Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on their return from the marriage service at St James's Palace, London, 10 February 1840.
Royal brides before Victoria did not typically wear white, instead choosing "heavy brocaded gowns embroidered with white and silver thread," with red being a particularly popular colour in Western Europe more generally.[4] During this time, European and American brides wore a plethora of colours, including blue, yellow, and practical colours like black, brown, or gray. As accounts of Victoria's wedding spread across the Atlantic and throughout Europe, fashionable people followed her lead.
Because of the limitations of laundering techniques before the later part of the 20th century, white dresses provided an opportunity for conspicuous consumption. They were favored primarily as a way to show the world that the bride's family was so wealthy and so firmly part of the leisure class that the bride would choose an elaborate dress that could be ruined by any sort of work or spill.[3][6]
Women were required to wear veils in many Christian churches through the mid-20th century;[7] the resurgence of the wedding veil as a symbol of the bride, and its use even when not required by the bride's religion, coincided with societal emphasis on women being modest and well-behaved.[3]
Etiquette books then began to turn the practice into a tradition and the white gown soon became a popular symbol of status that also carried "a connotation of innocence and virginal purity."[5] The story put out about the wedding veil was that decorous brides were naturally too timid to show their faces in public until they were married.
By the end of the 19th century the white dress was the garment of choice for elite brides on both sides of the Atlantic. However, middle-class British and American brides did not adopt the trend fully until after World War II.[8] With increased prosperity in the 20th century, the tradition also grew to include the practice of wearing the dress only once. As historian Vicky Howard writes, "[i]f a bride wore white in the nineteenth century, it was acceptable and likely that she wore her gown again".[5] Even Queen Victoria had her famous lace wedding dress re-styled for later use.[3]
The portrayal of weddings in Hollywood movies, particularly immediately after World War II, helped crystallize and homogenize the white wedding into a normative form.[9]
Other traditions
A bride in a contemporary white wedding dress with train, tiara and white veil, taken in 2003.
“Color Wheel Pro” describes[10] white in association with light, goodness, innocence, purity and virginity. White is also often considered to be the color of perfection.[2] As for other significant meanings for white on a wedding day, “colormeaning.com” says, “In color psychology, white is the color of new beginnings — wiping the slate clean. The color white is a blank canvas, just waiting to be written on.”[11] White is the color in Western culture most often associated with beginnings. Christ after the Resurrection is traditionally portrayed dressed in white. In Christianity, children are baptized and first take communion wearing white. Baptisms are especially tied to white since the person is making a religious commitment to be pure and clean before God. Religious rites and the clothing associated with them have always been important, and white is often a common color used to express high religious commitment and purity.[2] In 2018, about 83% of brides in the United States wore white dresses at their wedding, according to a survey by Brides Magazine.[12] For weddings in the temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, white clothing is worn by both the bride and the groom during the ceremony.[13][14]
The traditional white wedding was not necessarily defined by the color of the dress only. The wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Victoria, to Prince Fredrick William of Prussia in 1858 also introduced choral music to the processional when standard practice had been to have music of any kind only during a party after the wedding ceremony.[15]
After World War I, as full-scale formal weddings began to be desired by the mothers of brides who did not have a permanent social secretary, the position of the wedding planner, who could coordinate the printer, florist, caterer, and seamstress, began to assume importance. The first edition of Bride's Magazine was published in 1934 as a newspaper advertising insert called "So You're Going to Get Married!" in a column titled "To the Bride", and its rival Modern Bride began publishing in 1949.
The full white wedding experience today typically requires the family to arrange for or purchase printed or engraved wedding invitations, musicians, decorations such as flowers or candles, clothes and flowers for bridesmaids, groomsmen, a flower girl, and a ring bearer. They may also add optional features, such as a guest book or commemorative wedding leaflets. It is common to have a celebration after the wedding ceremony, normally featuring a large white wedding cake.
Participants
Traditional weddings require, in addition to the bride and groom, a marriage officiant, which is a minister, priest, pastor, vicor, rabbi, imam, or civil officer who is authorized to perform marriages and will read out of a Bible, Torah, Quran, or Civil document.
Typical white weddings also include a wedding party, which consists of some or all of the following:
Groomsmen or ushers: One or more friends and/or family members who assist the groom, usually men. The chief groomsman is called the best man, and is given a place of honor. A woman (such as the sister of the groom) is called an honor attendant.
Bridesmaids: One or more friends and/or family members who support the bride, usually women. The chief bridesmaid may be called a maid of honor or matron of honor. A girl too young to be marriageable, but too old to be a flower girl, is called a junior bridesmaid.
Flower girl: A young girl who scatters flowers in front of the bridal party.
Ring bearer: An attendant, often a young boy, who carries the wedding rings.
Typically, these positions are filled by close friends or family members (or both) of the bride and groom; being asked to serve in these capacities is seen as an honor, and typically entails some expense.
The ceremony
A Lutheran priest in Germany marries a young couple at the church.The bride and groom stand before the altar during the wedding ceremony, surrounded by the bridesmaids and groomsmen.
