Wedding Rehearsal Bouquet
 

The last weekend of June, I went to my boyfriend's older sister's wedding. Rehearsal and all, I was there for the weekend, so I got to go and see all the inner workings of things.

I was wondering where does the practice of the bride using a bouquet made of gift wrap bow's for the rehearsal come from? I've noticed since then that it's done at like every wedding rehearsal I've seen on tv as well. I was told that the gift wrap bow's are all from the bridal shower, but no one really gave me an explanation of why this is done.

EDIT: Added the question mark to my post.

At one of my sorority sister's bridal showers this past spring, she saved all the bows from her presents to form a bouquet. As she opened the presents, she would take the bows and ribbons off the packages and handed them to someone to put on the base of the bouquet. Apparently however many bows are ripped, that's how many kids she'll end up having. Her mother and mother-in-law kept ripping them on purpose! (I think they want lots of grandkids!) I wasn't at the rehearsal, so I'm not sure if she used the bow bouquet or not, but that would be a cute idea!

I've seen this done at bridal showers, but not rehearsals. I was recently at a shower where the ribbons were stuck to a paper plate, which the bride then wore as a hat. (It was cute actually - one of the "ribbons" was a long piece of white tulle, so it looked like she was wearing a veil. :) ) This was an Italian family, so maybe it's an Italian custom?

The bride has to unwrap every present herself, without help. She can't use scissors, box cutters, etc. on the wrapping paper or ribbons. The superstition is that for every ribbon she tears, she will have a child. (So her mother and mother-in-law, or anyone else, deliberately ripping the ribbons wouldn't count.)

We did this at our engagement party (I didn't have a shower). I was very careful... if the superstition holds, we will have no children. :p

I don't know where this tradition comes from, but I did this at my wedding rehearsal. All the bows from my showers were attached to a paper plate and that was my rehearsal bouquet.

Another tradition from my bridal showers was to cut a square of the wrapping paper to use as the background for my scrapbook pages.

One thing that my MIL told me at my shower (after breaking a bow) was that every bow broken while opening a gift equaled one child. :eek:

Others have commented on the shower aspect of it, but as for the wedding rehearsal itself? Well, it *really* helps to have a prop to pretend to hold, so you can practice walking with your hands held up at mid-torso height, and practice passing and receiving your bouquet. Sometimes "extra" ribbons go on a second paper plate or cone or whatever for the maid of honor to use, so that she can also practice the great bouquet lateral-move.

When I was my friends maid of honor, I did it b/c her mother & future mother-in-law said I had to. No explanations. I just had to so I did it to placate these two bossy women.

Stupid rehearsal question -- Isn't it supposed to be bad luck for the bride to participate in her own rehearsal? Someone stands in for her, and she watches so she knows what to do, but she's not supposed to walk down the aisle herself until the actual wedding.

(My husband and I never had a rehearsal, nor have there been rehearsals for weddings we've been in, so we never faced this question.)

I never heard that one before! And I am a wedding coordinator at my church!

I've heard/seen this in the South, but for some reason, it didn't make it in the North. It's kinda fun to see wedding rehearsal photos with the bride-to-be sitting in a pew, watching!

I've never heard that one before, but I have heard it's bad luck to walk back down the aisle w/ the groom-to-be. Although, at all the wedding rehearsals I've been to, this has happened. I was pretty nervous at our rehearsal when my husband and I walked back down together. I was like, "Um, is this a sign?" :D