it the 10th Century Archbishop of Canterbury, Dunstan, who was a former blacksmith managed to outwit the devil. The devil was thought to have asked Dunstan to shoe his hoof. Dunstan had realised his customer was the devil and nailed the shoe on as painfully as he could. The devil begged for mercy. Dunstan agreed to remove the shoe on condition that the devil agreed never to enter a place where a horseshoe was hung over the door.

The horseshoe is also thought to help with fertility. Horseshoes would be presented to the bride and groom and they were often displayed as cake-toppers. In order to retain the good luck the horseshoe should be hung upside down with the shoulders pointing upwards otherwise all the luck in your marriage would fall out.

yes!! I also did it as a child! Im not sure if it will happen at mine tho seeing as my FG is from my OHs side and they kinda have shocked me at how much they dont know about weddings!

Yup, absolutely! I did it for all my cousins as a little girl! There were rolling pins, black cats, and horseshoes we used to give. They also used to have suprise chimney sweeps turn up as well for luck which people don't seem to have nowadays either.

I really didn't want any of these as I don't really like them. However, I did get one and I love it. It was made by my flower girl and her little brother, it's a wooden spoon, decorated with a butterfly, and some lace, and they said they made a spoon as I like cooking!

I got given 5 or 6 different horseshoes from family members and friends at the wedding. I wasn't expecting it as the last two weddings we have been to this hasn't happened so I was a bit shocked when everyone started giving them to me, but they were really sweet and people wrote messages on the back of them and the ribbon. I put them in front of the cake when we went inside. It good to know the ledgend behind them. Must make sure they stay the right way up !!