Wedding Horseshoe – Ivory and Gold

Description

Wedding Horseshoe – a very traditional wedding gift for a new bride

When you give an ivory and gold wedding horseshoe it is thought you will bring good luck to the new marriage: You will be helping to protect the marital home and, in addition, you are bestowing fertility on the union!

These days we tend not to take this too literally, but horseshoes are still one of the more meaningful wedding day keepsakes. After the confetti throw, an older lady of the family will often give the newly married bride a gift of a decorated wedding horseshoe, to bring good luck to her new marriage. In doing so, she is repeating the gesture that was performed on her own wedding day, and so she passes along the good luck!

At The Real Flower Petal Confetti Company we decorate all our lucky horseshoes by hand. Each one is a real aluminium horseshoe (new and unworn!) and we add pretty ribbons and paper flowers. They are available for you to to buy in a selection of different colours and styles of flower, so there should be something to suit every wedding day.

Wedding Horseshoe Details:

• This Ivory and Gold Wedding Horseshoe is handmade from a new real aluminium horseshoe, double-sided satin ribbons and paper flowers.
• The shoe is a real aluminium horseshoe which is silver in colour and very light.

Size:

• 13cm wide by 13cm tall. 15cm ribbon handle.

Care:

• This item is not a toy.
• A Wedding Horseshoe is not suitable for very small children.

Horseshoes – Traditions and Symbolism

The modern wedding day is full of little traditions and symbolic links with our past. We love to keep these links alive and as a result we are still giving ‘lucky’ horseshoes to the bride. Many families have a wonderful old picture of newly married couples stood outside the church: The groom has a huge floral buttonhole and the pretty young bride a big bouquet and a lucky horseshoe.

Christian symbolism

For Christians the meaning behind horseshoes comes from St. Dunstan. He trapped the Devil inside a horseshoe and said he would only release him if the Devil swore an oath to never cross the threshold of a Christian home that was protected by a horseshoe hung above the door. Consequently, a horseshoe was given to a bride to take to her marital home and the newly-weds would be protected.

Ancient symbolism

We can trace the positive symbolism of horseshoes all the way back to ancient times. The shape of a horseshoe meant that we associated them with the crescent moon. Therefore we imbued them with some of the moon’s mythology and regarded them as a symbol of fertility.

Victorian symbolism

The Victorians loved their symbolism and are responsible for most of our wedding traditions. They filled their wedding day with meaning and omens of good fortune. Female family members would give a horseshoe to the bride to bring good luck to her marriage. Furthermore having a child give a horseshoe is thought to be particularly beneficial in terms of fertility. Consequently a young sister or niece would often present the gift to the newly married bride.

Victorians considered the luckiest horseshoes were those cast from iron – a perfect marriage of fire and earth. And they would select a used horseshoe because the metal had absorbed the horse’s strong energy. But tastes have changed over time and our horseshoes are light aluminium and brand new – so that they can also be used as part of “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue”. Another one of the Victorian’s meaningful bridal wedding traditions!

Remember –

It’s very important that you do not turn your horseshoes upside down – all the good luck will fall out. Yet if you are Anglican, Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic, you should intentionally hang your horseshoe with the ends pointing down, so that the good luck can flow out into the home… the choice is yours!