Wedding dress

From ArticleWorld

A bride wears a wedding dress, or wedding gown, in the wedding ceremony, which celebrates a marriage. Wedding dresses vary, depending on culture and religion.

Wedding dresses in Western culture

Modern tradition in Western countries indicates that a wedding dress should be white, or light cream colored. The roots of this tradition can be dated to 1840 in the wedding of Queen Victoria and Albert of Saxe-Coburg. In this ceremony, the Queen wore white. After the official photograph was published worldwide, many brides took to wearing white in a way to honor that choice.

Previous to the establishment of this tradition, a bride could marry in any color, aside from black, which is considered the color of mourning; or red, which was often connected with prostitutes.

Over the years, the white dress has come to mean purity and innocence. Some suggest that it symbolizes virginity.

Wedding dresses in Eastern culture

In China, many wedding dresses are red, which is the color to symbolized good luck. Today, many Chinese brides opt to wear a traditional white wedding dress, or where the traditional red for the ceremony and a white gown later.

In India, the traditional color for female wedding gowns is also red. When Indian brides are in Western countries, they’ll often don a red sari for the ceremony and change to white for the reception.

Other parts of the wedding outfit

The bridal train trails behind the bride. This term is used in reference to a similar train that kings and queens have worn.

The veil is the face covering and is meant to symbolize virginity. The veil is lifted after the exchange of vows.