Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A Popular Tradition Goes Bye-Bye

We're not doing a bouquet toss. Whew! I said it. That's right, we're straying from tradition. So there!

Of course, that's not to say I won't be handing my bouquet off to some lucky lady at some point during the night but I will not be launching it into the air. I will not make (and embarrass) all the single ladies by making them stand in a group on the dance floor for everyone to stare at. Ick! (This is just my personal preference, not everyone's. Don't hate.)

We're going to do something instead that I've seen at at least one wedding in the past. We're going to do an anniversary dance. For those of you that don't know what an anniversary dance it is defined as such:

The anniversary dance is a special dance for all the married couples at a wedding. Throughout the song, the DJ names off numbers of years being married, starting with less than one year [That's when the newlyweds are off the dance floor]. It continues with less than two years, five years, ten years, and so on until the couple who has been married the longest is left dancing.

Make sense? I love the idea! And I've thought of the perfect song too! It's called "The Best Things Happen While Your Dancing". Danny Kaye sings in the song in my all-time favorite Christmas movie, White Christmas. I like it because it light-hearted and will also appeal to the older crowd which is who the anniversary dance is for in the first place.



So one lucky married lady will go home with my awesome bouquet at the end of the night and I couldn't be more excited!

Are you skipping the bouquet toss? Are you doing something in place of it like an anniversary dance?

10 comments:

  1. so with you! we are not doing the bouquet toss or the garter. I went to a wedding in May and was SO THANKFUL that the bride did not have one. Rob and I got engaged in October but there was a lot of that awkward pressure. His family was saying "your next" all day and it was very uncomfortable since I did not know that I was (in fact) next. I never realized how uncomfortable it could make a single lady until I was in the position of feeling slightly blah about my single-ness!

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  2. This is exactly what we're doing! For music we are using the first dance songs from the marrieds in the bridal party.

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  3. Ah i love this idea - and White Christmas is my favorite movie too! I may steal :)

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  4. I think it's becoming more popular to skip the bouquet and garter toss. Thank god. And please crosscountrywed, steal away! Using the married couples first dance songs is an awesome idea MERgetsMRSed

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  5. Kind of sad that your skipping the toss however, the girl that caught my bouquet almost killed half the ladies out on the dance floor trying to catch it. She was CRAZY and ironically, got engaged shortly afterwards.

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  6. I don't even think we're gonna have very many single ladies attending so it'd only be maybe 5 girls. Oh well...they'll have plenty of other wedding to catch the bouquet at. I'd rather celebrate existing marriages.

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  7. I saw the anniversary dance at a recent wedding and it was soooo much nicer than throwing it to the single girls. The couples were actually competing for who had made it the longest and it really put the emphasis back in the right place--on staying together.

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  8. I love this idea too. I always thought making single women stand out on the floor with everyone staring at them and having to look desperate about trying to catch a bouquet (and a man) was more than lame. I did it at my wedding 34 years ago, though, because it was the expected tradition. So nice you are going in a different direction...

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  9. I think it's better to celebrate people's commitments that are lasting a lifetime rather than calling people out on their single-ness. It's the wave of the future baby!

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  10. We are doing the exact same thing as you--no bouquet or garter toss, but an anniversary dance instead. We're pretty sure we know who will win, too--my grandparents, who have been together over 50 years. I am so excited, as it's not done at many weddings in my area! :)

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