This tradition comes from an Old English rhyme: Something Olde, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, A sixpence in your Shoe.

The four objects that the bride adds to her wedding outfit or carries with her on the big day are just good luck charms…

Something old represents continuity and can be anything from your fathers old watch, to a piece of your mothers wedding dress, to your grandmothers pearls…

Something new offers optimism for the future and this one is easy because almost everything you wear on your wedding day is new!

Something borrowed symbolizes borrowed happiness and can be your best friends bracelet, your mothers pearls (that she isn’t ready to give you yet), a beautiful brioche for your hair…

Something blue stands for purity, love, and fidelity and your blue can be your shoes, flowers in your bouquet, your panties and so on!

and Sixpence in your shoe is a wish for good fortune and prosperity (although this remains largely a British custom).

In my years as a wedding photographer, I must say that the “sixpence in your shoe” is much less common than the other traditions, but what I love is the different ways in which brides chose to implement these traditions. Underwear, garter, “I Do” on the bottom of their shoe, jewelry, fabric, hair pieces, veil…you name it.

The fact remains that it’s just a tradition (a fun but not necessary one). I’m constantly telling my couples that there isn’t a rule book for your wedding to follow or not follow; it’s YOUR wedding! So if traditions make you happy then do them… and if you think they’re silly, then by all means don’t. Just remember that at the end of the day, your wedding is about one thing….the love you share with the person you’re marrying. When you focus on that, then I believe that everything else falls into place and works its self out.
Xo,
CJP