Wedding Dress

A wedding dress or bridal dress 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. In Western cultures, the Bridal dress is most commonly white, which fashion was made popular by Queen Victoria when she married in 1840. In eastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolize auspiciousness.

Many bridal dresses in China, India (wedding sari), Pakistan (heavily embroidered shalwar qameez or lehngas) are red; the traditional colour representing good luck and auspiciousness. Vietnam bridal dresses (in the traditional form of áo tấc the ancient Ao dai) were blue, dark blue.Today, about 75% of bridal dresses on the market are sleeveless and strapless, though some brides may prefer more modest styles with sleeves, higher necklines, and covered backs.

Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light and befitted their social status, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony.

Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk. Bridal dressed in the height of current fashion, with the richest materials their families' money could buy. The poorest of brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount and the price of material a bridal dress contained was a reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests.

Source : Wikipedia