I am aware of what it is used for - removal with teeth etc etc. I once went to a wedding where the bride tossed the bouquet and the groom after the removal tossed the garter to the bachelors - I had caught the bouquet and then had to dance with the guy who caught the garter.
I find this all terribly cringeworthy and the available garters mostly ugly.

So I'd like to know the actual meaning and tradition behind it - not the modern day use.

I used the search function but the information available wasn't to my satisfaction :-)

There is a European wedding tradition for a bride to wear a garter to her wedding. As part of this tradition, towards the end of the reception, the groom will remove his new wife's garter, which he tosses to the unmarried male guests. The symbolism to deflowering is unambiguous. Historically, this tradition relates to the belief that taking an article of the bride's clothing would bring good luck.[1] In the middle ages, the groom's men would rush at the new bride to take her garters off her as a prize.[2] As this often resulted in the destruction of the bride's dress, the tradition arose for the bride to surrender articles of her clothing, which were tossed to the guests, including the garter.[1] Nowadays, the privilege of removing the bride's garter is reserved to the groom, while the bride will toss her bouquet.
Another superstition that has circulated is the male equivalent of the bride throwing her bouquet to the unmarried ladies. According to this superstition, the unmarried male wedding guest who successfully catches the garter will be the next man to be headed to the altar from the group of single men at that wedding. Traditionally, the man who caught the garter and the lady who caught the bouquet would share the next dance.[1]
Garters were popular in the 1930s and 40s, and were a convenient way for ladies to carry small valuables, in place of a small purse.
In Elizabethan fashions, men wore garters with their hose, and colorful garters were an object of display. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, "cross braced" garters are an object of some derision.
In male fashion, a type of garter for holding up socks has continued as a part of male dress up to the present, although its use may be considered somewhat stodgy.

I did think of 30s Chicago movies where the ladies carry their cigarettes, guns or prohibited alcohol in their garter. The connection to a wedding was beyond me :-)

Thank you for the information. I think I can very well live without this tradition. Less vaudeville looking garters would help too :-)

That's very kind thank you - but I think I'll never fully like them. Just the fact that it's an elasticated band with fabric around always makes it ruffly - there's no way around this to some sort of ruffle extent. Etsy has polka dotted ones and not even these make my heart skip a beat :D

I think I'll leave it out - I'll be wearing a girdle or suspender belt anyway the garter kind of messes with the beauty of this :-)
And I'm certainly not having removal with teeth as a show gag.

Haven't even asked h2b what he thinks about this :-)

I think we'll be leaving the whole garter toss thing out so there's no point in me having one I feel. The idea of them feels a bit trashy for me rather than sexy. But then I'm not about tradition in the least, if I could get away without the whole something old something new stuff I would.

I think weddings in general were quite humiliating for the bride. I am from Austria and weddings are celebrated quite differently throughout the country. Each region has different customs or the same customs vary slightly. Countryside weddings are very different to city weddings. One of the old customs but still practised nowadays in the countryside is 'stealing the bride' - the best man would snatch away the bride during the reception and 'hide' her in some pub - the groom goes from pub to pub looking for her and gets a drink everywhere - ultimately he's very pissed while the bride misses her reception.

Personally, I like the idea of garters. For my SiL (Brother's wife), my mum actually made her a garter out of bobbin lace, with a blue line running through it. Of course, if she decides to make one for me (fingers crossed), I'll need a cheap one too. There's no way I'm having a hand-made lace garter removed with my H2B's teeth and thrown to the masses! I'll be keeping it!

I'm not planning on having it removed by h2b at any point during the wedding but he's liking the idea of all the bits he's got to take off after so I'll be wearing one. I was aware of the tradition but I'm sidestepping quite a few traditions so don't feel to bad about skipping this one.

Ha ha ha Xbox Widow :-)))