The History Of Your Wedding Dress

When planning your wedding, although there is an incredibly long list of things to do both big and small, but luckily the big things are actually quite few in number. You need a venue, a caterer, a wedding photographer, a cake, wedding outfits and some flowers. Those are the big spends, so you know once you have got those sorted out, you're almost done. Interestingly, many of the decisions you are making for your wedding have years of history and tradition behind them. In particular, most of us know that brides haven't always worn a white wedding dress, but do you know when it started and why?

Before Queen Victoria's wedding in 1840, women usually got married in their best dress, whatever colour it was. After the Queen's wedding to Albert of Saxe-Coburg when she chose a white dress rather than the traditionally royal colour silver, the wedding dress colour of choice gradually became white. In fact by 1849 a popular book on etiquette was already saying that "Custom has decided, from the earliest ages, that white is the most fitting hue," so it was already attaining the status of a tradition despite being a relatively new trend! It was already being described as symbolising the purity and innocence of the bride.

Despite this new tradition many brides simply could not afford to buy a new dress, or even the fabric to make one, just for their wedding day. Particularly not in such an impractical colour as white! The majority continued to celebrate their marriage in their best Sunday frock. When the Industrial Revolution hit, and department stores started arriving in towns, it began to be possible for the average woman to buy a new dress for her wedding, and knowing it was traditional, they often chose white.

Nowadays, while women still feel that white is traditional, you can get married in anything you want! Traditionally styled wedding dresses come in a range of colours from the subtley off white shades of ivory or cream, through a variety of pastel shades, to more daring bold colours, even red and black. My wedding dress was gold and I certainly felt like a princess wearing it. It is important to wear something that makes you feel special, whatever colour it is, but you should also consider the theme of your wedding and the venue (you don't want your dress to clash with the carpet!), as well as how photographic your wedding dress is. If possible, discuss your ideas with your wedding photographer. White dresses look stunning in black and white photographs, but dramatically coloured dresses obviously look better in colour. The colour of your dress may also affect the type of lighting your photographer chooses.

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