The Garter Alternative
There is one wedding “tradition” which I had never come across prior to coming to the United States. It’s the “tossing of the garter” where, in front of all guests, the groom takes off his bride’s garter (sometimes using only with his teeth) and then tosses it to all the single guys, much in the same way as a bride throws a bouquet:
Now, maybe I’m overly sensitive or maybe it’s just because I’m English, but I think this is a custom which is both extremely tacky and undignified:
The Alternative
So with what do I think the “garter toss” should be replaced? Well, what does Scripture say is the essence of being a husband?
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church… – Ephesians 5:25
A husband is called to love his wife as Christ loved His Church. So how did Christ love?
After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. – John 13:5
So with what should the garter toss be replaced?
If I ever get married, there will not be a garter toss.
Instead, the future Mrs. B will have some extremely clean feet 🙂
“Tacky and undignified” – I am so pleased that someone finally said this about this wedding custom! The future Mrs. Bates will be one very, very lucky bride (with squeaky clean tootsies)!
If only more husbands felt this way….
Oddly enough, I had a dream several nights ago that I was a guest at a wedding where the groom washed the bride’s feet, albeit in the middle of the nuptial Mass. Strange. Anyway… 🙂
If you think the garter toss is tacky (and I completely agree, I’ve never thought it was classy, either), there’s also a cringe-worthy continuation I’ve seen at a handful of wedding receptions wherein the man who catches the garter is expected/encouraged to then put it on the leg of the woman who catches the bouquet. Oh, yes. They’re usually complete strangers, and it either becomes incredibly vulgar or just very awkward (at a cousin’s wedding, the woman who caught the bouquet was in her 40s and a 13-year-old boy caught the garter. He put it on the woman’s wrist). I have no idea how this got started. As if diving under a woman’s skirts for an undergarment stand-in wasn’t gauche enough… No, thank you.