Bridal Garter Belts are one of the oldest traditions of marriage, dating back to the 14 th century in England .  They have evolved from the days when people tore at the brides dress because they felt that have a piece of the wedding gown brought them good luck.

Bridal Garter Belts

Weddings are a tradition that dates back thousands of years.  In all of those years a number of other traditions have grown around marriage.  In 860 A.D. it was proclaimed, by Pope Nicholas I, that to seal the agreement of marriage that an engagement ring would be required and that it had to be made of gold.  This was to prove that the groom was willing to make a financial sacrifice to marry his bride-to-be.

It was another 600 years before the diamond was added to the ring.  The wedding cake started in Italy and the idea of having a best man was started in Germany.  Back then people sometimes had to kidnap their bride from another village and the best man helped the groom.  They also had to stand by the groom in case the villagers tried to get the bride back.

But before any of these traditions began the ritual of the bridal garter belt was started.

As stated before, the origin of the bridal garter belt started in England where it was thought that anyone that got a piece of the bridal gown would have good luck.  After the wedding was over the guest would tear at her dress.

I think that no bride wants her guest attacking her and ripping her dress into pieces.  To stop this, brides started wearing garters so they could give to their guest.

Along with good luck the garter belt also symbolized fertility and if you caught the garter these qualities were passed on to the recipient.

Today, a lot of brides want to keep their bridal garter belt so what they do is buy 2 garters so that they can toss one and still have a keepsakes from the wedding.

Now that you know the tradition behind the Bridal Garter Belt toss, get yours and keep the tradition going.