Shamelessly using Wedding Wednesday blog post as a reason to look back through my own bridal portraits captured by Virgil Bunao Photography.
Wedding dress shopping can be one of the most exciting yet daunting milestones on any bride-to-be’s wedding timeline. She grabs a friend or family member (sometimes an army of them) and makes an appointment at a shop to try on an array of dresses in search of the elusive “say yes to the dress” moment.
Did you ever wonder why Brides wear white (or colors in the white, cream, ivory family) on their wedding day? I did a little research and found it fascinating, so on this “wedding Wednesday” I thought I’d share a little wedding white trivia. (I found this information in various articles on wedding websites. One on bustle.com was particularly helpful with these facts.)
England’s Queen Victoria wore a white dress to wed Prince Albert back in 1840, and in true trend-setter fashion sparked the ‘white on your wedding day’ style that is still the norm nearly 180 years later.
She didn’t wear white to symbolize purity or virginity, but rather because she loved white. The white dress/virgin bride symbolism followed when it was mentioned in the Godey’s “Lady’s Book” about a decade later. It appealed to sentimental Victorians who idolized innocent brides and their pure white gowns. “It is the emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one.”
Before Queen Victoria began the white dress trend, brides wore any nice dress they had. The color white was mostly unattainable for non-upper class brides for much of history because it was more expensive to obtain and difficult to keep clean.
White was actually the color of morning for French royals. Mary, Queen of Scots caused quite an uproar when she wore white to wed the Dauphin of France in 1558. Her young husband died just two years later, and it was widely believed her white wedding gown had cursed him.
Queen Elizabeth I was rumored to wear white for portraits because she was morning a suitor who died earlier in her life. Famously never wed, many supposed she wore white to send messages to other suitors that she was not interested in their proposals.
Many brides chose to wear blue rather than white earlier in history because of its association with the Virgin Mary. This association also signaled purity (and more importantly didn’t show stains. This may be the origin of the need for ‘something blue’ on a wedding day.
Researching this topic opened the door to reading more about what other cultures believe and wear on the occasions of their weddings. I look forward to sharing some of that trivia with you in the future as well.
