Why does the American bride wear a white gown and a veil at the wedding ceremony?
The white gown became popular in the mid 1800’s when Queen Victoria wore one to her wedding to Prince Albert, before this women didnt purchase dresses for weddings specifically, the just wore the best dress they owned, blue was the prefered bridal color, thats why something blue is on that something old list. White had nothing to do with purity or viginity, or unabashed joy. It was a status symbol. A white dress was rare considering how easily it could be dirtied a white dress would be worn only one time. So the white wedding dress, that would be a dress only one time, was an invention of 19th century Brittish monarchy, to represent wealth. The veil comes from arranged marriages where the bride was kept hidden from the grrom until the wedding day. So American’s borrowed the traditions and gave them meanings, such as purity and virginity, which just werent the original reasons.
All the Queen Victoria answers are correct, though she was not the first to wear a white gown – Mary Queens of Scots wore one for her ill-fated wedding to Francis II, and it is the colour of mourning – bad luck. The color blue (like the Virgin Mary’s cloak in art) usually represented purity, not white. Victoria chose a white dress to incorporate some special lace she had, evidently — and of course set a trend for the upper classes, not just in an impractical dress that could only be worn once, but one with so much extravagant & expensive fabric. The veil has been used either to hide women’s identity (when out on the town without their husbands) and is an indication of status (upper OR lower, depending on the era). The wedding veil is a biblical tradition, however. Here’s the bit from wikip (sources below): “In ancient Judaism the lifting of the veil took place just prior to the consummation of the marriage…the unveiling that takes place in the marriage ceremony is a symbol of what w