When the guests arrive for a wedding, the ushers, if any, help the guests take their places. In a typical white wedding ceremony, which is derived primarily from the Christian tradition (inclusive of denominations such as Lutheranism and Anglicanism, for example), the bride and groom will stand side by side at the front of the church before the chancel throughout most or all the ceremony. Consequently, some guests prefer to sit on the side closer to the person they know best. Typically, this means that the bride's family sits on the house left and the groom's family on house right. The front rows are generally reserved for close family members or friends.
Some couples make a ceremony of having their grandparents, step-parents, and parents escorted to their seats immediately before the wedding procession begins. In other cases, these relatives form part of the wedding procession.
Depending on the country, her age and situation, and her personal preferences, the bride may walk alone or be escorted by her father, both of her parents, one or more relatives she wishes to honor, or the groom. In Swedish white weddings, the bride and groom usually go down the aisle together.[16] Similarly, some couples choose to have the groom escorted to the altar by his family.
Whether the bride is the first or the last of the wedding party to enter the church varies by country. In the US, the bride is typically last, being preceded by the rest of the wedding party. In the UK, she leads the procession, followed by any bridesmaids, flower girls and page boys. Sometimes the groom is already present in the church; other times, he and any groomsmen form part of the procession. The music played during this procession is commonly called a wedding march, no matter what songs are played.
After the wedding ceremony itself ends, the bride, groom, officiant, and two witnesses generally go off to a side room to sign the wedding register in the United Kingdom or the state-issued marriage license in the United States. Without the signing of the register or the marriage license, a marriage has not legally occurred.
Afterward, guests may cheer the departure of the couple from the church by throwing flower petals, confetti, birdseed, or rice over them. Miniature containers of bubbles are often provided to guest to blow at the couple instead of throwing the previously mentioned items.
After this, the celebrations shift to a reception at which the newly married couple, as the guests of honor, and the hosts and perhaps members of the wedding party greet the guests in a receiving line. Although now commonly called a reception no matter the style of party, wedding celebrations range from simple receptions to dinner parties to grand wedding balls.
Food is served, particularly including a wedding cake. Wedding cakes are often multi-tiered layer cakes that are elaborately decorated with white icing. Cutting the wedding cake is often turned into a ritual, complete with sharing a symbolic bite of the cake in a rite that harks back to the pagan confarreatio weddings in ancient Rome.[18]
During the reception, a number of short speeches and/or toasts may be given in honor of the couple.
If there is dancing, the bride and groom, as the guests of honor, are expected to be the first people to begin dancing. This is usually termed the bridal waltz, even if the couple has arranged for a different style of music. In Denmark, it is still normal to dance the first dance as a couple to waltz. Some families then contrive a series of arranged dances between the newlyweds and their parents, or other members of the wedding party, with guests expected to watch the performances.
At some point, the married couple may become the object of a charivari, a good-natured hazing of the newly married couple. The nature depends upon the circumstances. In India and other South Asian cultures, guests may try to steal the groom's shoes when he removes them for a religious ceremony and later sell them back to him. This game is sometimes called joota chupai. In Western cultures, guests might tie tin cans or a sign saying "Just Married" to the bumper of the couple's car, if they depart in their own car rather than a hired one.
As the guests of honor, the newly married couple is the first to leave the party. From ancient Rome through the Middle Ages in Europe, wheat kernels were thrown at the bride in a wish for affluence; now it is typical to throw rice, as a symbol of fertility, at the couple as they depart.[18]
Gallery
Photographs from late 19th century, early 20th century, and early 21st century weddings. The first two images show the bride in a black or dark dress. The photographic styles of capturing weddings continues to evolve from posed somber expressions to candid moments showing emotion and joy.
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, races, religions, denominations, countries, social classes, and sexual orientations. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vows by a couple, presentation of a gift, and a public proclamation of marriage by an authority figure or celebrant. Special wedding garments are often worn, and the ceremony is sometimes followed by a wedding reception. Music, poetry, prayers, or readings from religious texts or literature are also commonly incorporated into the ceremony, as well as superstitious customs.
A bride is a woman who is about to be married or who is a newlywed.
Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party at some Western traditional wedding ceremonies. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often the bride's close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Traditionally, bridesmaids were chosen from unwed young women of marriageable age.
A wedding cake is the traditional cake served at wedding receptions following dinner. In some parts of England, the wedding cake is served at a wedding breakfast; the 'wedding breakfast' does not mean the meal will be held in the morning, but at a time following the ceremony on the same day. In modern Western culture, the cake is usually on display and served to guests at the reception. Traditionally, wedding cakes were made to bring good luck to all guests and the couple. Nowadays, however, they are more of a centerpiece to the wedding and are not always even served to the guests. Some cakes are built with only a single edible tier for the bride and groom to share, but this is rare since the cost difference between fake and real tiers is minimal.
A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. In Western culture, the wedding dress is most commonly white, a fashion made popular by Queen Victoria when she married in 1840. In Eastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolize auspiciousness.
A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usually chooses one to serve as best man.
