Weddings are full of traditions we rarely stop to question. The bride carries flowers. The couple exchanges rings. Someone catches a bouquet. There is cake to cut, a first dance to dance, and—depending on the family—at least one relative who will absolutely cry before the ceremony even begins.

But throwing shoes at weddings? Yes. Shoes.

Long before wedding guests tossed flower petals, blew bubbles, waved sparklers, or sent newlyweds off beneath a shower of confetti, shoes played a surprisingly important role in wedding traditions. While we certainly aren’t suggesting you start hurling your best pair of heels at the happy couple, the history behind throwing shoes at weddings is too fascinating not to share.

Throwing Shoes at Weddings Goes Back Centuries

The custom of throwing shoes at weddings stretches back hundreds of years, with versions of the tradition appearing in Britain. Guests sometimes threw old shoes after the newly married couple as they departed, with the gesture becoming associated with good luck as the couple stepped—quite literally—into a new chapter of life.

In some versions of the custom, shoes were thrown toward the carriage carrying the newlyweds. In others, old shoes were tied to the carriage as the couple made their departure. If that image sounds a little familiar, there is a reason. Wedding customs have a way of evolving over generations, and the tradition brings to mind the later practice of decorating a newlywed couple’s getaway car with ribbons, signs, tin cans, and other noisy reminders that two people have just gotten married.

The Shoe Had a More Complicated Meaning, Too

Like many customs passed down through centuries, throwing shoes at weddings has some history that feels decidedly less romantic through modern eyes. In earlier societies, shoes could be connected symbolically with authority, property, and the transfer of responsibility for a woman from her father to her husband.

That part of the tradition probably isn’t something many modern couples would be eager to resurrect—and that is perfectly fine. Traditions aren’t frozen in time. Their meanings change as people and cultures change. We can be curious about where wedding customs came from without feeling obligated to preserve every belief once attached to them.

In fact, that may be one of the most beautiful things about weddings. Every generation gets to decide which traditions still carry meaning, which ones deserve a new interpretation, and which ones can remain safely tucked away in the history books.

From Flying Shoes to the Modern Wedding Send-Off

Thankfully for modern hairstyles—and everyone’s safety—we’ve found gentler ways to send newlyweds into married life.

Rice became a familiar wedding send-off tradition for generations, and today couples have seemingly endless choices. Guests might wave ribbon wands or glow sticks, ring tiny bells, toss dried flower petals, blow bubbles, or create a sparkling tunnel for the newlyweds to walk through at the end of the evening. Some couples choose nothing elaborate at all, preferring simply to walk hand-in-hand through a crowd of the people they love most.

Here in the Smoky Mountains, nature can provide much of the magic. Imagine leaving your reception beneath a canopy of trees as the mountains fade into blue layers in the distance. Your family and friends gather around you, cheering as you begin the next chapter of your life together. It’s hard to imagine needing much more than that.

And no flying footwear is required.

Wedding Traditions Are Really Stories

Perhaps that’s why learning about something as quirky as throwing shoes at weddings is worthwhile. Wedding traditions tell us something about the people who came before us and the ways they tried to give meaning to important moments.

Some traditions are tender. Some are strange. Some make perfect sense even centuries later, while others make us grateful that times have changed. Together, though, they remind us that people have always searched for ways to mark life’s biggest moments.

We gather with the people we love. We witness promises being made. We celebrate the beginning of something new. We create rituals that say, in one way or another, this matters, these people matter, and this day deserves to be remembered.

That part hasn’t changed much at all.

Creating Your Own Smoky Mountain Wedding Traditions

One of the joys of planning a wedding today is that there really isn’t one “right” way to celebrate. Couples can keep the traditions that mean something to them, reinvent others to better reflect their lives, and skip the customs that simply don’t feel authentic.

Maybe you’ll carry your grandmother’s handkerchief down the aisle or serve a treasured family recipe at the reception. Perhaps you’ll write private vows, incorporate a unity ceremony, dance with your children, honor someone you’ve lost, or create a completely new tradition that future generations of your family may someday call their own.

That’s how traditions begin, after all. Someone does something meaningful. Someone remembers it. And someone else carries it forward.

Let the Smoky Mountain Wedding Association Help You Create Your Day

So, should we bring back throwing shoes at weddings? We’re going to suggest admiring this particular tradition from a safe historical distance.

But there is something lovely beneath all the strangeness of the custom: the timeless desire to send two people into married life surrounded by celebration, laughter, hope, and the good wishes of the people who love them.

That spirit feels right at home here in the Smoky Mountains.

Planning a wedding in the Smokies, however, involves more than choosing a beautiful tradition or finding the perfect mountain backdrop. There are venues to consider, photographs to capture, flowers to arrange, meals to plan, ceremonies to create, guests to accommodate, timelines to coordinate, and countless details that turn an idea into a wedding day.

You don’t have to figure all of that out alone.

The members of the Smoky Mountain Wedding Association bring professional expertise, local knowledge, and years of experience helping couples celebrate in one of the most beautiful wedding destinations in the country. They know these mountains. They know the wedding industry. And, perhaps most importantly, they understand how all those individual details have to work together to create a day that feels like yours.

Whether you’re dreaming of an intimate mountain ceremony, a rustic celebration surrounded by family and friends, an elegant reception, or something completely your own, tap into the expertise of Smoky Mountain Wedding Association members as you plan.

Explore the Association’s members, connect with local wedding professionals, ask questions, and build a team you can trust. Your wedding traditions may be centuries old or created entirely by you—but your wedding day only happens once.

Let the experts of the Smoky Mountain Wedding Association help you make it one worth remembering.

And please, keep the shoes on your feet.