Photo Courtesy of brideheaven.com
The reason why brides carry bouquets as they march unto the path of commitment is pretty unclear. But there are lots of theories attesting to its credibility and honestly, they’re quite disturbing.
As far as we’re concerned, our wedding day should be awesome in every sense, from the preparations to the choice of the venue, the dress and most importantly, our bouquet. Pretty much basic dreams, right? Wrong. Apparently, back in the day – and by back in the day we mean 15th century-ish- bride goals were not the same. If you’re already married, then you probably know that you carried your bouquet for aesthetic purposes and well, because it’s tradition, everybody’s been doing it for as long as you can remember and you don’t want to look ignorant(#legit). But way back when things didn’t come as easy as they did to us! Au contraire, if brides were doing something- anything- believe me, it was probably for a valid reason. So get a load of this: according to one theory, brides used to carry flowers to mask their baffling body odor! And why did they smell bad in the first place? Simply because, back in the day, people used to shower once per year, specifically in May, which clarifies the occurrence of June-weddings. Well, that erases a lot of question marks!
Another theory recalls curses and whatnot! In order to ward off evil spirits, brides made it a habit to carry bouquets full of spices, herbs and – wait for it – onions (ugh, we know, right?).
One last theory says that bouquets were actually used to protect the bride. Yes, protect. While we’re completely baffled as to why the bride should protect herself on her wedding day, rumor has it that guests used to tear her clothes apart as to lay their hands on her vibrant good luck!
But enough weirdness for one day! Future brides-to-be, we only have one, and one message only for you: carry that bouquet oh-so proudly and go get hitched!
Cindy Menassa
