So I was researching garters today (for my heroine Olivia, in Secrets of an Accidental Duchess), and I came upon this, from a book written in 1813. I didn’t know the garter custom was this old; and I really didn’t know it got this…um…wild!

GARTERS at WEDDINGS

There was formerly a custom in the North of England which will be thought to have bordered very closely upon Indecency, and strongly marks the grossness of Manners that prevailed among our Ancestors: it was for the young men present at a Wedding to strive immediately after the Ceremony, who could first pluck off the Bride’s Garters from her legs.

This was done before the very Altar. The Bride was generally gartered with Ribbons for the occasion. Whoever were so fortunate as to be Victors in this singular species of Contest, during which the Bride was often obliged to scream out, and was very frequently thrown down, bore them about the Church in triumph. These Garters, it should seem, were antiently worn as Trophies in the Hats.

–Observations on popular antiquities:
chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar customs, ceremonies and superstitions, Volume 2, by Geeraert Brandt & Henry Ellis

Nice!
And if this author considers his ancestors’ manners gross, do you think he’s turning over in his grave now? 😉