This is perhaps one of the most time consuming and crucial decisions that you have to make once you’ve decided to get married. For women, especially, the wedding attire is one of the foremost considerations for the wedding day. It’s time for the
bride to shine and the most outstanding element is her gown.
Tradition has it that the bride has to wear white. This is to symbolize the purity of the bride at the wedding altar. Though it may not be the idea that’s on many people’s minds nowadays, we still see a lot of brides wearing white on their wedding day.
This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to wear a white gown or dress if you don’t want to. There is absolutely no law or decree forcing you to do so. In the end, it’s your wedding and the decision is up to you. What you want is what you should follow 🙂
Keeping up with wedding traditions
As you would expect, different countries wear different outfits for their weddings. Each country has their own particular wedding gear, which is usually also the country’s formal wear.
For example, in most of Europe and the US, the men wear a wedding suit (apart from Scotland and Ireland where the kilt is common). Usually the wedding suit is made from a light colored fabric and the gentlemen are given a sprig of flowers to wear on their lapels to relieve the formality of the suit. The bride usually wears a floor length formal dress, colored white and worn with a veil or with a hat and flowers.
In Russia, the brides don’t buy or rent their dresses. They usually make it themselves since sewing is a skill that the women are proud of. The style varies from bride to bride but it is still white. The men wear white or pale suits, as do his attendants, and the the ladies wear gowns that match the wedding theme.
In Asia, the outfits differ from country to country. For example, the Japanese have traditional kimonos for weddings. The males wear a black kimono top with striped pants. The bride wears the Uchikake traditional wedding gown with a Tsuno Kakushi hood. The hood is supposed to cover her horns, showing that she will be obedient to her husband. (Japanese women don’t really have horns BTW… it’s simply tradition :))
When white isn’t right for a wedding
In India, the wedding outfits change depending on the region. In northern India, the groom may wear a sherwani with a churidar pyjama or a bandha gala suit or a western style suit. In the south, they too may choose to wear a suit or the traditional veshti (dhoti) and kurta. To shield their face from the evil eye, the groom wears a turban adorned with a sehera, a veil of flowers. The ladies on the other hand wear a sari. Something interesting about India is that white is a color of mourning, so it’s a color to avoid. The color they wear is red for their nuptials and their bridal wear is elaborate and colorful.
Like India, the Chinese wedding color is red though the bride doesn’t normally wear it. Nowadays, the couple wears a western style gown and suit, as do their attendants. The bridesmaids are all gowned in red since this is the color of wealth and happiness. Chinese weddings are generally grand affairs too.
Finding the perfect wedding dress for you
There are many options for today’s bride. The most common is to visit your local bridal shop, because they’ll have a selection of dresses you can buy ‘off the rack’ or they may be able to make one especially for you. For the former, the advantage would be the price. Compared to made to order dresses, the off the rack ones cost considerably less. You also have a lot of choices to pick from. However, the advantage of a made to order dress is that you have flexibility regarding the style and design. Of course, you have to be ready to pay the price if you do decide to do this, but it could be worth the additional cost.
Another option would be to look on the Internet. Traditionalists will probably balk at this idea but it’s actually very practical nowadays and cost-effective too. In today’s society, we can buy everything off the Internet and usually at a much cheaper price than on the High Street. More so, we have a wide variety of options when it comes to shopping online. Another advantage of shopping online is the time factor. For people who are busy – and which bride isn’t – shopping online frees up your time for other things.
It really is up to you how you want to go about it. The most important thing is that you’re happy with your choice of wedding attire and that you look radiant when your special day arrives 🙂
As always, happy planning!
