Spin on bouquet/garter toss

ezequalsmc

In our area, the garter/bouquet toss is expected. However, I feel weird having all the single ladies fight over some flowers over some superstition, so instead I was going to make a "bouquet" of lottery tickets and throw them to any women that wanted to try to catch it. Also, my garter is going to have a flask holder, so whichever gentlemen catches that will be presented with a nice little silver flask NOT one that was actually touching my thigh.
That in mind, should we still have a song for the catchers to dance together after? Yea or nay?

Edit: sorry for the terrible post, I'm typing on my phone and apparently certain punctuation doesn't show up.

itzMS

I've seen less and less of the garter/bouquet tosses. But, it's cool if you still want to do them.

However, I would strongly advice against having the dance. Awkward, awkward, awkward. The lottery ticket and flask things also seem a bit unnecessary.

ezequalsmc

As much as I'd like to say otherwise, I've never actual been to a wedding where t wasn't done. Gah. We're from the same small town, technically it's classified as a village....think less than 1000 people and one stoplight in the COUNTY. So there won't be any strangers there among the guests, everyone knows everyone, but yeah, I think you're right. If nothing else, the dance between the two is just more time being used for a specific dance and it takes away from the party atmosphere.

cwaggoner07

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_spin-on-bouquetgarter-toss?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:c108fc8d-bd3f-4564-9c28-a6776b820016Post:a3fc24b3-0abb-4951-9295-6ebccdf2c919">Re: Spin on bouquet/garter toss</a>:
[QUOTE]I have never heard of this making the <strong>winners dance</strong> nonsense until I got on the Knot.  I would skip that part completely.  I promise no one will miss it and it will save some serious awkwardness.  Just toss the stuff and MAYBE take a photo with you two and the two winners, then move on with the rest of the party.
Posted by StageManager14[/QUOTE]

I've only seen this once, and it was in Fayetteville, AR!
H (then just BF) caught the garter and then had to dance with a girl he didn't know at all. He's a ham, so he played along. I was totally fine with it, but everyone started looking at ME like 'ooooh is she going to get mad?'
The whole thing was so dumb.

ezequalsmc

Just out of curiosity, have any of you ever participated in it? I never have, personally....I was very "I'm never getting married and I'm not playing that game!" Yup...I was that girl.

alithebride

skip the dance. your guests are there you see you and groom, not others, dance.

frankly i think the whole garter/bouquet thing is awful. if you dont want to do it at all no one will miss it.

also if you're going to give teh guy a flask you should also give the girl who catches the bouquet a keepsake no?

ezequalsmc

She would get to keep the lottery ticket bouquet. Frankly, I don't mind either way, but since the reception is for our guests, I am definitely going to do the toss. We aren't doing the money dance, much to his busia's chagrin, and we aren't having the polka band my family so desperately wants. Believe me when I say the toss, the polka, and the money dance are BIG things around here. I mean, giant points of interest in the reception. Maybe it's just a Polish thing? But I've never known any different. That's what a sheltered small town existence gets ya, I guess.

ezequalsmc

But I will definitely skip the dance. Thank you all for your advice!

erinlin25

A friend of mine did single roses that she bunched up to look like a bouquet; she knew how many "single" girls would be at the reception and so when she tossed each girl got a rose and we took a picture together with the bride.  It was cute and not so "look at me, I'm the single girl."

 Definitely skip the dance afterward!  As a recipient of the boquet toss twice, I would have been so embararssed if I had to dance with someone who was potentially a stranger to me.  Take a pic with the bride/groom and garter recipient and call it a day

just a side note on the flask... maybe I'm visioning it wrong, but I wouldn't toss the flask in fear of it hitting someone!  Just give the recipient of the garter the flask. 

itzMS

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_spin-on-bouquetgarter-toss?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:5Discussion:c108fc8d-bd3f-4564-9c28-a6776b820016Post:1a3405db-62e6-4245-9604-0a50196078b9">Re: Spin on bouquet/garter toss</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Spin on bouquet/garter toss : I've only seen this once, and it was in Fayetteville, AR! H (then just BF) caught the garter and then had to dance with a girl he didn't know at all. He's a ham, so he played along. I was totally fine with it, but everyone started looking at ME like 'ooooh is she going to get mad?' The whole thing was so dumb.
Posted by cwaggoner07[/QUOTE]

I've only seen a "winners" dance a few times. In one, an 8 year old boy caught the garter and a terribly embarrassed 30 year old woman was forced to dance with him.

In the other, one girl's (drunk) boyfriend caught the garter and danced with the bouquet recipient (not his girlfriend)...with his hands on the random girl's arse the whole time. And, of course, this is on video and in pictures...

OP, I'm glad you're deciding to skip it! <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" />

ezequalsmc

erinlin25 Haha no way! Just the garter, no flask throwing. :

Simply Fated

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_spin-on-bouquetgarter-toss?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:c108fc8d-bd3f-4564-9c28-a6776b820016Post:b743cdd0-8c58-439a-bac0-977ffe0b9790">Re:Spin on bouquet/garter toss</a>:
[QUOTE]She would get to keep the lottery ticket bouquet. Frankly, I don't mind either way, but since the reception is for our guests, I am definitely going to do the toss. We aren't doing the money dance, much to his busia's chagrin, and we aren't having the polka band my family so desperately wants. Believe me when I say the toss, the polka, and the money dance are BIG things around here. I mean, giant points of interest in the reception. <strong>Maybe it's just a Polish thing? </strong>But I've never known any different. That's what a sheltered small town existence gets ya, I guess.
Posted by ezequalsmc[/QUOTE]
Nope, I've never heard of a dollar dance until I came here.

