Wedding Dress Colors

I suppose that the white wedding dress will eventually go completely out of style. Its popularity has been fading throughout my life and more and more brides are choosing colored wedding dresses.


That's okay. The white wedding dress is really a fairly recent fashion trend, not really catching on until sometime early in the twentieth century (the first white wedding dress in recorded history - though probably not the actual first - was worn by Queen Victoria when she married her cousin, Albert of Saxe) as the Hollywood starlets began to have money enough to get and clean a pure white dress.

The choice of a wedding dress in a color other than white is both personal and practical. It depends on what she likes and feels beautiful in, but at the same time don't forget that their are practical factors outside her simple tastes that any bride should weigh before making the decision:

1. The Bride's Flesh Tones: There is no one color that all people can wear well. Most women know what colors best suit them and therefore should consider the possibility of choosing a wedding dress color from the palate that best suits them - after all, they want to look their best on their wedding day, don't they?
2. The Decor of the Church and Reception Venue: No one wants to look back at their wedding pictures only to discover that their dress clashed horribly with the decor - or worse, caused them to disappear into the background of their own wedding!
3. The Colors of the Season: No bride should be a slave to seasonal colors, but do take a moment to consider how the seasonal colors at the wedding will impact the look of the wedding dress she is choosing.
4. The Bridal Traditions of Her Background: This might mean traditional white but it might not. For example a bride of Asian decent might want to consider the tradition of some Asian cultures of red for a wedding dress color. For some descendants of Scotland it might even mean a plaid!

Any bride's choice of color of their wedding dress is a study in what will best compliment her natural beauty and what makes her unique. If that means a white dress, wonderful. If that means a shade of blue, then that is fine as well.

Wedding White?

When we think of a wedding dress in the western world we automatically tend to think of the white wedding dress. Truly it can be stunning seeing a beautiful woman appear in an elegant white wedding gown.

But there are so many other choices available which raises the question, why is white the predominate color among wedding dresses. Likewise, we are forced to ask, should it be?

Really there are three legs upon which the tradition of the white wedding gown rests within the western culture; tradition, symbolism, and beauty. A wise bride will take a few minutes to analyze each of these foundational concepts in an effort to determine what is best for her:

• Tradition: It surprises most to discover that the tradition that demands a white wedding gown is really not that old. In fact, most agree, that the tradition only goes back as far as Queen Victoria in 1840 who wore white as a show of her wealth since pure white fabric was expensive to make and obviously impractical to keep clean. Naturally, over the years as more and more people could afford the luxury of such an extravagant dress (especially in the 1950's as the post war boom hit and movie actors became glamorous stars) the tradition was solidified.
• Symbolism: In western culture the white wedding dress has come in the past several decades to symbolize purity rather than wealth as it originally did. Usually the symbolism refers to the bride herself, but sometimes the meaning is broadened to include the purity of the marriage or the marriage vows.
• Beauty: Truly, a white wedding gown that seems to shimmer in the light can be stunning. Likewise, there is something elegant and formal about white - I suspect it goes back to how difficult it is to keep clean - either a pure white dress or simply a white shirt. At least it speaks subconsciously to us of class, for a man or woman of upbringing would have the manners and training necessary to keep white formal wear looking nice throughout the celebration where those not brought up in the finer things of life would not. At least that's what some part of our brain wants to believe.

But what if an individual bride does not look good in white? Of necessity, such is a personal question.

Still, the question is valid. Is it necessary to spend the biggest day of one's life wearing something that does not flatter one's appearance? We have all seen brides in white who looked washed out and even harsh because of the white dress as compared to her already pale complexion.

The answer depends on what matters most to the individual bride. For some the symbolism of purity is worth the choice. For others, tradition is most important. For brides who fall into either of these categories it is enough to accent with other colors in the wedding shoes and flowers.

But if a bride is most interested in the dress that makes her look her best for her new husband, the memories of the day, and therefore the look of the overall wedding then she might want to consider some of the many color options in wedding dresses today. Indeed a wedding gown with the right amount of color for the bride that will wear it can enhance the beauty of both the dress and the bride wearing the dress - and isn't that what we are trying to achieve? Isn't the point of the extravagant wedding gown to highlight the beauty of both the bride and the marriage?