Why Does a Bride Wear a Bridal Garter?

For those who do not know what a bridal garter is it is an accessory that the bride wears under her wedding gown on her thigh just above her knee.  In times past a woman wore a bridal garter for functional reasons
because they were needed to hold up her stockings.  Today they are no longer needed for functional reasons because most women wear panty hose under their wedding gowns.  They wear them today for the purpose of tradition and aesthetics.

For the modern bride there are many style variations but the typically one is a stretchy cloth band that adorned with decorations such as bows or lace and is typically white.  Because of the saying “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, many brides will chose a bridal garter or a wedding garter that has blue accents.  Some even choose to coordinate the color of the garter with the color of the attendants dress.

In the United States there is the wedding tradition of tossing the bridal garter during the wedding reception and is often performed in conjunction with tossing the bridal bouquet.  The standard tradition is that the bride will sit in the middle of the floor on a chair at the wedding reception where the groom will remove it from her leg and throw it to the single male guests.  Many times the bride will choose to wear two garters so she can keep one as a keepsake and have the other one thrown.

It is thought that the tradition of the garter originated in France or England during the fourteenth century.  There are several theories as to how this tradition developed with one being that it is considered good luck to get a piece of the clothing that the bride wore which in times past it led to guests attempting to tear off pieces of the bride’s wedding gown.  To protect their wedding gown from being torn brides then began to toss personal items in substitution such as the bridal garter.

There is also another theory which comes from an old English custom and from which the modern tradition evolved is that the guests would follow the just married couple to their wedding chambers and attempt to steal the stockings that belonged to the bridal party.  Then the guests would throw the stockings over their shoulder in an attempt to hit the bride and groom.   If they succeeded they would have good luck.  Regardless of how the tradition of throwing bridal garter began many brides today carry on the tradition of wearing one at their wedding.