Traditionally, the colour of a wedding dress was considered unimportant, most brides wore their Sunday best rather than making or buying an expensive bridal gown. Most dresses were brown, grey, blue, pink or even black. Rich brides who could afford more expensive weddings would pick rich colours such as red wine, dark blue, and silver wedding dresses. While there were many wedding traditions, the wedding dress was considered a relatively small matter for the bride-to-be.
It was during the Victorian age that the colour of a dress became important to the wedding ceremony. Queen Victoria set the trend by wearing a white wedding dress which was said to match her purity. As people gained money, the gown went from simply being the Sunday best, to becoming a key part of the wedding that it is today.
White Bridal Gowns
A white wedding dress is, of course, the most common type of bridal gown today. Traditionally any shade of white represents innocence, purity and the devotion of the wife to her husband. So women can pick the best shade of white that matches her skin tone. The white dress only became a common tradition in the early 20th century, before then it was reserved more for the well to do.
In the Victorian age, only a virgin bride was supposed to wear a white gown, but as time progressed this part of the wedding tradition became less important. Some women who are getting married for a second time, however, don't feel it's proper to wear white, and wear a blue or yellow wedding dress.
Other Good Colours for a Traditional Wedding
Blue is one of the best colours for a bridal gown for women who want to avoid the traditional white dress. In the 1800s, blue represented purity and was the colour of the Virgin Mary. So many women tried to show they were pure of heart by wearing blue at their weddings, much like brides wearing white dresses today. Blue also represents spiritual strength, so it's a popular colour in British and Israeli weddings.
Yellow is another popular bridal dress colour for weddings. Traditionally meaning hope and enlightenment, a yellow dress was supposed to show the woman was hopeful of the future in her new life. Still fairly common in wedding dresses today, a light yellow is seen as more appropriate for a traditional wedding than bright yellow.
Bad Wedding Dress Colours
Grey used to be a very common colour for brides-to-be. In the Victorian age, English maids were promised a good grey dress every year. This dress was not meant only for a Sunday best, but also a wedding dress. With the rise of the middle class, grey came to be seen as drab and not a proper colour for a wedding. Nowadays, it's seen as an unlucky colour at a wedding.
Pink and red are two other colours that used to be very common for gowns. These were actually prized colours due to their brightness and vitality. However as a white dress came to be seen as purity, red and, to a lesser degree pink, became linked with lust and sexuality during the Victorian age. By the beginning of the 20th century, if a bride wore either of these colours, people would say she was likely to cheat later in life.
Black is another colour that is a traditional no-no for a wedding. Black was relatively uncommon as a wedding colour, but some women still wore the colour on their special day, especially if they had no brighter dresses. However, as time went on black came to symbolize despair and death. By the late Victorian age, a woman wearing a black wedding dress would show that she was unhappy and incredibly sad on her wedding day.
For today’s woman, a traditional wedding dress is often seen as the best. But with the changing of traditions and a broader range of styles to choose from, a woman should go her own way when choosing a gown. Picking the right dress, regardless of the colour, for her wedding day is one of the biggest decisions for the lucky bride, no matter what tradition says.
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Main Sources:
Wedding Dress Colours
Wedding Dress - History of the wedding dress
Daniel Clarke - Dan Clarke is a freelance writer and English teacher living happily with his wife and daughter in Nanjing, China. He moved to China 4 ...
