Bouquet Toss



Ah, the Bouquet Toss. It's finally happening. The young couple is finally tying the knot, and now it's for real; no gatecrashers, neither one chickening out, they've finally said their vows, they've kissed, and maybe, just maybe, they'll live Happily Ever After.

One thing left to do: The lighthearted tradition where the blushing bride tosses her bouquet of flowers behind her back where a group of wedding goers cheerfully try to catch it to determine who is the next one to get married.

However, in fiction, one of the following will usually occur:
 * The bridesmaids all tackle each other to what transforms into an all-out brawl for the bouquet
 * No one wants the bouquet at all
 * Somebody whom no one expects to catch the bouquet does, after which Hilarity Ensues. Often, having a man catch it is expected to be an adequate joke in and of itself.

The bouquet toss usually happens outside of the building where the ceremony is held, immediately after the wedding has taken place. Real-life bouquet tosses, however, are often executed as part of the reception, hours after the ceremony.

99% of the time, the bouquet toss occurs in slow motion to emphasize the importance of the event. Also, while it doesn't have the same exposure, the groom will toss the bride's garter, with similar results (though result 1 is considerably less common).

In fiction, the bouquet toss's predictive powers are almost infallible, although how this plays out depends on how much time there is left in the story. If it happens at the beginning or middle of a work, the character who caught the bouquet will almost certainly get married by the end.

If the wedding is the Happily Ever After ending of the entire work, the character who caught the bouquet will probably catch the eye of someone they've had some prior romantic tension with, implying that they'll soon tie the knot.

Examples

 * At the end of the first Shrek film, Fiona tosses her wedding bouquet into the crowd of fairy tale characters. Snow White and Cinderella slap each other in the face while trying to catch it, but the ultimate victor is the dragon, who then proceeds to nuzzle with Donkey.
 * A weird example of the third variant: at the end of Corpse Bride, Emily throws her bouquet over her shoulder after letting Victor and Victoria be together. Although it's obvious she's aiming for Victoria, the person who catches it is a nameless extra woman... who then gets leered at by Maggot, resting on her shoulder. The woman promptly yelps, tosses the bouquet away, and Victoria catches it.
 * The Princess and the Frog culminates in the wedding of Tiana and Naveen as humans, and when Tiana tosses her bouquet from the wedding car, a throng of girls try to catch it and Charlotte caught the flowers.
 * Susan from Monsters vs. Aliens never gets to throw her bouquet, but as she's suddenly growing into Ginormica her garter snaps off, hitting her groom in the head and knocking him out.
 * In The Book of Life, Maria tosses her bouquet. Joaquin ends up being the surprised party to catch it; he is immediately tackled by a gaggle of girls who have been swooning over him in the background (and one nun).
 * In Aladdin and the King of Thieves, the movie ends with Aladdin and Jasmine's long-delayed wedding. When the bouquet is tossed, Genie splits into several different women clamoring for it. Who ends up catching it? Razoul.
 * Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: At Reed and Sue's impromptu Korean wedding, Johnny's girlfriend is about to catch the bouquet, much to Johnny's shock, so he shoots it in mid-air.
 * The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps: The bouquet is tossed and lands on the Dean carrying boxes of gifts.
 * The two friends in Bride Wars were about to catch it but they never showed who was the one who managed to catch it.
 * Ursula Stanhope throw the bouquet which one of her bridesmaids caught one.