Weddings Past and Present – Present is Better !
Would you be surprised to learn that the color white was not always the proposed color for a wedding dress? It’s true. White was not known as the typical wedding dress color until the past couple of centuries. Instead, other colors made up a bride’s wedding dress in the years’ past. Would you like to know what colors were used to do a traditional wedding?
Wedding Dress Colors
For the many decades, white wedding dresses were just not seen. For instance, if you were a bride during the medieval times, any color you wanted to wear was just fine. If you wanted, you could use black (now seen as a funeral color), bright yellow, girly pink, purple, red, blue, etc. Any color that was seen in a rainbow could be used on your wedding dress. If you wanted to mix and match it, no one ever said a word about it.
So who is to blame for the current white bridal gown movement? Look at Queen Victoria of the 19th century. On Feb. 10, 1840 she married Prince Albert of Saxe. Albert was her first cousin, something many people nowadays see as incest. Queen Victoria wore a pale white off the shoulder gown with orange trimmings. After this time, many people, royals and commoners, have tried to copy her style. No, brides were and are not copying those orange trimmings but the color of her wedding dress.
Wearing white often meant wearing other items as well. Grooms expected brides to use fur, silk, etc. to accentuate their position in society. Wearing any color was fine but brides were often made to wear heavy to light fabrics with their gowns. When you glance at the past wedding pictures of many brides, you often see them with expressions that are not so joyous. Wearing so much on the wedding dress can be overwhelmingly heavy.
Wedding Horrors of the Past – The Shredding of the Dress
Be grateful that you are a bride of today instead of the medieval days. Why? Brides were expected to give up their virginity the night of their wedding day. Most often, they would find a room shortly after the wedding was over. The wedding guests would also rip her dress to get a piece of it. The ripping of the dress was a symbol of good luck. Imagine the horror she went through, as she got ready to consummate her marriage and guests tore her dress.
Wedding Tokens of the Present – Garters and Bouquets
So what do wedding guests get as a prize for attending? Actually, brides will often toss their wedding bouquet and the groom will toss her garter out to the guests to catch. Those who do are often geared for good luck. This means a bride’s modesty is still intact and she doesn’t have to worry with her dress getting ripped up.
Most brides, if given a choice, would gladly throw out their garters and bouquets, get pelted with rice, pinned with money or deal with the wedding planner hassles that go along with saying “I do” as opposed to medieval bride times.
