Along with baptism and burial, marriage is one of the three great public occasions in a woman's life. It is the only one at which she gets to revel unabashedly in the glory of her central role.
For the bride, more than the groom, it is her Big Day, her day in the sun. By extension, the wedding gown has held a unique place in the marriage ceremony.
Throughout history, women have tried to make their bridal dresses special in order to celebrate the importance of the occasion, to make the beautiful bride more beautiful and the not so beautiful at least splendid to look at.
The Princess Bride
In medieval times, when royal marriages were of political importance and used to seal alliances between countries, the royal bride's regalia was designed to signify the prestige of her country, to impress the bridegroom's country with her own nation's apparent wealth and, if possible, outdo anything they could have afforded.
The royal wealth was also displayed in the choice of fabric, its color and style, using as much as possible of the costliest fabrics, spun, woven and dyed especially for this dress.Wedding gowns of velvet, damask silk, satin or fur woven with gold and silver thread ensured that the princess was at her most majestic.
Colorful fabrics also signified status; dyes for red, blue and pure black were especially precious.
Precious gems - diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls - were woven into the fabric so the bride would glitter and flash in the sunlight. In some cases, the gown would be so thickly encrusted with jewels, that the fabric beneath was hidden.
The Princess Bride wore yards and yards of a gathered and full skirt. Long sleeves swept the floor. Trains extended behind the gown so far, every step the bride took was an effort to drag it along. Thus began the measured cadence of the wedding march.
In its extreme, as far back as the 15th century, this material spectacle resulted in a wedding ensemble so heavy that Princess Margaret of Flanders could not move in her robes and had to be carried into the church by two gentlemen attendants!
Today's princess bride is still resplendent in wedding dresses rich with French lace, alight with seed pearls and crystal sequins or elegant with sheer flowing fingertip sleeves.
The "Celebrity" Knock-Off
Then as now, not many brides were princesses and most women could not afford such expense. But every bride did her best, regardless of social stature, to copy the fashion set by their beloved royals.
A noblewoman would impress her friends and her bridegroom's family with gems and fur, wearing velvet or silk fabrics trimmed in fox or rabbit because she could not usually afford mink or sable.
Even the most common of scullery maids did her best to shine on the day of her wedding.
Rather than the usual coarse homespun she wore every day, the common girl's wedding dress would be of linen, or fine wool, using as much fabric possible.
For her, every day clothes were sparingly cut due to the cost of fabric, so a gown with fingertip sleeves or a flowing train was a big step up in status.
The White Wedding Dress
The "traditional" white wedding gown as we know it today first appeared in the late eighteenth century ushered in by the regal Queen Victoria.Queen Victoria chose to marry Prince Albert in white silk and Honiton lace instead of silver which was the traditional color of Royal brides. Her example then made white the virtual rule for Victorian brides.
We still see her influence on modern brides in white or ivory wedding gowns ornamented with pearls and lace.
Subsequently, the introduction of machine made fabric and inexpensive muslins imported from India, in styles inspired by the classical world, put the traditional white wedding dress and veil within the reach of every woman.
The Traditional Bridal Dress in Modern Times
While styles have changed through the years, and our beloved royals now marry presidents and rock stars, the essentials of this wedding dress remain the same.
It was, and is a full length gown in white or an ivory shade of white, often boasting precious French lace with yards and yards of skirt and a flowing train.
The traditional wedding gown is richly beaded and embroidered to reflect both sunlight and candlelight, yet is styled more modestly than the most daring fashions of the day.
Whether it has short cap sleeves or long fingertip illusion sleeves, it most certainly has a train.
With the traditional wedding gown, we hear the echo of centuries gone by when a royal princess was her most princess-like on her wedding day and every commoner did her uncommon best to shine most brightly as a princess bride on her day in the sun.
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