I'm glad you've decided to skip the dance. It's super awkward to kinda make two people dance together who might not want to. Also, in my circle, the girls usually let the littlest girl catch the bouquet. So.. yeah, super awkward if there was a dance, kwim?

[Deleted User]

I was planning on skipping both the garter and bouquet toss but as it turns out my FI has his heart set on it. So we came up with a compromise: in lieu of making all the single people fight over some flowers or a garter, we're going to give both people that catch them, regardless of marital status, a gift card for a movie theatre and a gift card for a restaurant.

shannie11

We are not doing the garter/bouquet toss.  I am sure you prob already heard this idea.  But instead we are doing a couples dance.  Then as the music starts going they ask if you have been married under 24 hours please leave the dance floor, if you have been married less than five years......then when you get to the last couple standing you give them the bouquet.  I am also going to give my couple a nice bottle of champagne.  Heck if you have been married over 40 years you deserve it!

theelusive1

I went to a wedding a few years ago. The guy that caught the garter put that garter on the girl that caught the bouquet then they danced.  They were strangers and I have never seen anything stranger. 

Sassenach1743

I've got a good one for ya! True Story!!!

When I was a teenager my second cousin got married. I attended her wedding, as a guest, with my parents and sat with the rest of our family. When the time came for the bouquet toss my aunts all heckled me into standing with the "single girls" to try and catch it. Of course it flew directly at me, I basically had to catch it to avoid being hit in the head with it...

Here's where it gets awful! The DJ then proceeds to have a chair brought up and tells the random guy that caught the garter to put it on my leg!!! To which my male cousin (he's only 2 years older than me and in the crowd) stands up and screams "She's only 14!" 

Oh the embarrassment!!! 

Apparently my family was drunk enough to think that was all a hilarious riot, so everyone was laughing and I was mortified! 

To this day I have NO IDEA where that DJ came up with that lame idea, but I think dancing with whatever yay-who catches the garter is just as bad. Definitely skip it! 

ezequalsmc

Haha! That one literally had me laughing out loud!

vanityink

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_reception-ideas_spin-on-bouquetgarter-toss?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:5Discussion:c108fc8d-bd3f-4564-9c28-a6776b820016Post:92af9bcb-2ab7-4ccc-9780-020152e0e1a1">Re: Spin on bouquet/garter toss</a>:
[QUOTE]I've got a good one for ya! True Story!!! When I was a teenager my second cousin got married. I attended her wedding, as a guest, with my parents and sat with the rest of our family. When the time came for the bouquet toss my aunts all heckled me into standing with the "single girls" to try and catch it. Of course it flew directly at me, I basically had to catch it to avoid being hit in the head with it... Here's where it gets awful! The DJ then proceeds to have a chair brought up and tells the random guy that caught the garter to put it on my leg!!! To which my male cousin (he's only 2 years older than me and in the crowd) stands up and screams "She's only 14!"  Oh the embarrassment!!!  Apparently my family was drunk enough to think that was all a hilarious riot, so everyone was laughing and I was mortified!  To this day I have NO IDEA where that DJ came up with that lame idea, but I think dancing with whatever yay-who catches the garter is just as bad. Definitely skip it! 
Posted by brita722[/QUOTE]

<div>That's actually (sadly) pretty common at weddings I've been to. My MOH <em>begged</em> me not to do this (wasn't planning on it) since the same basic thing happened to her a few years ago and the guy who caught the garter was the groom's little brother (who was like 11) she said she'd never felt more awkward.</div><div>
</div><div>My own "dancing with the guy who caught the garter" story comes from my second cousin's wedding in Germany. I was 13 at the time (and speak only a pre-school level of German really. I can talk to my 4 y/o cousin amazingly, fancier words/syntax I get lost, so had people explaining to me what was happening) Basically, they tell me and my other English-speaking girl cousin to go try to catch the bouquet. I get it and then am told I'm going to dance (at 13) with the bride's 40 y/o uncle who caught the garter (which 13 y/o me was <em>very </em>uncomfortable with) and on top of that it was a traditional polka. Having never danced a polka I was basically dragged around the floor for 3 very awkward minutes...</div><div>
</div><div>Some of my single friends are very much looking forward to the bouquet toss (one actually complained when she went to a wedding where they let everyone participate in the bouquet toss) but yeah, a dance or putting the garter on the person who caught the bouquet, so many chances for awkwardness...</div>

ksblumb

My FI and I were recently at the wedding where he caught the garter and a single girl about his age caught the boquet... He then had to put the garter on her leg, with the rest of the singles guys shouting 'higher! Higher!' Untile they said stop. He was then told to remove it, WITH HIS TEETH! Poor guy was so embarassed he just took it off with his hand.. and then they made him dance with this girl. I didnt really care, and after the dj announced he was engaged, the guests were rolling and had fun with it. But it was not fun for him at all.

futureLEOswife

My FI and I just attended a wedding where he caught the garter. He hasn't been to many weddings so when the DJ made him put it on the leg of one of his (close in age) co-workers, he was mortified. Like cwaggoner07 said, everyone started looking at me to see if I'd get mad, even though several people yelled "higher higher!!" as others were yelling "he's engaged!" It was embarrassing for FI and then everyone made it even more awkward by starring at me the whole time to see my reaction. I DEFINTELY wouldn't recommend putting anyone through this!