A garter is typically worn around mid-thigh to keep it in place, and if you're wearing two garters, they usually go on the same leg. Whatever you decide, just let your partner know beforehand the leg it's on and which one to toss!
In the late Renaissance period, the garter began to symbolize good luck and sometimes even fertility. During these years and for hundreds of years after, the garter remained a lucky symbol for whoever held or wore it.
The Wedding Garter Tradition Origin
This tradition soon turned into wearing and then removing a garter, in order to protect the bride from over-enthusiastic participants in the wedding party.
What does the garter belt symbolize? Believe it or not, the garter belt symbolizes good luck to the bachelors in attendance. Supposedly, whoever is lucky enough to catch it will be the next to get married. Of course, this is a tradition that's more symbolic and fun than realistic.
Wearing garters
The garter tradition stems from the popular wedding tradition of the garter removal. According to BrideBox, this tradition was based on the belief that it is lucky to keep a piece of a bride's gown.
During the reception, the groom will remove the garter from underneath the bride's gown (with his hands or teeth) and toss it into the crowd. The garter toss is very similar to the bouquet toss. The bachelor that catches the garter is believed to be married next.
Since the invention of elastic and pantyhose in the 1960s, ladies (and men) didn't really need to use garters or garter belts to help them hold up their socks anymore. But still, wearing a wedding garter and the garter toss ritual at receptions has remained a part of many modern weddings.
A Brief History of Wedding Garters
Bedchamber: The wedding garter toss tradition came from the Middle Ages when garters kept up the bride's stockings. The wedding guests would wait outside the bedchamber for the newly married couple to consummate their marriage.
A garter is - at a functional level - a band of fabric worn around a person's leg to ensure a sock or stocking is kept up. Despite this, they are often more of a fashion statement - and are seen as a seductive fashion accessory.
There is no traditional leg that a garter should be worn on. Garters were designed to keep stockings up on both legs, and so it can be worn on any leg that feels natural to you. We recommend you wear your garter just above your knee on either leg.
It is conceived as a "Westerosi tradition following the wedding feast", wherein the attendees forcibly undress and carry the newlyweds to their bed. The intention is to "celebrate a marriage's consummation".
Wedding garters these days are almost always ornamental more than functional. At a wedding, the bride can wear two garters—one as a keepsake and the other for the garter toss. Both garters are worn above the knee of the right leg.
Give It Back
It is a small little wedding keepsake. The nice thing to do if you catch the garter is ask the bride if she wants it back. If the bride is busy, give the garter to one of her bridesmaids or the maid of honor to pass it on. (She might not because she planned on loosing it as a tossing garter.)
Oftentimes, a Maid of Honor, bridesmaid, or other member of the bridal party will gift the bride a garter or garter set and present it to them at their bachelorette party or wedding shower.
You may be a bride wondering 'do I need to wear a wedding garter?' , but it really is not something that you absolutely have to wear on your wedding day. It is, like every other wedding accessory, a choice that is completely up to you as the bride and your style.
The big decision lots of couples are asking themselves is whether to spend it together or stick to tradition and sleep apart. It really is entirely up to you. There isn't a rule that says you have to but here's what's most important: that you relax. You'll want to rest up so you're totally prepared for your wedding.
In most wedding receptions the bride will do the bouquet toss first and then the groom will do the removal of the garter. The woman who catches the bouquet will then have to sit down and let the man who caught the garter to put on said garter on her leg.
Those found guilty of a serious charge such as heresy or treason, for example. To date, a total of forty men have been removed from the Order of the Garter in disgrace. Thirty of these were subjected to the formal process of degradation, which takes place in the very heart of the Order: the quire of St George's Chapel.
The origin of the garter toss at weddings derives from a 14th-century tradition in France. Back then, the bride and groom had to show proof of consummating the marriage after the wedding night. The friends and family of the couple would stay in the room and obtain the wedding garter as 'proof' of the consummation.
The insignia of the order comprise the garter with the motto emblazoned on it, the star with St. George's cross, and a collar with a badge representing St. George and the dragon. All insignia are returned to the order on the death of the holder.
Specifically, “something borrowed” was preferably the undergarment from a woman who already had children, and “something blue” was typically a garter belt under the bride's dress, ideally sourced from a married woman or mother.
The wedding night, also most popularly known as 'suhaag raat', is when newly-weds are expected to consummate their marriage and for many couples, who had never had a physical relationship before, this night might be the first time they would be having sex with the partner.
In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply consummation, is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage to each other.
In most traditions, these witnesses included family, friends, and neighbors. According to historian, Alison Weir, this consummation ritual was also practiced by the royals in in medieval times.