History of White Wedding Dresses

[roddma]

Though most modern Christian/evangelical faiths still consider white wedding gown resembling purity, it is actually less than a 200 year old concept year old concept and not Biblical. Color means nothing. White was more of a symbol of wealth. Weddings should be about happiness, not who is virginal .

[Coldwinterskies]

Yes, I had heard that white wedding dresses just became a fad because of one of the queens marrying in white.

This is why I decided to get married in a colorful dress when I got married. :)

Diamond wedding rings are also an extremely new phenomenon, by the way. In the old days, it was more common to use stones like sapphires in wedding rings. The popularity of diamond rings is mainly based on DeBeers company aggressively marketing them several decades ago.

[anjulibai]

Queen Victoria popularized white wedding dresses when she wore it to her wedding. Silver and gold were common, before then, for royalty, and any color the bride chose (or nice dress she had on hand) for pretty much everyone else.

[JaCrispy]

Though most modern Christian/evangelical faiths still consider white wedding gown resembling purity, it is actually less than a 200 year old concept year old concept and not Biblical. Color means nothing. White was more of a symbol of wealth. Weddings should be about happiness, not who is virginal .

I was preggo at My wedding lmao...Oops! And My wedding dress was a purple tie dye hand Me down from My Mom that I loved, so I wore that. White is too boring, in My family it is actually tradition for the bride to wear purple, and the groom to wear green. My Mom wore a cute little plum purple mini dress with her hair updo in a beehive lol And My Dad wore his trusty green suit. They looked adorable though! :D

[Just_Jane]

I once read the purple was a popular color for a wedding dress back when purple was one of the most expensive colors to dye. Maybe not the most popular but the biggest status symbol among the wealthy.

the reality of it is most women could only afford to get married in their Sunday best or if they were lucky a new Sunday best type outfit. the thought of having a dress you only wore once was a luxury most people could not afford. The white wedding dress you wear only one time is a rather modern thing.

[Rachel333]

I remember someone on here criticizing Jessa for not wearing a white dress when white wedding dresses were Biblical. :lol:

[whoviana]

I remember someone on here criticizing Jessa for not wearing a white dress when white wedding dresses were Biblical. :lol:

:oops: Was she one of those low-post-count fundie flouncees?

[Four is Enough]

My niece by marriage had her mother walk her down the aisle when she married my nephew. Her grandmother was appalled. "It's in the Bible to have your father walk you down the aisle!" she said.... not making this stuff up.

[Peas n carrots]

In my family all wedding photos before the 1950's were taken in Sunday best. It seems like white is almost as recent as diamonds for the masses.

My dress was champaign colored. With my complexion I would have looked dreadful in white.

[nokidsmom]

My dress was more a cream cream color, I look terrible in white also. My veil was ivory tulle because that matched the cream color rather than straight white.

My grandmother wore lavender, it was the best dress she bought to wear both for her wedding in 1929 and for afterward. Her mother wore black as a new best dress with the white veil in the 1890s. Mr. No's maternal grandmother had a roaring 20s style with the flapper dress in white, huge bouquet and long, long veil.

MIL's wedding dress, which I have, was altered as a evening gown after the wedding. The dress' sleeves and train, as shown in the wedding photos, are gone. Given that her mother, who had the roaring 20s wedding mentioned above, was a professional seamstress and very frugal to boot, probably altered it for my MIL to wear afterward and most likely while FIL was in the Air Force when money was tight.

White was more for folks in wealthier circles who could afford it after it was popularized by Queen Victoria, but even in those circles the white dress could still be worn again.

[danvillebelle]

My mother and her mother both got married in suits (in 1964 and 1937). Mom's was golden brown, grandmother's was dark emerald green with a kick-ass matching hat. They both looked great (and would have looked washed out and deathly pale in white).

And let us not forget that Laura Ingalls Wilder married in BLACK. :D

ETA: the only thing I would put my foot down about concerning my daughters' wedding dresses is that I would do everything I could to talk my older daughter out of wearing white! She has flaming red hair and pale ivory skin, she looks positively corpse-like in white. I fully expect her to wear a colored wedding gown and rock it.

[nokidsmom]

My mother and her mother both got married in suits (in 1964 and 1937). Mom's was golden brown, grandmother's was dark emerald green with a kick-ass matching hat. They both looked great (and would have looked washed out and deathly pale in white).

