I've gone soft on traditions as I've matured. (Matured. That's the nice way to say I'm getting old.) Many traditions are empty actions carried out unthinkingly -- sometimes as holdovers of long-lost superstitions. Others, however, still have the potential to carry meaning -- as long as we take the time to think about them . Those traditions link us to times past and to others who share them. That's not such a bad thing. Innovation is wonderful, especially in art and science, but storytelling -- especially in romantic comedies -- leans on conventions that audiences will recognize and know how to interpret. That's why we're still watching "Romeo and Juliet" all these centuries later.

But that doesn't explain the wedding bouquet toss. Do you know why it's done? It began as a symbol of sharing the good luck of marriage. It has become something of an ugly spectacle -- especially when interpreted as a competition between desperate single women, who are so needy for a man that they'd fight over that good luck symbol. (Whereas men, who are more rational, would never fight over anything purely symbolic. We're too busy fighting over stuff that matters, like football and parking spaces.)

I could do without the bouquet toss. I cannot  remember witnessing a bouquet toss in any of the weddings I've attended over the years, but it shows up on a regular basis in movies. Given that we've had a film based around a wedding singer and a wedding planner, I wonder when someone's going to build a rom com around the wedding bouquet. (Tina Fey, if you want to borrow my idea, go ahead.) Everyone else, read more to see my list of some movies that attempt to use the bouquet toss for a momentary angle, albeit often a bad one.