The bouquet toss. The cake cutting. Cans tied to your getaway car. If you are a future bride or groom planning your wedding, you are probably envisioning some of these traditions in your wedding. 

As a wedding photographer, I’m seeing some of these traditions cut out of the wedding day, in interest of time or money. Out of curiosity, I did a little digging on what these (seemingly strange) traditions meant and the deeper meaning behind them.

So if you’re knee deep in wedding planning, read on to understand why you would cut a piece of cake together, or throw a bouquet to your bridesmaids.

1. Cake Cutting: This (literally) sweet tradition emerged in the Victorian era, and is such a crowd pleaser. Couples hold their hands over each other and work together to cut the top of the cake. This symbolizes working together and promising to support each other through their first task as a married couple.

1. Bouquet Toss: This is such a cute moment for single women, and to pass on the good luck to another lucky lady on a wedding day. As sweet as it is, it actually has a rather violent beginning. In olden times, single women would try to rip pieces off of the brides dress, in order to try to gain some of her luck. To preserve her dress, the bride would toss her flowers and run. Nowadays, we stick to just the throwing of the flowers.

1. Grand exit: Grand exits are growing in popularity and creativity, and are a perfect photo opt. This tradition started in ancient Rome, with throwing rice at the couple. Rice was a sign of purity and good wishes, and was made to bring fertility to the new couple. Nowadays, brides and grooms tend more towards sparkler, bubbles, or confetti, but the meaning remains the same.

All in all, these wacky traditions hold deeper meanings that are worth investigating before cutting them out of your wedding completely.