Sorry to have gone missing for a bit there. I suffered from a complete hard drive failure, had to have a new one sent and have all of my files extracted by the fantastically smart, technology geeks I have as friends…which brings me to my #1 detail about wedding planning that I recommend (aside from relaxing and remembering what the real purpose of the whole thing is): Back. Up. Everything!!!
Moving on…
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This installment of my ‘Looking Back’ series* focuses on one of the details about our big day that I wish we had done a little differently: I should have gone with my gut and not tossed the flowers.
I know there are lots of good arguments for both sides of this issue but for me, it came down to tradition: every wedding I have ever been to had a flower toss.
NOT every wedding I have ever been to has had a garter search-and-toss, so I nixed that idea early-on in the planning.
However, regardless of my gut feeling about the thing, I was bound and determined to have our wedding day have as many wedding-y moments as I could cram into it, so I went ahead with it anyway.
Truth be told, it really broke up the whole feeling of the reception. It was awkward, poorly attended (as I really only know a few single gals so none of them wanted to be singled out), and I ended up throwing the bouquet over everyone’s head thus making it an actual waste of time and perfectly good flowers.
Again, I understand this is a personal thing, but for me, I would have much preferred if I had loosened up my requirements on ‘what-makes-a-wedding-a-wedding’ and gone with the flow. If you are even thinking of leaving it out, I suggest going with your gut.
What about you guys? Any flower tossers out there?
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*Previously in this series…
I’m so glad I did this:
renting a full length mirror
setting my DIY deadline for a week out from the wedding
making arrangements for my disabled father so he could participate
having an ’open-door policy’ at the site where I got ready
going a little overboard with the theme
I wish I could fix this:
being too proud to start a few minutes late
not testing all of the directions before sending them out
forgetting to pause before rushing down the aisle
handling the cake cutting logistics
No flower toss. It really does single out the unmarried women in a way that’s not a lot of fun for them. I suppose that if you’re at the wedding with a date with whom you’re serious enough to already be talking marriage it can be fun, but otherwise it’s just awkward. Plus, all my single girlfriends are kick-ass career women who have soooo many ambitions in life - to line them up and imply that they should compete for the right to be the next married is just insulting.
I’ve enjoyed this series so much. As our wedding gets closer, it’s been so useful to find out what brides and grooms say was worth the time, money and energy, and also to see how projects and ideas materialized on the day. THanks!
Nope, no bouquet toss for me 
I really like Jenny Louwheeze’s idea. Oh and I love this series, Corn!
I can’t make a mess of my $100 bouquet like that. I want to do something meaningful with it! I’m going to give it to the longest married couple in the room.
I have been debating whether or not to do a bouquet toss, but I decided not to because I don’t have that many single girlfriends coming, and I don’t really want to embarrass the ones that are! Anyway, I think I got this idea from Weddingbee - I’m going to give the “winners” of the anniversary dance my bouquet.
I had a similar problem with my bouquet toss. Not too many single gals lined up (many didn’t come up) and I threw my bouquet against the window (thankfully it didn’t break). Sometimes you go to weddings and the bridesmaids seriously compete for it and other times everybody pretends not to want it. Unfortunately I had the latter.
Hehe, tossers.
I don’t think I can do it, that’s a lot of money to throw across the room and probably destroy in the process. That said, I’m leaving on honeymoon the next day so I won’t be doing anything with it, might as well chuck it at someone
Not a big fan of the bouquet toss, myself, so there will be none. I always hated being singled out at weddings - whether I was in a relationship at the time or not - and refuse to do it to others, especially since there will be only a small percentage of our already small wedding. Besides, I’m a terrible shot - I’m sure I’d launch it into someone’s cake or poke out an eye. 
I always hated boquet tosses when I was single, so we didn’t do one. We did an anniversary dance, and I gave my “toss boquet” to the longest married couple, who happened to be my grandparents! It was awesome.
Mrs. Corn, Newport, RI
Age and Occupation in '07: 31, HR for public accounting firm
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Consultant for public accounting firm
Engagement Date: October 7, 2006
Wedding Date: September, 2007
Blogging Since: June 1, 2007
Venue: North Lawn of Fort Adams State Park
About Me: I am a lazy scrapbooker who loves the instant gratification of making cards and I am very easily distracted by all things shiny. In honor of my childhood nights spent hibachi BBQing on the beach with my family, we are hosting a traditional New England Clambake for our reception.
Going with your gut is good advice! So is living in the moment - you gotta love that you launched it over everyone’s heads - Power Corn! I plan on presenting my bouquet to my grandmother during our reception rather than a bouquet toss. I figure no one can argue with that!