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Do brides still wear wedding garters? Yes. Brides absolutely still wear wedding garters, but the tradition has changed. Today, many brides choose a wedding garter as a meaningful bridal accessory, a something blue, a personalized wedding keepsake, or a custom heirloom made from a mother’s wedding dress or another special family material. Wearing a wedding garter does not mean you have to participate in the garter toss.
I would know.
Here at The Garter Girl, I have been designing and hand making wedding garters since 2004. After more than 20 years in the wedding industry and working with thousands of brides, I have had a very close view of what brides actually want, what traditions they are keeping, and which wedding traditions they are happily leaving behind.
And yes, brides are still wearing wedding garters.
They are just wearing them differently.
When a bride asks me, “Do brides still wear wedding garters?” I find that she is usually asking a slightly different question:
Will wearing a wedding garter feel outdated?
No.
Not if you choose a wedding garter because it means something to you.
That is probably the biggest shift I have seen in more than two decades of making wedding garters. For many modern brides, the garter is less about doing what tradition says you are supposed to do and much more about choosing a small, personal detail that feels special on your wedding day.
So, let's get into it and talk all about brides and wedding garters today.
Get more info on a custom wedding garter heirloom
Don't miss out - download the free Bridal Fashion Timeline, so you know what to order when!
After more than 20 years of designing wedding garters and working with thousands of brides, I’ve found that brides still choose to wear wedding garters for all kinds of personal, stylish, and sentimental reasons.
Some brides love wedding traditions and have always imagined wearing a garter.
Some brides are looking for their something blue.
Some want a beautiful bridal accessory hidden underneath their wedding dress.
Some want their wedding date, initials, new monogram, or another personal detail embroidered onto a keepsake from their wedding day.
Some receive a wedding garter as a meaningful gift from their mother, sister, grandmother, bridesmaid, or another person they love.
And some brides come to me because they have something far more personal in mind.
They want to incorporate a piece of their mother’s wedding dress, their grandmother’s veil, their father’s tie, or another family material into a custom wedding garter they can wear on their wedding day and keep afterward.
I have made garters using lace from wedding dresses, tulle from veils, meaningful fabric, family handkerchiefs, neckties, and other sentimental materials. I have seen firsthand just how emotional such a small bridal accessory can become when there is a family story stitched into it.
For these brides, the wedding garter is not something they are wearing simply because brides have always worn garters.
It is an heirloom.
I get lots of questions about wedding garters being outdated and not on trend and that couldn't be farther from the truth of what brides are actually doing. Just because brides may not be talking about their garter to doing the garter toss to show off their garter, it doesn't mean they they aren't getting one or that they are outdated.
Wedding garters themselves aren’t outdated, but the way brides wear them and the traditions surrounding them have definitely changed. Certain expectations surrounding the wedding garter have evolved, just as weddings have evolved.
That distinction matters.
Wedding traditions evolve all the time. Brides keep the parts they love, change the parts that do not feel like them, and sometimes create something entirely new.
I have watched this happen with wedding garters throughout my career.
Years ago, the garter and the garter toss were much more closely connected. Today, I work with plenty of brides who want to wear a wedding garter and have absolutely no intention of doing a garter toss.
They are not wearing one because they feel obligated to follow a tradition.
They are wearing one because they want to.
That is what makes the wedding garter still relevant for modern brides.
Shop now for the 'Yes to The Dress' wedding garter set with white lace
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Speaking of the garter toss, let's talk about the garter toss at the reception because some are doing it, and plenty are not.
The garter toss has become much more optional at modern weddings, and plenty of brides who wear a garter have no intention of tossing it.
The important thing to understand is that wearing a wedding garter and having a garter toss are two separate decisions.
This is one of the biggest misconceptions I hear from brides.
They assume that if they are skipping the garter toss at their reception, there is no reason to wear a wedding garter.
There absolutely can be.
In fact, I make many wedding garters for brides who have zero intention of tossing them.
The garters I design are intended to be kept. They are bridal heirlooms and keepsakes that can be saved after the wedding, not accessories that have to be thrown across a dance floor.
If you love the garter toss and want to include it at your wedding, you can.
If the idea makes you cringe, skip it.
Your wedding garter does not have to be connected to your reception entertainment at all.
If this is the part of the tradition you are unsure about, read my advice on should I wear a garter if I’m not doing a garter toss.
Sometimes it is simply something beautiful that is just for the bride.
I think that last part gets overlooked.
So much of a wedding is visible. The dress. The veil. The shoes. The flowers. The jewelry. The photos. The reception details.
A wedding garter can be different.
It can be a tiny detail underneath your wedding dress that no one else needs to see or even know about.
I have always loved that about garters.
There is something special about having a beautiful, intentional bridal detail that does not need to be chosen for anyone else.
Many modern brides choose a wedding garter as their something blue because it is a meaningful and stylish way to keep the tradition personal and subtly tucked underneath their wedding dress.
In my experience, this is one of the easiest ways to add something blue to your wedding day without changing the overall look of your bridal style.
Your blue can be obvious, or it can be incredibly subtle.
It might be dusty blue fabric, a tiny blue bow, blue embroidery, your wedding date stitched in blue, or another small detail incorporated into the design.
Because the garter is worn underneath your wedding dress, it gives you the freedom to have your something blue without needing it to coordinate with every visible part of your wedding day look.
