What are the traditions to getting married?

I am definitely not old enough to get married I'm only 15 but I always dream of what I want at my wedding some day. What are the traditions that are usually at a wedding? Also why does the bride throw the garter thing? Oh and if you want to you can share your wedding stories because I love reading them.What are the traditions to getting married?
The bride doesn't throw the garter - the groom does, and he throws it for the same reason the bride throws the bouquet: to indicate which of the unmarried guests will marry next. Also, traditionally the person who catches the garter then puts it on the leg of the person who catches the bouquet (the higher on her leg he pushes the garter, the better the luck for both of them, but this can sometimes push the boundaries of good taste!)





There is a tradition where either the bride or the groom smashes the first slice of cake into the other's face, but I personally frown on this - as my husband said, when urged to do such, ';No! I LIKE this one!'; (Also, if the groom does this, whoever did the bride's makeup is likely to kill him. So it's a bad idea.) We got around it by me getting a little bit of icing on my finger and then ';beeping'; his nose - cute, playful, and not too messy.





One tradition - either really new or really old, depending on which source you trust - is the unity candle, where you have one big candle and two tapers. The bride and the groom, during the ceremony, both light the big candle holding the two tapers, to symbolize two lives becoming one. We took it a step further; our ceremony was in my parents' backyard, and we had a huge firebowl going behind the ceremony itself. At the very beginning, we had my mother and his both step forward and stick long matches into the firebowl to light the two candles, to show how our individual ';flames'; were brought into being by our families.





A lesser-known tradition is to both drink from the same glass as a way of ';cementing'; your vows - we used mead, but wine or even juice will serve. It's a way of showing that you will share all life has to offer, bitter or sweet.





I know in Jewish tradition the man breaks a wine glass under a cloth by stepping on it, but I don't know why.





At the reception, two dances are traditional - the first dance between the married couple (to a song, of course, that's meaningful to you), and the father-daughter dance. Be careful; if your father is a right bastard, like mine, this is his chance to make you sob like a baby. (My dad recorded himself playing and singing this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhT0Pydv4鈥?/a> Sure enough, I sobbed so hard I could hardly dance.)





Upon leaving the reception, the bride and groom used to be showered with rice. The problem with that is that birds eat the rice, and then, since rice expands when it hits water... the birds explode and die. Not pretty. Alternatives to this are confetti, specially-manufactured bird-safe rice (most brands are heart-shaped!), or bubbles. A lot of people think the bubbles are kind of tacky, but I like them - they're pretty.





Finally, it is traditional for the bride and groom to make their friends SWEAR not to deface their car. The friends, according to tradition, solemnly swear not to do so, then immediately turn around and break that promise. Thus the happy couple arrive in the parking lot to find their ride adorned with ribbons, balloons, and shoe polish spelling out ';JUST MARRIED'; and less polite slogans. They must pretend to be angry about this, but are forbidden from actually being angry.