Good Luck Charms

You know the traditional rhyme pictured below:

It's an old English saying dating back to the late 1800s. You probably didn't even know that last line was part of it. It's supposed to symbolize good luck for the wedding couple. The bride has all of that on her in one way or another to ensure luck in her wedding. Well, of course it's going to take far more than something old, new, borrowed, blue and a sixpence to have a "happily ever after" (otherwise there would be no purpose for this blog), but it certainly is popular and fun for brides to make this part of the wedding experience. According to The Knot magazine:

 "Something old represents continuity; something new offers optimism for the future; something borrowed symbolizes borrowed happiness; something blue stands for purity, love, and fidelity; and a sixpence in your shoe is a wish for good fortune and prosperity, although this remains largely a British custom."

For Brad and I, my something old, borrowed and blue were all the same ... a garter I wore. It was one my Grandma Swain wore at her wedding. My new was the dress. And yes, I walked around all day with a sixpence in my shoe. As we are part English, guess that was important.

So we'll assume for both brides the new will be the dress, but what of the rest? You probably already have ideas for what the old, borrowed and blue will be, but we thought we'd do a little digging to see what others used.

For old:

• Any family heirloom from jewelry to a handbag. Speak to your grandmas about this one.
• One site suggested wearing a locket with photos of deceased family members.
• Embroidering a favorite Bible verse on your dress somewhere
• Vintage shoes, gloves or a hairpiece
• Wrapping the stems of the bridal bouquet in an heirloom from the family

For borrowed:
      Anything works here: jewelry, sash, garter, veil, shoes. Your old and borrowed could be the same.

For blue:

• Embroidering the wedding date in blue thread on your wedding dress hem.
• Sticking tiny blue gems to the bottom of your wedding shoes that spell out. "I do."
• Blue jewelry
• Blue undergarments
• Something blue in the bouquet
• Blue nail polish
• A blue hair ornament
• One website even suggested replacing your corset tie with a blue ribbon

So there are some ideas for you. I thought I might have a silver sixpence, alas all I had was a 1908 silver coin from Canada, a 1911 coin from the US and some silver pennies from World War II. So no help there. If you want one, I can be on the hunt.

I don't think in the grand scheme of things, not having any of these items will make a hill of beans in your marriage. In the words of Obi Wan Kenobi: "In my experience there's no such thing as luck." The work "luck" isn't found anywhere in the Bible. A marriage takes work,lots of love and true focus on God. When you do that, it's truly all the "luck" you'll need.

Discussion: what do you hope to use as your something old, new, borrowed and blue? Do you have a family heirloom that will be part of the wedding?

Prayer: Father, we don't need any luck for marriages to work. What we need is You and a focus on you. Lord God, we thank You for all the guidance you have and the blessings You give. In Christ Jesus we pray, Amen.