生活美語《 Who caught the wedding bouquet?》
Who caught the wedding bouquet?
結婚花束由誰人接到？
對話
Betty: Where were you over the weekend? We missed you.
蓓蒂：你周末去了哪裡？我們都找不到你。
Gwyneth: Oh, I was at my cousin's wedding out at Lake Purity. I was one of the bridesmaids.
格溫內思：我去了澄清湖出席表姊婚禮。我是伴娘。
Betty: You must show me the photos. How did it go?
蓓蒂：你得拿些照片給我看。婚禮舉行得怎樣？
Gwyneth: It was fantastic. Both sides of the family were all there and lots of friends and the weather was glorious.
格溫內思：好極了。男女雙方家人全部都有出席，還有很多朋友，天氣也好得很。
Betty: Who caught the wedding bouquet?
蓓蒂：結婚花束由誰人接到？
Gwyneth: Ha, ha. You'll never guess. It was me!
格溫內思：哈哈，你怎樣都不會猜到。是我！
Betty: So when will you be sending out the invitations to your wedding?
蓓蒂：那麼，你什麼時候派發結婚請柬呢？
Gwyneth: Oh, not for a while. I still haven't found the right man.
格溫內思：啊，暫時不會。我還未找到合適的男人。
Betty: Maybe you should have dropped it.
蓓蒂：也許，你當時應該把花束放下。
多學一點點 新娘拋花
格溫內思說周末去了做出閣表姊的伴娘：I was one of the bridesmaids。「伴娘」英文叫bridesmaid。從前的人迷信，擔心魔鬼破壞新婚男女幸福，於是請親友做伴郎、伴娘，衣著和新婚者相似，使魔鬼難以辨認無法作惡。伴娘可以有多名，首要的一個叫maid / matron of honor:未婚的叫maid，已婚的叫matron。
Matron是「已婚婦女」，特別是已到中年略覺肥胖者，例如：(1) As her best friend, I was asked to be Lucy's maid of honor（我是露西最好的朋友，獲邀做她的第一伴娘）。(2) Her matronly looks gave the child a feeling of security（她大嬸般的模樣，給了那孩子一點安全感）。
蓓蒂問格溫內思：Who caught the wedding bouquet? Bouquet是「花束」，例如：The bride carried a bouquet of red roses, and the groom also wore a red rose in his buttonhole（新娘拿著一束紅玫瑰，新郎也有一朵紅玫瑰插在鈕扣孔裡）。中世紀武士身上常配著意中人愛穿的顏色；新郎禮服插朵新娘手持的那種花，可說是中世紀武士示愛遺風。
西方婚禮還有一個傳統，就是結婚酒會之後，新娘離去時，會把手上花束向未婚的女親友拋去。例如：Betty caught the bouquet tossed by the bride into the group of unmarried women, which according to ancient beliefs means that she would be the next to marry（新娘把花束向未婚婦女群中拋去，蓓蒂接著。根據古人信仰，這表示下一個結婚的會是蓓蒂）。從前，新娘會脫下一隻鞋子拋出，後來才改拋花束。