And unlike some something blue ideas, your wedding garter is something you can save after the wedding.
Get more info on a custom wedding garter heirloom
Don't miss out - download the free Bridal Fashion Timeline, so you know what to order when!
A wedding garter can absolutely become a family heirloom, and this is one of the most meaningful changes I have seen in my 20 plus years of designing them.
I regularly work with brides and their families to transform sentimental materials into custom wedding heirlooms.
Maybe your mom saved her wedding dress but you do not want to wear it.
Maybe your grandmother’s veil is beautiful, but it is not your style.
Maybe you have a piece of lace, a handkerchief, a necktie, or another fabric connected to someone important to you.
You do not have to use the entire item for it to be meaningful.
Sometimes a tiny piece is enough.
I can incorporate a portion of that material into a wedding garter so the bride can literally carry a piece of her family with her as she walks down the aisle.
After doing this work for more than two decades, I can tell you that these are often the designs that carry the most emotion.
They are not meaningful because they are wedding garters.
They are meaningful because of whose fabric it was, where it came from, and the story the bride gets to carry forward.
There is no single style that defines a wedding garter today. Modern wedding garters can be romantic, minimalist, personalized, something blue, or completely custom, giving brides plenty of options to choose a style that feels like them.
I have designed romantic lace wedding garters, minimalist styles, something blue garters, personalized garters, embroidered designs, modern tulle garters, pearl and beaded styles, and completely custom wedding heirlooms.
Some brides want something delicate and understated.
Others want something high fashion and luxurious.
Some want their garter to coordinate perfectly with their wedding dress.
Others want a hidden pop of blue.
And some brides want a design that begins with a family material and is created entirely around its history.
The best wedding garter is not necessarily the one that looks the most traditional.
It is the one that feels like you.
Wearing a wedding garter is completely optional, just like so many other wedding traditions. So, no, you do not have to wear a wedding garter, even if you're feeling pressure from your mom or something else who is making you feel like you have to do all the wedding things.
There are very few things you truly have to do when it comes to your bridal style, and wearing a wedding garter is not one of them.
After 20 plus years of working in weddings, this is advice I give brides again and again:
Do not add something to your wedding simply because you think you are supposed to.
There are already enough decisions involved in planning a wedding. You do not need to spend your time, money, or energy checking off traditions that mean nothing to you.
But the opposite is also true.
Do not skip something you genuinely love because you are worried that someone else might think it is old fashioned.
If wearing a wedding garter feels special to you, that is reason enough to wear one.
Shop now for the 'Something Dusty Blue' wedding garter set
Don't miss out - download the free Wedding Dress Shopping Voting Signs for an easy way to make dress shopping fun for everyone!
Do brides still wear wedding garters in 2026? Yes. Modern brides still wear wedding garters, although many choose them as something blue, personalized bridal accessories, sentimental keepsakes, or family heirlooms rather than specifically for the garter toss.
Wedding garters are absolutely still part of modern weddings, but brides are choosing them for different reasons than they did years ago.
The tradition has evolved, but wedding garters are still worn by brides who love the tradition or want a meaningful accessory to wear underneath their wedding dress.
No. A wedding garter does not have to be connected to an old reception tradition. Modern wedding garters can be stylish, personalized, sentimental, and designed to become keepsakes after the wedding.
No bride needs to wear a garter, but you can absolutely wear one without doing the garter toss. Many of the brides I work with wear their garter as a keepsake, something blue, or sentimental heirloom and never toss it.
Brides wear wedding garters for many reasons, including tradition, something blue, personalization, sentimentality, and as a keepsake from the wedding day. Some custom garters can also incorporate materials from a family wedding dress, veil, tie, or other heirloom.
Yes. A wedding garter is a popular way to incorporate something blue because it can be hidden underneath your wedding dress and customized with blue fabric, ribbon, lace, embroidery, or another small blue detail.
Yes. I specialize in creating custom wedding garter heirlooms using meaningful family materials, including fabric and lace from mothers’ and grandmothers’ wedding dresses and veils, as well as other sentimental fabrics.
Should you wear a wedding garter? Wear one if the idea feels meaningful, beautiful, fun, or personal to you. Skip it if it does not. Your bridal style should reflect you, not a list of traditions you feel obligated to follow.
After hand making wedding garters since 2004 and working with thousands of brides, my answer is an easy yes! I can confidently say that brides still wear wedding garters, but they are making the tradition entirely their own.
Brides still wear wedding garters.
What has changed is why they wear them.
For many of the brides I work with today, the wedding garter is no longer about following a reception tradition. It is about having something personal underneath their wedding dress. It is about finding the perfect something blue. It is about adding a wedding date or initials to a keepsake. It is about taking a piece of Mom’s wedding dress or Grandma’s veil and giving it a new story.
And sometimes it is simply about choosing one beautiful thing for yourself on a day when so much is happening around you.
That does not feel outdated to me.
It feels incredibly personal.
After more than two decades of making wedding garters, I have watched the tradition change, but I have not watched it disappear.
Modern brides are not necessarily abandoning the wedding garter.
They are making it their own.
If you are deciding whether a garter belongs in your wedding day look, read How to Choose the Right Garter For Younext.
Or, if you already know you want something personal, explore my handmade wedding garter heirlooms in the online shop of pre-designed style, or get more information about custom wedding garter designs made with family materials.
