Marriage- Only virgin wears white?

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forever_always

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I read an old article about wedding gowns, and it mentioned that white symbolizes purity and virginity. Is that still true for today? I know many people that were not virgins, yet they still wore white… is this wrong or hypocritical?

thanks =]
 
forever_always said:
I read an old article about wedding gowns, and it mentioned that white symbolizes purity and virginity. Is that still true for today? I know many people that were not virgins, yet they still wore white… is this wrong or hypocritical?

thanks =]
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I haven’t had reason to look at the wedding etiquette “laws” recently.

That was the historical logic. In reality it was more a case that those women who had never previously been previously married would wear white with the 😉 assumption that they would then be virgins.

Anyone who was marrying after being widowed or divorced was supposed to wear ivory or some other non-white color.

People have been breaking these “rules” for scores of years now but as far as I know they are still out there.
 
this is a cultural custom, not anything regulated by church law on marriage, wear what you want
 
According to Miss Manners, white symbolizes a first wedding not the physical state of the wearer. White wedding dresses is a social custom not a Church tradition. The Church doesn’t say anything about the color of dresses.

As far as the white means “virgin”? It’s kind of gross to think that dress color suggests our virginity or purity no matter how virtuous it is.
 
SMHW said:
That was the historical logic. In reality it was more a case that those women who had never previously been previously married would wear white with the 😉 assumption that they would then be virgins.

Anyone who was marrying after being widowed or divorced was supposed to wear ivory or some other non-white color.
QUOTE]

Haha yes. Sadly, its hardly true anymore these days =\

This is what i was reading: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1143450/The-bride-wore-blue-wedding-cake-meat-Archive-reveals-18th-century-couples-got-married.html
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Bruised_Reed said:
According to Miss Manners, white symbolizes a first wedding not the physical state of the wearer. White wedding dresses is a social custom not a Church tradition. The Church doesn’t say anything about the color of dresses.

As far as the white means “virgin”? It’s kind of gross to think that dress color suggests our virginity or purity no matter how virtuous it is.
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Okay, thanks =]
I didn’t think it was a church thing… just tradition.

How do you see that as gross? isn’t it a good thing?
 
forever_always said:
Okay, thanks =]
I didn’t think it was a church thing… just tradition.

How do you see that as gross? isn’t it a good thing?
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Purity, is a good thing, yes. Putting it on display, no. We are not property, whose value goes up if we are unblemished. What if the bride (or groom, let’s be fair) is a virgin but went to second base. Virgin, but not perfectly pure. What color should they wear?
 
I wore Ivory.
Of course, I have a child, so it’s well known that I was not “pure”.

However, even if I had been a virgin, I still would have worn Ivory. I just don’t look good in that much white.
 
Bruised_Reed said:
Purity, is a good thing, yes. Putting it on display, no. We are not property, whose value goes up if we are unblemished. What if the bride (or groom, let’s be fair) is a virgin but went to second base. Virgin, but not perfectly pure. What color should they wear?
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I see you point.
I think it is silly too, i was just wondering more of what you thought. And doesn’t the groom always (well usually) where a black suit? He doesn’t put his purity on display =P
 
PatienceAndLove said:
I wore Ivory.
Of course, I have a child, so it’s well known that I was not “pure”.

However, even if I had been a virgin, I still would have worn Ivory. I just don’t look good in that much white.
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ivory is really pretty for a wedding dress =] there is also this cream color that has the smallest, tiniest hint of pink to it (still looks white though). that is also pretty!
 
I learned that at least in regards to the Sacraments in the Church, wearing white does represent the purity of the soul. People (both babies and older) are given a white cloth or garment after being baptized; priest wear white vestments during holy feasts at Mass. White, in a sense, goes beyond indicating whether or not a bride is a virgin - but rather the purity of their intentions.

At least that’s how I sees it…
 
Bruised_Reed said:
Purity, is a good thing, yes. Putting it on display, no. We are not property, whose value goes up if we are unblemished. What if the bride (or groom, let’s be fair) is a virgin but went to second base. Virgin, but not perfectly pure. What color should they wear?
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DUH! White with very small black polka dots of course. Doesn’t everyone know that? :whistle:
 
Tonks40 said:
I learned that at least in regards to the Sacraments in the Church, wearing white does represent the purity of the soul. People (both babies and older) are given a white cloth or garment after being baptized; priest wear white vestments during holy feasts at Mass. White, in a sense, goes beyond indicating whether or not a bride is a virgin - but rather the purity of their intentions.

At least that’s how I sees it…
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My SIL (who was not Catholic) married in a Catholic wedding. She WANTED to wear ivory because she thought it would look better on her than white. She had never been previously married.

The priest had a fit and insisted she wear white.

That was back in the early 1980’s but even then most priests weren’t so color conscious.
 
SMHW said:
My SIL (who was not Catholic) married in a Catholic wedding. She WANTED to wear ivory because she thought it would look better on her than white. She had never been previously married.

The priest had a fit and insisted she wear white.

That was back in the early 1980’s but even then most priests weren’t so color conscious.
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Wow, the only thing our priest commented on was the amount of cleavage our bridesmaids were going to display. (He suggested more. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: )
 
PatienceAndLove said:
I wore Ivory.
Of course, I have a child, so it’s well known that I was not “pure”.

However, even if I had been a virgin, I still would have worn Ivory. I just don’t look good in that much white.
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Same here. Only I didn’t have a child, but I would have worn ivory in any case. My mom tsked about it, but I pointed out that I look horrible in stark, plain white–just about everbody does, really–and ivory was much more flattering to my complexion.

Honestly, the white wedding dress is a social custom that only came about after Queen Victoria wore white to her wedding. She was so popular that she started a trend. Before that–and if you look at historical photos that are pre-Victorian you’ll see I’m right–women simply wore their best dress, whatever color it was. It wasn’t until white was popular that people started putting a meaning to the color. In China, white would be a horrible color for a wedding dress–it’s the color of mourning.

Laura Ingalls Wilder wore a black dress she made herself! Her mother said, “Marry in black, you’ll wish yourself back” but Laura pointed out that it was new, going along with the “something old, something new” tradition. 😉 I always liked that passage, how Laura stood up to her mother and pointed out that she had to wear something new, didn’t she?
 
I wore what they call “Diamond White”. It is not bright white and it is not cream or ivory. It was beautiful…
 
Originally, only wealthy women could afford bleached cloth (white). Peasants wore common cloth. No purity or virginity was ever implied. It is our custom to think of white as representing purity when there is no reason to associate them.
 
theistgal said:
Wow, the only thing our priest commented on was the amount of cleavage our bridesmaids were going to display. (He suggested more. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: )
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What a shame? I don’t believe cleavage should be displayed in Church at all. I can’t believe that the priest would suggest this. He sounds like a perv.
 
I read somewhere that in the orient a bride wears red, a color representing joy. A wedding should be a time of joy.

I think the use of white is more a cultural thing, related to a first marriage.

My niece, about “9 1/2 months” pregnant, had a white dress, but laced with yellow ribbons. We were hoping the ceremony would end before a race down the street to the hospital.:o

When I was young…yeah, we battled dinosaurs on the way to Mass…the girls and young ladies were encouraged to wear “Marylike” attire, especially in the church. Maybe that’s why I am more with the priest who objects to so much cleavage.
When it is okay for the groom and the male attendants to forego ties and monkeysuits in favor of being unbuttoned “down to here”, I might reconsider:)
 
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