Bridal Debate: Colored Wedding Dresses

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silentstar

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There are a lot of serious topics here, so I thought I’d post something lighthearted (and yet of interest to me as a married woman):

There is a trend beginning for some brides to wear colored, as opposed to white, wedding dresses. Article link below:

lemondrop.com/2010/06/08/colored-wedding-dress-i-wore-a-red-wedding-dress/

The decision to wear color vs. white seems to have more to do with what looks flattering vs. a desire to stick with Western tradition. I wore off-white when I got married but I thought about wearing blue. I didn’t think that hard about it though. I wanted to wear white and off-white was close enough.
 
I personally love the idea of classy and modest dress, whatever the color. If I had to do it over again, I would have chosen a beautiful lavender or silver simple dress. It seems the tradition of wearing a white gown is only 150 or so years old.
 
I think you are right about that and from what I understand, Queen Victoria popularized the white dress. And it came into fashion not because of purity but because a white dress was extravagant. White dresses could not be cleaned well at the time and wearing a white dress meant you were wealthy enough to wear a dress only once. Before that, women married in the best dress they had, or they had one made.

Blue was the color of purity because it was associated with the Virgin.

And as the article states, in many places in the world, brides don’t wear white.

Lavender is a really pretty color, and so is silver.
 
I had a thread about this last year (regarding my wedding dress, since it upset a lot of people beforehand knowing the color). I chose what would be a “bridesmaid” dress because I just couldn’t justify spending a terrible amount of money on a dress I’d wear once. My dress was tangerine (yes, orange is my favorite color) and not a soft tangerine, but a very loud and colorful tangerine. Now I can wear it every anniversary because it is a nice elegant formal summer dress. My husband wore a mariachi suit (his dream) which was way expensive and we’re still paying that thing off :eek: but he had more of a wedding attire dream than I did. When people saw us together they realized a white (or off-white) dress would have looked terrible (it would have). I had a hard time trying to overcome the “stereotype” of wedding dress color in my head at first (I always let my practical side take over when it comes to buying things for me) but everyone actually thought I made a good choice and loved that the wedding was bright and simple and that the reception was relaxed. And to look at the pictures, I looked like I was glowing due to the sun on my face and the color of my dress. Had I worn white, I would have needed to cake on the makeup (which I don’t wear makeup as is, for my wedding I had just a very thin layer of blush, eyeshadow and mascara).
 
puzzleannie said:
since white has become a tradition only in the US and a few other western countries, and only within about the last 100 to 120 years, I would say there is not reason not to go with a colored dress, and the modesty and style are more important than the color. Most women even in this country, unless they were very affluent or from socially prominent families, married in the dress or suit that would become their best attire for Sunday and formal occasions after marriage, and could not afford to splurge on a dress that could be worn only once. They did not expect teams of bridesmaids in matching ensembles purchased at their own expense, either. The mariachi look would work out great down here and sounds perfectly lovely.
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I wore a black dress for my wedding :eek:

It was February, still cold, spring and summer clothes were hitting the racks and I just couldn’t find anything modest and tasteful. And at 43, wearing the full white wedding gown for a ceremony that only include me, the groom, the priest and the witnesses seemed pointless. And I was very comfortable in it.
 
I went to a black-and-white themed wedding that was beautiful; the bride wore white and her bridesmaids wore black. From what I read, black dresses have been very popular in Finland. However black tends to make me look awful and I’ve gotten comments that I don’t look good in it, so it’s not a color I would wear. It all goes back to those “color me beautiful” sessions in the 80s…if anyone remembers those, they were strict about assigning colors based on “season” and I was told to avoid pure white and black.
 
I wore light bridal gold - and gold is a celebratory liturgical color!
 
I was married in an ivory gown but I think its a pretty trend to have a bit of color as an accent in the dress. It doesn’t really matter what the color is although it has become a tradition to wear white. Red is a good color too but I would probably stay away from black (unless its a goth themed wedding. Yes, I have seen examples of one on a tv show). Black to me is mostly for funerals. Its fine if the bridesmaids wear it but not the bride :).
 
