Instead of show you my photos from previous weddings or portrait sessions I would like to take some time and talk about history. Now I understand that not everyone is interested in history and you might as well stop reading this now and read something else (especially if you are thinking to yourself why is this Denver wedding photographer wants to talk about this). But if you would like to know why white dress and why in modern day most high end wedding dress designers are venturing out of comfort zone and adding color to wedding dresses? This is your blog post and you should read on.
I would like to say that I don’t think that any other color in Western culture would dominate white but we have started to see different shades of white and as I did mentioned lots of designers are starting to go with other colors for Western culture. In this post I will have to mention this is for Western culture only because I do have to admit that in other cultures for example Chinese its red, in Africa its bright colors (cheerful colors), and in Ireland its blue since this is lucky color. But I will not go into details of other culture at this time.
So lets go back in time way before the white dress came a long and for that we would need to go all the way back to medieval and renaissance periods (in reality we can go even further back but for the sake of my own sanity I will not do that). So at this time period (and before) the brides would wear elaborate versions of contemporary styles, which would represent their social status, because a wedding was not just about love between a groom and bride. The wedding was more of a union of two families, two businesses, or even between two countries. Sometimes it would be even more of a matter of political move than love, this would especially happen in families of very noble and of high social classes. Then the bride was to represent all of that, and she would have to do this in the most favorable way to everyone (not just the groom). So in the past, the bride was wearing a wedding dress as wealth as the family could be, for example: a rich and high social status bride would wear rich colors and exclusive fabrics such as velvet, silk, furs and so on.
Over time the brides would still dress to their social status. On the other hand the poorest bride would wear their best sunday’s church dress to her wedding. Another point to make is that the amount of material of the wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride’s social status so the more fabric in the the dress the higher wealth status. But now we are coming to the point of where white dress overtook all other colors only (but the social status of the dress was still the same). The first person recorded to wear white dress was Queen Victoria in 1840. Before I get slammed with emails from historians I would like to mention that this was not the first documented white dress but hyped about. That is why there a lots of photos of Queen Victoria in a white dress (just google it and you will see what I mean). Also this was not standard for her social and cultural status as well, which made it even made it more noticeable at that time. But this made the public follow the queen and the white dress started to dominate in the western cultures.
But now why white color? Most people think that a bride needs to be in white color and groom in black. Yet the one reason why Queen Victoria was wearing white dress, well in plain words it was VERY EXPENSIVE!!! See, the social status even with white dress was a big move to show of. But most people think that white represents purity and thats why the bride wears white as well as for Queen Victoria, yet this is wrong. The color for purity was and in some culture still is blue. The color white to this day still stands for perfection, cleanliness, the new and so on. Also in the religion the white was usually used for Christening, do you see where I am going this this.
Yet I am not saying that we need to band white color, I think that its beautiful color to have as a wedding dress but what I am saying and this is must my own opinion, “don’t let anyone put you down if you have ivory or off white, and even some other color for your wedding dress” The color means nothing and you as a bride should feel comfortable in any color you chose. The cultural status of trying to impress others as well as dress to your status is somewhat over. We don’t live in those day and age, (now some cultures still do and there is nothing wrong with that). