Bridal Dress

The Bridal Dress: Raiment for the Queen of the Day

By Anna Lynn Sibal

There is only one star of the show in every wedding since time immemorial, and that star is none other than the bride. In the old days, people often called the bride the queen of the day; lavish honors and attention were showered upon her on the day she becomes a wife. Because of the importance that the bride holds in a wedding, she is always clad in the best dress she could afford. Her dress, the bridal dress, carried a lot of meaning for the bride's person and station in life.

Why Bridal Dresses are Grand

It is tradition that bridal dresses need to look grand and make the bride appear like a princess - or a queen - on her special day. In the West, the roots of this tradition can be traced to the Middle Ages, when real-life princesses were married off to royal spouses, often from other countries, as a token of the dynastic alliances between the countries the engaged couple represented.

Because the princess-bride was the symbol of all things good about her country, it was essential for her to be decked in a manner that reflected her country's wealth and dignity on the day of her marriage. She was dressed in layers of fabric deemed costly during that period, such as silks, velvets and damasks, often dyed richly in red, royal blues and royal purples, and shot with exquisite embroidery done in gold and silver thread. More often than not, the princess-bride's bridal dress was also encrusted with gems.

It was definitely a test of the princess-bride's royal demeanor to be able to walk in such a heavy dress without tripping or staggering under its weight. On the day of her wedding, if the princess-bride herself is not a beauty, her magnificent dress would certainly make her look like one. The intention of making her wear such a bridal dress was to signify that the country from which she was coming from is no less wealthy than the country she was marrying into.

The custom immediately permeated the lower levels of society in the West. Bridal dresses were meant to be a display of the wealth that the bride's family possessed. While the same is no longer absolutely true today, the idea that bridal dresses need to be grand still stands.

Why Bridal Dresses Are White

White has always been associated with purity and innocence, virtues that brides are supposed to possess. While brides in the olden days did wear white, it was a matter of preference rather than custom. Brides wore the best dress they own or could afford to buy on their wedding day, regardless of the color. The only colors shunned by brides are black, the color of mourning; and red, the color of the prostitute or fallen woman.

The custom of brides wearing white was established by Queen Victoria of Great Britain, when she wore a rich white gown on her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840. It then became the fashion among brides of the Victorian era, and the fashion persisted until our modern age.

Choosing a Bridal Dress

Today, the bridal dress is more of an expression of the bride's sense of style rather than any other underlying meanings. Most brides still choose to wear white, but many opt to wear other shades that are close to white, such as eggshell, beige and ecru. There are even brides who would rather wear a different color of bridal dress for their wedding.

There are no set rules on what brides ought to wear on their wedding. What is important is that the dress is something they can move comfortably in and is something that flatters the shape of the body. Also, the bridal dress has to be in theme with the wedding itself. A sweeping train would be out of place in a beach wedding, while a short cocktail dress would be unsuitable for a formal church wedding.