The money dance, dollar dance, or apron dance is an event at some wedding receptions in various cultures. During a money dance, male guests pay to dance briefly with the bride, and sometimes female guests pay to dance with the groom.
The traditional Vietnamese wedding is one of the most important ceremonies in Vietnamese culture, which is influenced by Confucian and Buddhist ideologies.
Punjabi wedding traditions are a strong reflection of Punjabi culture with ritual, song, dance, food, and dress that have evolved over centuries.
A saber arch is a wedding tradition in which sabers or swords are used to salute a newly married couple. The bride and groom pass under an honorary arch of sabers, typically when exiting the building in which the wedding ceremony took place. The tradition is in use worldwide.
Arabic weddings are ceremonies of matrimony that contain Arab influences or Arabic culture.
In the United States and Canada, weddings follow traditions often based on religion, culture, and social norms. Most wedding traditions in the United States and Canada were assimilated from other, generally European, countries. Marriages in the U.S. and Canada are typically arranged by the participants and ceremonies may either be religious or civil. There is a tradition that the prospective bridegroom ask his future father-in-law for his blessing.
Indian wedding clothes are elaborate set of clothes worn by the bride, bridegroom, and other relatives attending the wedding.
A flower girl is a young female who scatters flower petals down the aisle during a wedding procession.
The wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Sir Philip Mountbatten took place on Thursday 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom. The bride was the elder daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth as well as the heir presumptive to the British throne. The groom was born a Greek and Danish prince; he stopped using these foreign titles on his adoption of British nationality four months before the announcement of their marriage and was made Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich on the morning of the wedding.
The wedding of Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland, and Sofia Hellqvist took place on 13 June 2015 at Slottskyrkan, Stockholm.
The wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank took place on 12 October 2018 at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom. The bride is a member of the British royal family. The groom is a British wine merchant, brand ambassador of Casamigos Tequila, and socialite. The dean of Windsor, David Conner, officiated at the wedding using the standard Anglican church service for Holy Matrimony published in Common Worship, the liturgical text of the Church of England. Princess Eugenie was the first British princess of royal blood to marry in the Church of England since the wedding of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips 45 years before.
The wedding of Princess Mary, and Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles took place on Tuesday, 28 February 1922, at Westminster Abbey. The bride was the only daughter of King George V, while the groom was a member of the Lascelles family.
Weddings in ancient Rome were a sacred ritual involving many religious practices. In order for the wedding to take place the bride and the groom or their fathers needed to consent to the wedding. Generally, the wedding would take place in June due to the god Juno. Weddings would never take place on days that were considered unlucky. During the wedding the groom would pretend to kidnap the bride. This was done to convince the household guardians, or lares, that the bride did not go willingly. Afterwards, the bride and the groom had their first sexual experiences on a couch called a lectus. In a Roman wedding both sexes had to wear specific clothing. Boys had to wear the toga virilis while the bride to wear a wreath, a veil, a yellow hairnet, chaplets of roses, seni crines, and the hasta caelibaris. All of the guests would wear the same clothes as the groom and the bride. The Romans believed that if bad omens showed up during a wedding it would indicate the couple was evil or unlucky. In order for a marriage to be successful there needed to be no evil omens and everyone must follow the traditional customs.
1 2 3 4 Ingrassia, Catherine (2007). "Diana, Martha and Me". In Curran, Colleen (ed.). Altared: Bridezillas, Bewilderment, Big Love, Breakups, and What Women Really Think about Contemporary Weddings. New York: Vintage Books. pp.24–30. ISBN978-0-307-27763-3.
↑ Gordon, Greg (31 August 2015). "Are Head Coverings Really for Today?". Evangelical Focus. Retrieved 2 May 2022. Hippolytus an early Church Father wrote, "Let all the women have their heads covered." Others who taught this practice in the Church were, John Calvin [father of the Reformed tradition], Martin Luther [father of the Lutheran tradition], Early Church Fathers, John Wesley [father of the Methodist tradition], Matthew Henry [Presbyterian theologian] to name just a few. We must remind ourselves that until the twentieth century, virtually all Christian women wore head coverings.
↑ Jellison, Katherine (2008). It's Our Day: America's Love Affair with the White Wedding, 1945–2005. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. pp.65–67.
↑ Martin, Judith (2005). Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. New York: Norton. p.371. ISBN0-393-05874-3. The supposition behind these questions is that a wedding is a set piece, with rigidly prescribed roles....The pattern that so many modern brides apparently have in mind can be traced to Hollywood, California, circa 1948.
↑ "Vigselakten"[The Wedding Ceremony]. brollopstorget.se. Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2010. Det vanligaste nuförtiden i Sverige är att brud och brudgum går in i kyrkan tillsammans.
↑ Yrigoyen, Charles Jr.; Warrick, Susan E. (7 November 2013). Historical Dictionary of Methodism. Scarecrow Press. p.236. ISBN978-0-8108-7894-5. In Methodism, the sacred service celebrates a covenenat grounded in the will of God and sustained by divine grace. ... Methodism encourages the solemnization of marriages within the context of congregational worship and eucharistic celebration.
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