Stereotypes Shattered
The wedding this weekend was a jolly good time. The quick drop-in with the family was decent, if not perfect. (No tears were shed - yay!)
I might get around to posting some more, but for the moment I'm just going to share a story.
The Bouquet and the Garter
by: Belle
by: Belle
Once upon a time, there was a wedding. The freshly married couple had danced their first dance and cut their cake. The toasts had been given, some causing blushing, some tears, some laughter. There was eating. There was drinking. There was merriment.
Stepping up to the microphone, the Matron of Honor announced the time-honored traditions of tossing the bouquet and the garter would shortly commence.
We need all the single ladies up front!
Slowly a small group of women made their way to the middle of the room, taking a place behind the bride. More than a few had to be gently persuaded to join the crowd. The ladies shuffled around, each, it seemed, vying for a position on the fringes.
One... Two... Three!
The Bride tossed the bouquet. It arced through the air, hit a ceiling beam, and fell to the floor a mere few feet in front of the group. It lay there.
Let's try that again.
One... Two... Three!
The Bride tossed the bouquet. Not one of the girls in the group ventured forward to retrieve it. The bouquet landed. It lay there.
C'mon, girls, you're supposed to catch it! One more time!
One... Two... Three!
Again, the Bride tossed. Again, the bouquet landed. Again, the young ladies were still.
Finally, the foremost girl, the one who planned to break up with her beau on their return home, sighed and stepped forward to pick up the battered and bruised flowers from the dusty floor.
The group dispersed, and the Matron of Honor called the single men to the spotlight.
Now it's time for the garter!
The boisterous bachelors filed quickly to the front from all directions. They jostled one another for a prime position.
The Groom lifted the trailing white hem and removed the garter from his Bride's leg. He stood and tossed the circle of blue and white frill through the air. The bachelors pushed forward in a small wave, trying to shove one another aside to claim the prize.
When the shuffle was over, one of them stepped out of the mass smiling, victorious, blue and white frill firmly in hand.
- The End -
It's a far cry from this, eh?
Do you think the young ladies and gentlemen in the story just comprise an odd bunch out, or is there something more significant going on here?
5 comments:
hilarious......
i can't believe anyone still throws bouquets and even more i can't believe a bride actually threw hers 3 times when it was obvious that all of the women there thought it was ridiculous and wanted no part of it. this "tradition" needs to die!
i don't think what you witnessed had anything to do with how eager (or not) the single men and women are to get married. i think the women rightly felt dumb and humiliated participating in the ritual, and the men just saw it as a competition in which the winner got a piece of women's lingerie.
The one time I actually left with a bouquet (seven years ago), I was standing at the back of the crowd chatting up a guy. The flowers flew over the group and landed at my feet. I stared at it for a second before the guy leaned over, picked it up and handed it to me. I could definitely appreciate the girls in your story.
I'm not surprised by this, because the CDC did a study about it about 6 months ago. I think it was 60 some percent men wanted to be married vs. 50 some percent women?
Hmm...I wonder if the women at weddings in more gender-balanced cities act differently than gender-biased (ie: number-balanced, not attitudes - which I'd never ever comment on ;)
Glad you had a good time (& no tears were shed)
Haha ... while the bouquet toss went fine at the recent NC wedding I attended, the garter toss involved every male over the age of 5 stepping back as a wee person stepped forward and we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. Phew.
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