Over the centuries, brides continued to dress in a manner befitting their
social status - always in the height of fashion, with the richest,
boldest materials money could buy. The poorest of brides wore their
best church dress on their wedding day. The amount of material a
wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride's social
standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding
guests. Today, there are wedding dresses available in all price ranges,
and Western traditions have loosened up to include a rainbow of colors
and variety of lengths, which are now considered acceptable. Women may
purchase ready-made gowns, wear a family heirloom, or they may choose
to have a dressmaker create one for her. In addition, today many bridal
salons have samples of wedding gowns in their stores where the bride
selects a certain style and orders one to be made to fit.
Wedding
dresses have traditionally been based on the popular styles of the day.
For example, in the 1920s, wedding dresses were typically short in the
front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche-style
wedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until
the late 1940s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted
designs reminiscent of the Victorian era. Although there has always
been a style that dominates the bridal market for a time, and then
shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing number of modern brides
are not choosing to follow these trends. This is due in large part to
non-traditional and non-first-time weddings, and women who are marrying
later in life.
Today, Western wedding dresses are usually white,
though "wedding white" includes creamy shades such as eggshell, ecru
and ivory. White did not become a popular option until 1840 when Queen
Victoria had worn a white gown for the event so as to incorporate some
lace she owned. The official wedding portrait photograph was widely
published, and many other brides opted for a similar dress in honor of
the Queen's choice. Later, many people assumed that the color white was
intended to symbolize purity, though this had not been the original
intention. Today, the white dress is understood merely as the most
traditional and popular choice for weddings, not necessarily a
statement of purity. In addition to the bridal
gown, the bride often wears a veil and carries a bouquet of flowers, a
small heirloom such as a lucky coin, a prayer book, or other token. In
Western countries, the bride may wear “something old, something new,
something borrowed, and something blue.”
Should the Groom wear a Tuxedo or Suit?
A
bridegroom (usually shortened to groom) is a man who is about to be
married, or who has just been married. The word bridegroom is dated to
1604, derived from bride and the archaic goom, from Old English guma,
"boy". A groom is usually attended by his best man and his groomsmen
during his wedding day. The style of the groom's clothing depends upon
the time of day, the location of the ceremony, and the style in which
the ceremony is performed. In the US, the groom usually wears a
dark-colored suit in a daytime wedding ceremony or tuxedo in the for a
evening wedding ceremony.
*Please note
that the information above is strictly informational and should not be
taken as fact or fiction but as a generalization.
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