Utahn catches 49 wedding bouquets, claims world record

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SALT LAKE CITY — After working to submit her application for over a year, a Utahn appropriately nicknamed “The Bouquet Slayer” has officially claimed the Guinness World Record for catching the most wedding bouquets, with a whopping 49.

Salt Lake City resident Jamie Jackson said she gets invited to a large number of weddings because her family makes a lot of connections through participating in musical theater and through their church group. As a result, she estimated she has attended between 80 and 100 weddings over the years.

The former wedding and event planner caught her first wedding bouquet in 1996 and, because of her competitive nature and “as luck would have it,” she caught several more within a few years. Eventually it became a hobby for her, and every time she got invited to a wedding, she planned to be there to catch the bouquet.

By August 2014, Jackson had caught 46 wedding bouquets, and after finding out that the official Guinness World Record for the most bouquets caught was 11, she decided to apply for the record.

However, after she began the application process in February 2015, Jackson discovered that she had a lot more work ahead of her.

“Back then, the requirements for Guinness were a handwritten note from the bride stating she invited me, and I did catch her bridal bouquet, any pictures or video footage of me at the wedding, holding the bouquet or in the bouquet toss, and that was it,” Jackson said. “Well come to find out, they needed some extra stuff they had changed since I had contacted them. I needed each bride to fill out their official Guinness documents (witness statement) as well as a second witness (steward statement) of someone who saw the bouquet toss happen. They weren't accepting the handwritten note and they weren't budging!”

Jackson spent the next year tracking down all the brides and a second witness from each wedding and getting them to fill out the 98 required documents. She also caught three more bouquets in the process, bringing her to a total of 49. Her endeavors also made headlines and Jackson was interviewed by several international media outlets.

“With everything I have had to do for this, I was hoping they would actually count all 49 bridal bouquets,” she said. “There has been so much red tape with all of this; I was sending prayers and positive thoughts that everything would go in my favor. So when it became official official, I literally was jumping up and down that this whole long awaited goal became a reality. Because in actuality, at first it was just a joke that I would tell people, until it was something that I saw that could become a reality.

“I mean, how many people can say they hold a world record in something?”

Jackson was officially named the record holder April 12 and said she was contacted by the previous record holder, Stephanie Monyak of Pennsylvania, who congratulated her. She said she had talked to Monyak throughout the process and hopes to meet her someday.

While her bouquet catching started as a quirky, fun hobby, Jackson, a personal trainer, said that it has also helped her to work hard to realize her goals.

“Once I started this process of trying to break this record and then with all the headaches I had proceeding (with it), I wanted to look at something every day to motivate me and keep me going. … So I found a phone cover that had the words ‘Just Do It’ and it had the Nike swoosh on it.

“For me, when things would get tough and I would get exhausted, I would look at those words and that would motivate me. Just do it! Even when you don't feel motivated, you are too tired, you want to procrastinate, goals don't get done without effort, without persistence, without giving it your absolute all, without Action. That can be applied in everything we do in life.”

Jackson said she hopes to inspire others so that they “will want to accomplish their goals and dreams no matter how different they may seem.”

While she didn’t receive any monetary compensation for claiming the record, Jackson said she plans to break her own record and round out the number to 50 bouquets at an upcoming wedding on April 30.

“Will I go beyond 50? As long as I'm single, I will always be out defending my title as the one and only bouquet slayer,” Jackson said.

Her next goals include competing on “Dancing with the Stars” (so she can perfect her wedding dancing skills, she said), pitching a Nike commercial idea, buying a new car and spending a week in Ireland.