Wedding dress

Part of a series on
Western dress codes and corresponding attires
Formal (full dress)   White tie  Morning dress  Full dress uniform Frock coat  Evening gown  Ball gown
Semi-formal (half dress)   Black tie  Black lounge suit   Mess dress uniform Evening gown  Cocktail dress
Informal (undress, "dress clothes") Suit  Service dress uniform Cocktail dress  Pantsuit
Casual (anything not above) Business casual Casual Friday Combat uniform Smart casual Workwear Streetwear Sportswear known as Sportswear (fashion) and Athleisure Undress
Supplementary alternatives Ceremonial dress law courts royal courts diplomatic academic, etc. Religious clothing cassock, habit, etc. Folk costume Distinctions Orders medals, etc.
Legend: = Day (before 6 p.m.) = Evening (after 6 p.m.)     = Bow tie colour = Ladies = Gentlemen Fashion portal
v t e

A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. Wedding dresses hold a significant place in fashion, symbolizing personal expression, and cultural traditions and societal values. In Western culture, the wedding dress is most commonly white, a fashion made popular by Queen Victoria when she married in 1840.^[1] In Eastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolize auspiciousness.^[1] These wedding dresses often represent a blend of heritage and contemporary trends, making them a pivotal aspect of bridal fashion and a reflection of evolving style in society.

Wedding dress fashion has evolved significantly, shaped by shifts in aesthetic preferences, technological advancements, and broader cultural trends. Historically, bridal attire featured elaborate designs with structured silhouettes and intricate detailing, reflecting the prevailing styles of their time.^[2] In more recent decades, minimalist and modern designs have gained popularity, emphasizing simplicity and personal expression. Wedding dresses continue to adapt to contemporary fashion trends while retaining elements of tradition, offering a wide range of styles that allow brides to express their individuality.^[2]

In the early 21st century, many wedding dresses were sleeveless and strapless.^[3] Other brides preferred styles with sleeves, higher necklines, and covered backs.^[3]

The latest wedding dress designs, as of 2024, feature drop-waist silhouettes, convertible gowns, intricate crystal embellishments, tulle, and gowns that display vintage charm.^[4]

The history of wedding dresses encompasses a diverse array of traditions and cultural practices, each shaped by the social, religious, and economic contexts of their time. In Western cultures, white wedding gowns have symbolized purity and grace since the 19th century, whereas Eastern cultures often feature elaborate, colorful garments imbued with symbolic meanings unique to each region.^[5]

Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than a personal union between two individuals. They frequently symbolized a union between families, businesses, or even nations. These ceremonies were driven more by political considerations than romantic love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were expected to dress in a way that reflected the status of their families, representing more than just themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics, wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet, and silk. The attire of the bride was a testament to the wealth and social standing of her family. Brides from lower social strata wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount and the price of material a wedding dress contained was a direct reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests.

The first documented instance of a royal bride wearing a white wedding dress was that of Philippa of England. She wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with squirrel and ermine in 1406, when she married Eric of Pomerania.^[6][7] Similarly, Mary, Queen of Scots, wore a white wedding dress in 1559 when she married her first husband, Francis, the Dauphin of France, because it was her favorite color, although white was then the color of mourning for French queens.^[8][9]

This was not a widespread trend, however: prior to the Victorian era, a bride was married in any color, black being popular in Finland.^[10]

White became a popular option in 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, when Victoria wore a white gown trimmed with Honiton lace. Illustrations of the wedding were widely published, and many brides opted for white in accordance with the Queen's choice.^[11] Although white was later assumed to symbolize virginity, it was originally blue that represented purity, piety, and fidelity, and was associated with the Virgin Mary.^[12]

Despite the rise in popularity of white wedding dresses, brides continued to follow contemporary fashion trends. In the early 1900s, clothing included a lot of decorations, such as lace or frills. This was also adopted in wedding dresses, where decorative frills and lace were common. For example, in the 1920s, they were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche-style wedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until the late 1960s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the Victorian era.^[1]

Since the mid-20th century, white has been the dominant color for Western wedding dresses, though "wedding white" includes shades such as eggshell, ecru, and ivory.^[13] However, white is not the universal color of wedding dresses. In Mexico, for example, red is a popular color.^[14]

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the color white is used as a symbol of purity, innocence, and cleanliness, particularly in religious ceremonies, including weddings.^[15] For weddings in the temple, white clothing is also worn by all participants during the ceremony, both men and women, to symbolize unity and equality before God.^[16][17] The brides are instructed to wear white dresses that are modest in design and fabric and free of elaborate decoration.^[18]

Many wedding dresses in China, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan are red; the traditional Indian color representing good luck and auspiciousness.^[1] Vietnamese wedding dresses (in the traditional form of áo tấc the ancient Ao dai) were dark blue. Today, many women choose other colors besides red. In modern mainland Chinese weddings, the bride may wear Western dresses of any color and a traditional costume for the wedding tea ceremony.

