A High Court case which was expected to resume today, being heard by Mr Justice Kevin Cross, has been informed that the case had been settled out of court. The settlement agreed has not been disclosed.
The case involved the throwing of a wedding bouquet in the Aherlow House Hotel, Aherlow, Co. Tipperary, some 6 years ago. A 53-year-old childcare worker, Ms Ann White, with an address at Highfield Grove, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, had sued the extremely popular wedding venue after she had allegedly slipped on rose petals lost from a bridal bouquet, which had been thrown two hours earlier by the then bride, during her wedding reception.
The bride flinging the bouquet over her head to all the single ladies is a sign of good fortune, only for the one who catches it. Hundreds of years ago, it was thought to be very good luck to touch the bride. This often caused discomfort and an invasion of privacy to the bride. In order therefore to deter guests, brides then began the practise of tossing their bouquet to distract people before making a break for it with her husband, to their bridal chamber. The groom would later open the door and toss out her garter, once the couple was inside.
People just wanted pieces of the bride’s accessories because she was married. So female guests were naturally thrilled to grab the flowers, and male guests her garter, since both items were believed to bring romantic luck for the future to those who gained their possession.
Ms White informed the High Court that at around 12.30am in the early morning the bride had thrown her bouquet of pink roses to an over enthusiastic crowd of some 20 single ladies. Ms White stated that while she was dancing later, she slid on one of the rose petals lost from this bouquet; leading to her falling on her back and hitting her head and arm on the floor. She claimed that hotel staff had failed to gather up and remove these petals at this 2012 wedding reception, thus creating this incident on the dance floor.
The Aherlow House Hotel had fully accepted the accident had taken place on their premises, but contested Ms White’s claim, stating that her ongoing pain was in fact due to an already pre-existing condition.
Ms White claimed she had been unable to work again due to an ongoing pain in her wrist.
Wedding Venues are, in future, likely to look closely at this century’s old tradition, with a view to a total ban on this practise taking place on the dance floor, into the future.
All we can say to this outcome! “The mind boggles”.