But really in the end it is about the marriage and not the wedding - it’s all good though this is fun. Where are the shameless pics.
 
joandarc2008 said:
But really in the end it is about the marriage and not the wedding - it’s all good though this is fun. Where are the shameless pics.
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I’ll have to get my wedding disc out to post a shameless pic of my tangerine dress
 
If I were to get married, I always envisioned a midnight blue dress or a gold one. I have never been a fan of the white wedding dress. I agree with the bride in the link, white can really wash you out and I imagine it would be hard to keep clean all day.

I wore white at my baptism and that is good enough for me! 👍
 
These days, you could probably wear a red dress and matching heels to a parent’s funeral without raising an eyebrow.

The tradition of wearing a white dress is a fashion choice, and that’s it. There was a time in some circles when virginity was implied by a white dress, but those days are long gone. There have been so many brides choosing to ignore precedent in the last 40 years that color just doesn’t carry that kind of meaning anymore.

It is still not polite to wear white when you’re not the bride, though. I think that tradition is still alive. Choosing to wear white does make the bride a little easier to spot at the reception!
 
EasterJoy said:
These days, you could probably wear a red dress and matching heels to a parent’s funeral without raising an eyebrow.

The tradition of wearing a white dress is a fashion choice, and that’s it. There was a time in some circles when virginity was implied by a white dress, but those days are long gone. There have been so many brides choosing to ignore precedent in the last 40 years that color just doesn’t carry that kind of meaning anymore.

It is still not polite to wear white when you’re not the bride, though. I think that tradition is still alive. Choosing to wear white does make the bride a little easier to spot at the reception!
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My one sil said to my other sil (both sisters to each other) that when sil 2 was deciding between three dresses (two the same color as mine) that it was rude to wear the same color as the bride, so sil1 saved me from being more upset with sil2 than I already was (the morning of she pointed out how I looked so much thinner a few years ago :mad: ) not to mention she asked me to make breakfast for them that morning (yes, my inlaws stayed the night otherwise they probably would not have arrived on time to the wedding since they’re late for everything), said we were rude for not inviting one brother to the rehearsal dinner (no brothers were invited b/c they weren’t part of the wedding ceremony), and then asked if my hair dresser (cousin) would do her hair and makeup (she has a day job and took off early to do mine, our dd, and my maid-of-honor’s hair, that’s all there was time for). The “don’t wear the same color as the bride” advice is great!👍
 
gmarie21 said:
My one sil said to my other sil (both sisters to each other) that when sil 2 was deciding between three dresses (two the same color as mine) that it was rude to wear the same color as the bride, so sil1 saved me from being more upset with sil2 than I already was (the morning of she pointed out how I looked so much thinner a few years ago :mad: ) not to mention she asked me to make breakfast for them that morning (yes, my inlaws stayed the night otherwise they probably would not have arrived on time to the wedding since they’re late for everything), said we were rude for not inviting one brother to the rehearsal dinner (no brothers were invited b/c they weren’t part of the wedding ceremony), and then asked if my hair dresser (cousin) would do her hair and makeup (she has a day job and took off early to do mine, our dd, and my maid-of-honor’s hair, that’s all there was time for). The “don’t wear the same color as the bride” advice is great!👍
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It is polite for the mothers of the bridal couple not to duplicate their dress colors, and the other women in the family to work around that, as possible, because they’re going to be in wedding pictures(…which we all know will be kept to define the state of the family for the rest of recorded history! :rolleyes:)

I think that if the bride doesn’t wear white, though, she’s on her own. The guests cannot all call her up to see what color she chose to wear. Still, her future SsIL would do well to give her a wide berth on that. You don’t want to ruin your relationships with the people who will be at every wedding, funeral and major holiday in the family until one of you dies!
 
I’m a widow, and when I became engaged last year I told my fiance that I would wear a black dress. He was horrified!! He begged me to wear white, INSISTED that I wear white, and even went gown-shopping with me! 😃

After he passed unexpectedly, I decided to re-visit a calling that I’d felt to become a nun, so there won’t be a dress of any color in my future. 👍

(BTW, my first dress was ivory.)

Miz
 
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