Princess Brides

There appears to be a plethora of wedding programmes on TV now. Many people I know have recently married or have a child who has.  They all have the same acceptable pattern of dress and event, patterns that have become part of western tradition.

I think we all know many cultures on this planet do not wear white for their weddings. Often it is red – the colour of joy and fertility, which has logic to it.  For some, white is the colour of mourning.

South Asian bridal wear: Image via Wikipedia

I hear most women say they have been planning their wedding days in their minds since age 12 and all seem to have this idea of the “princess bride” in her long white gown and veil. I wonder how many western women know that this tradition started with Queen Victoria in the 1800s. She wore white, as the legend goes, because of a poem. In this poem white is associated with having chosen right. Blue was for having chosen a man to whom she would be true – that is faithful. Wearing red, the bride would wish she was dead. And a bride in black would “wish she was back” – or single again. The rhymes put with the colours determined the course of western wedding rules. By 1849, for those brides who could afford a new dress, white was the hue of choice. By the 1890s with the arrival of the department store and industrialised textile manufacturing, white bridal gowns were easier to afford.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, 1840: Image via Wikipedia

Margaret, Lady Forrest, 1876: Image via Wikipedia

1929 wedding: Image via Wikipedia

1942 wedding: Image via Wikipedia

1968 Bride: Image via Wikipedia

21st century bride: Image via Wikipedia

Prior to this time and even through the 1800s brides wore their best or favourite dress in Europe and North America. Colour was determined by personal choice or current fashion or what was available on her budget. For many women, the wedding dress was reused for decades as a dress for social events.  A woman’s veil was her symbol of purity and chastity, not the colour of her dress.

Bride of the late 1800s Image via Wikipedia

If one was to go back to the royal brides of the centuries before Victoria and be true to the concept of being a “princess bride”, the look would be slightly different. The white satin, lace, beading and glitter of today would give way to gold, silver and purple velvets, brocades and embroidery. And dare i say it FUR – ermine normally. Hair was worn long and flowing symbolising youth and purity.

Now my grandmother wore an ordinary rose pink dress at her wedding during the War only because she could not find one in blue. Her niece always wanted a February wedding in red velvet. When the time came it was June and white lace and satin, in keeping with western ways and to appease the family. Red velvet – now that’s original!

“Married in white, you will have chosen all right. Married in grey, you will go far away. Married in black, you will wish yourself back. Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead. Married in blue, you will always be true. Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl. Married in green, ashamed to be seen, Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow. Married in brown, you’ll live out of town. Married in pink, your spirits will sink.”