Wedding ceremonies have been known to have existed for centuries in different culture, but wedding gown, as we all know is accustomed to wearing extravagant white in a lifetime. This has not always been the usual color for brides but only a modern invention which can be dated back to have started about 200 years ago.

Here is how the white wedding gown, the veil and the bouquets came into existence;

Why do brides wear white?

The white trend started with Queen Victoria in 1840 when she wore plain white to marry Prince Albert. Interestingly, she wore it because of the love she had for the color and not to symbolize purity or virginity and this has become a trend that lasted till this day.

The connotations of virginity we know so well today only really appear later in her reign, as the sentimental Victoria idolized innocent brides and their pure white gowns. Brides wore any perfect dress they lay their eyes on before Queen Victoria’s history-making royal gown. Brides do not fancy the white gown, especially the commoners for much of the European history mainly because white gowns are usually expensive back the and also difficult to keep clean. For this reason, the white wedding dress was scarce and confined to the wedding brides which give them a classic look.

However, white gowns was actually a color of mourning for the French royals. Mary, queen of Scots’ caused a scandal when she wore her favorite white gown in 1558 to marry the Dauphin of France, but the gown taunted her, instead of mimicking her ways. When her husband passed away two years after the wedding as a result of his head being drilled to relive him of an ailment, the white wedding gown was accused of cursing his death.

One theory about Queen Elizabeth 1, the virgin queen, suggests that she often wore white in paintings because she was supposedly ‘in mourning’ for n early suitor who had died which she used to mourn the prince that she intended to marry.

What do brides wear before white?

Before white became a trend during Victorian times, brides were accustomed to something blue. This was associated with the Virgin Mary, so, it meant purity and most importantly, it was with no blemish. That said, before Victoria times, wedding gowns could be almost any color or style depending on your origin or the culture of where you are.

The early Celts liked red wedding dresses because they signified fertility, black was worn when you are getting married to a widower and poor brides wore their best church dresses which were sometimes patterned.

The veil and train of modern gown seem to have originated in Roman times in which brides were swaddled head to toe in a gigantic flame-colored veil called the flammeum, to scare off evil spirit. The veil train also prevented the bride from running away.

The bride’s bouquet have often been draped and embroidered with unromantic flora, for the sake of their souls and fertility. Garlic was a popular way to ward off bad spirit in medieval Europe. The strong smell concealed body odor, which was convenient, as deodorant wouldn’t be invented for a few more hundred years.

Middle ages brides carried wheat, while Victorian brides preferred ivy, both embroidered on their gowns and weirdly living, they’d wear it, then plant it and give bits to daughters for their own weddings.

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