Opinions on DIY Wedding Broom (PICS)

IMO, i don't think it needs flowers, i like it the way it is..lol

What is a wedding broom? I have never heard of this

I agree, it looks fine the way it is! I like it!

@Sweetbean - this is a tradition practiced at weddings in our Baptist church.

http://www.african-weddings.com/jumping_the_broom

"Jumping the Broom" is a symbol of sweeping away the old and welcoming the new, or a symbol of new beginnings.

@Ely and ImtheOne4Him - thank you both! My 13 year old daughter helped me, her ideas were amazing!

I like it the way it is. Very nice!

Thank you MrsA2B!

I thought Jumping the Broom was only a Black/African American tradition from slavery

I like it as is. But I'm bad at visualizing so I'd probably have to see it with flowers to know which I liked better. Right now I'd say I think I prefer it this way. Very pretty.

@ Reggie - thank you

@Jai - we are members of a Baptist church that is a primarily African American congregation, and I am marrying an African American man. The tradition originated in Ghana and was brought to America because of the slave trade.

"...most of Ghana in the 18th century was ruled by the Asante of Ashanti Confederacy. The Asante’s urban areas and roads were kept conspicuously clean according to visiting British and Dutch traders with the use of locally made brooms. These same brooms were used by wives or servants to clean the courtyards of palaces or homes. The broom in Asante and other Akan cultures also held spiritual value and symbolized sweeping away past wrongs or removing evil spirits.

This is where the broom comes into play regarding marriage. Brooms were waved over the heads of marrying couples to ward off spirits. The couple would often but not always jump over the broom at the end of the ceremony. Jumping over the broom symbolized the wife's commitment or willingness to clean the courtyard of the new home she had joined. Furthermore, it expressed her overall commitment to the house. It also represented the determination of who ran the household. Whoever jumped highest over the broom was the decision maker of the household (usually the man)."

It's lovely! Thank you for the background information. I love learning new things.

I've used it in an African American context and with the Celtic Handfasting. My reading doesn't have anything about the 'head of the house" but it talks about sweeping away the past and starting anew.

I think it's pretty; I'd leave it alone.