In modern Taiwanese weddings, the bride generally picks red (following Chinese tradition) or white (more Western) silk for the wedding gown material, but most will wear the red traditional garment for their formal wedding banquets. Traditionally, the father of the bride is responsible for the wedding banquet hosted on the bride's side and the alcohol (specifically called "xi-jiu," confusingly the same as what the wedding banquet itself is called) consumed during both banquets. While the wedding itself is often based on the couple's choices, the wedding banquets are a symbolic gesture of "thanks" and appreciation, to those who have raised the bride and groom (such as grandparents and uncles) and those who will continue to be there to help the bride and groom in the future. Thus out of respect for the elders, wedding banquets are usually done formally and traditionally.

Red saris, lehengas, and salwar kameez are traditional garment options for brides in Indian cultures. The fabric of choice is also traditionally silk, regardless of garment type. Over time, color options and fabric choices for Indian brides have expanded. Today fabrics like crepe, Georgette, charmeuse, and satin are used, and colors have been expanded to include gold, pink, orange, maroon, brown, and yellow as well.

Traditionally, a Kurdish first-time bride would wear a red dress for her wedding to symbolize the postcoital bleeding she will experience when she loses her virginity while a Kurdish bride who used to be married before would wear pink. Today, many Kurds associate red wedding dresses with impoverished Kurdish rural society and it is no longer commonly worn.^[19][20][21]

A Japanese wedding usually involves a traditional pure white kimono for the formal ceremony, symbolizing purity and maidenhood. The bride may change into a red kimono for the events after the ceremony for good luck.

The Javanese people of Indonesia wear a kebaya, a traditional kind of blouse, along with batik.

In the Philippines, variations of the Baro't saya adapted to the white wedding tradition are considered to be wedding attire for women, along with the barong tagalog for men. Various tribes and Muslim Filipinos don other forms of traditional dress during their respective ceremonies.

The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally had her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate.^[22] The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at the top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also served as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld.

A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist.

In the traditions of the Delaware, a bride wore a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body was bare from the waist up. If it was a winter wedding, she wore deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face was painted with white, red, and yellow clay.

The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath, the Modoc, and the Yurok) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver Concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty, and bad luck.

• 
  Detail from The Marriage by Nicolo da Bologna, 1350s.
• 
  Helena Fourment, second wife of Peter Paul Rubens, painted by Rubens in her wedding dress, 1630.
• 
  Sophia Magdalena of Denmark's wedding dress, 1766. The Royal Armoury in Sweden.
• 
  Marriage of Napoleon I and Marie Louise. France, 1810.

• 
  Traditional Finnish farmer wedding dress in Jomala, Åland
• 
  Traditional Kazakh wedding dress
• 
  Traditional Armenian wedding dress
• 
  18th-century wedding dress from Kymi, Greece (Collection of PFF, Nauplio)
• 
  Bride in a wedding dress, Podhale, the Tatra Mountains
• 
  Yemenite Jewish bride in Israel, 1950s
• 
  Wedding of Tewfik Pasha and Emina Ilhamy, Cairo, Egypt, January 1873
• 
  Chinese couple wearing traditional wedding hanfu

• 
  Indian Hindu bride in red Sari
• 
  Sikh bride wearing purple lehenga and dastaar for Anand Karaj
• 
  Traditional Bengali bride in formal matrimonial Sari
• 
  Indian Christian bride in white Sari
• 
  Nepali bride of Kathmandu, 1941
• 
  Bengali Hindu bride during Sindur Daan
• 
  Marathi wedding
• 
  Sri Lankan wedding

• 
  Khmer (Cambodian) couple dressed in traditional wedding outfits
• 
  Vietnamese couple in traditional dress
• 
  Couple dress in traditional Thai outfits
• 
  Couple dressed in traditional Burmese outfits
• 
  Bali Hindu wedding dress
• 
  Reenactment of the royal wedding ceremony of King Gojong and Queen Myeongseong

• 
  A bride in 1968, wearing a dress reflecting the styles of the time
• 
  Patricia Nixon Cox with her father Richard Nixon, 1971
• 
  Taiwanese couple dressed Western-style for keepsake photos in the park, 1989
• 
  American bride marrying a Scotsman wearing a kilt, 1996
• 
  New Orleans bride wearing a strapless, sleeveless gown, 2006
• 
  Same-gender marriage. Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2014.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wedding dress.

• Fashion Plates of Wedding Dresses from 1820-1929 from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
• Wedding Dresses at Chicago History Museum Digital Collections Archived 2012-07-29 at the Wayback Machine
• Wedding dress, 1900, in the Staten Island Historical Society Online Collections Database
• Wedding dress, 1951, in the Staten Island Historical Society Online Collections Database