What is the tradition behind the bride's garter at a wedding?

I know that the new husband is supposed to remove his new wife's garter (worn just above her knee under the wedding dress) as part of the reception, and she's supposed to throw it (or at least, this is the version I've always heard) like the bouquet.

My question is: why? What is it supposed to symbolize and what happens to the person that catches the garter? Where did the tradition come from, or did us crazy Americans just make it up? Is there a specific color that a bride should wear, such as white is the traditional wedding dress color?

I'm curious, because I plan to wear a garter at my own wedding, and I want to know why in the world I'm wearing it!

It's the same as the bouquet - the groom tosses it to the single men, and the one to catch it is the next to marry.

Now, don't forget, after you've tossed your bouquet and he's tossed the garter, the NEXT part of the tradition is the donning of the garter, where the gentleman who caught the garter places it on the leg of the lady who caught the bouquet. It's generally done with a lot of humor, and some dj's might encourage them to ham it up by saying something like for every inch above the knee he goes with the garter, it's one year of happiness for the married couple. This, of course, depends on who catches the bouquet and garter (in other words, if your 12 year old junior bridesmaid catches the bouquet, you're NOT going to do this!!) and how good their sense of humor is. We did it at my wedding, and it was a hoot - and ironically, the girl who caught my bouquet was the next to marry (and she wasn't even engaged at the time!).

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

Well, it's not exactly "upcoming" but it's not far away, so thank you in advance!

Also, thanks for the information and the anecdote; my boyfriend and I agreed on who we're going to aim for already! http://answers.yahoo.com/question/accuse_write?qid=20070126104052AAO9oHu&kid=NbUvWza8UTmmMqu7Spzu&s=comm&date=2007-02-04+18%3A21%3A11&.crumb=

I recently wrote an article regarding wedding traditions and here is the section on garters:

"The garter toss is thought to be an early English custom that evolved from "flinging the stocking." Guests would follow the couple to their bedroom on their wedding night, steal their stockings while they were "distracted," then fling them at the couple. It was thought that the first person to hit either the bride or the groom on the head would be the next to marry. Later, brides tossed a garter at the wedding reception, but then the custom changed to the groom removing the garter himself and tossing it to his male guests because brides were often forced to fight off drunken male guests who tried to remove the garter themselves! In some Midwestern states, garters are auctioned off rather than tossed."

Although there is no specific color that a bride should wear, many choose to wear one with "something blue" as a good-luck charm, another tradition which symbolizes purity, constancy, and fidelity.

The link to the entire article is below if you want to check out some of the other traditions.

Good luck on your wedding day!

First its not the bride that throws the garter its the man. The wife is suspose to throw the flowers to all the single girls out there, and who ever grabs the flowers will be the next girl to get married. The man is suspose to get the garter off by his teeth, but some just use there hands, if you are a couple who get imbarrassed easily. Than once he gets the garter off his wifes leg than hes suspose to "fling" or toss the garter to all the single men and who ever catches it will be the next to get married. The garter usually is white or white with blue. Usualy it has blue on it because the bride is susupose to wear somthing New, Blue, Old, and Borrowed. So the blue works good on the garter so it wont stand out and no one sees it.

IT'S THE GUYS VERSION OF TOSSING THE BRIDAL BOUQUET, WHOM EVER CATCHES IT, IS TO BE THE NEXT MARRIED.

In the old days, it was thought to be good luck to get a piece of the brides attire so, as she would pass, guests would try to grab a piece of her dress. Now that we're a little more civilized and the groom removes this piece of the brides wardrobe, her garter, and throws it . The man who catches it has the luck.

I don't know where it started, but as long as I can remember, couples did it at their reception. The idea is that the men vie for the garter, and the women vie for the boquet. The lucky lady who catches the boquet will soon marry, and the lucky man who catches the garter will soon marry. There are different versions. One is that they will simply meet someone soon and marry, another is they will marry each other. The origins may lie in that this was thought up as a way to get two people together.