And let us not forget that Laura Ingalls Wilder married in BLACK. :D

ETA: the only thing I would put my foot down about concerning my daughters' wedding dresses is that I would do everything I could to talk my older daughter out of wearing white! She has flaming red hair and pale ivory skin, she looks positively corpse-like in white. I fully expect her to wear a colored wedding gown and rock it.

Maybe the same emerald green that her great grandmother wore? That sounds like that would work! Did great grandma have the same hair and coloring?

[ADoyle90815]

My mother and her mother both got married in suits (in 1964 and 1937). Mom's was golden brown, grandmother's was dark emerald green with a kick-ass matching hat. They both looked great (and would have looked washed out and deathly pale in white).

And let us not forget that Laura Ingalls Wilder married in BLACK. :D

ETA: the only thing I would put my foot down about concerning my daughters' wedding dresses is that I would do everything I could to talk my older daughter out of wearing white! She has flaming red hair and pale ivory skin, she looks positively corpse-like in white. I fully expect her to wear a colored wedding gown and rock it.

Not only did Laura Ingalls Wilder wear a black wedding dress, but her engagement ring was pearl and garnets. Diamond engagement rings only became popular thanks to DeBeers pushing them on the public through their hugely successful marketing campaigns over the last few decades.

[blessalessi]

White is too harsh for most skin colours. Ivory is so much more flattering. But... whatever anyone wants, I say. I would choose red myself.

[ginnabear]

When I married, my dress was a dark plum with white lace sewn onto the seams. The neck had small pink roses sewn all the way around. I refused to wear white, which did not make the MIL happy. My bridesmaids/matron of honor, however, were wearing cream colored dresses.

[roddma]

I dont know that about Laura Ingalls. Come to think of it none of them wore white gowns on the show except for Willie's wife. And I dont think that was really white..

http://www.edelweisspatterns.com/blog/?p=1223

[indifferent]

I heard that it used to be white so you could dye it later on and repurpose it. But I am too lazy to find source and I have to go eat now :popcorn2:

[Peas n carrots]

Every time I see this thread title on my feed this starts running through my head

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[nokidsmom]

Every time I see this thread title on my feed this starts running through my head

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Mr. No and I heard right this right after our wedding as we drove ourselves to the reception and it came on the radio.

[2xx1xy1JD]

My maternal grandmother got married in the middle of WWII, while my grandfather was on a brief leave. Her "wedding" dress was simply a nice dress she owned.

[OkToBeTakei]

Mr. No and I heard right this right after our wedding as we drove ourselves to the reception and it came on the radio.

:lol: My brother used to sing that to me!!!!!

[micatite]

My parents eloped. Mom wore her best blue dress and a pin-on corsage of pink roses. She said she'd tried on a few wedding dresses at the time, but she felt like she was being eaten alive by a lace tablecloth or some such. I believe it. Mom is the anti-poofy type.

No pictures, probably because mom was sick as a dog on their wedding day. Dad was working out of state while mom was going for her advanced degree and so they planned the elopement for a school break. Unfortunately, mom had caught the horrid flu that was going around that year, but they went ahead with it anyway. And despite that rocky start, the marriage has 'stuck' for 49 years now.

Interestingly enough, on their one year anniversary they got dressed in their wedding duds (with another corsage for mom) and had a photo taken. The roses, I'm told, were pink, but somehow the photographer made them look yellow in the print for some reason known only to him (or her.)

[Johanna25]

Roman brides wore a red or flame colored veil. This tradition was continued in many countries until Queen Victoria popularized the white wedding.

[sparkles]

Victoria was quite the arbiter of fashion, a regular ol' Diana Vreeland. We went to see the "Death Becomes Her" exhibit at the Met's Costume Institute recently and found out the she was pretty much solely responsible for dictating mourning etiquette as well. Styles, fabrics, stages of mourning, the whole shebang. It was a very interesting exhibit.

I wore pink at my wedding in '81. The (older) man who helped me at the fabric store was aghast, almost offended. He didn't want sell it to me and actually said "You CAN'T wear pink; it's not done." Yeah, right buddy. Just sell me my fabric and shut up. :roll:

[Cartmann99]

:lol: My brother used to sing that to me!!!!!

The church my brother and his first wife got married in didn't allow dancing or alcohol. (The bride's parents were very conservative, their money, their rules.) When the happy couple got to the hotel for their honeymoon, they decided to go and have a quick drink at the bar. As soon as the bartender found out they had just gotten married, he asked the band to play this song for them as their first dance.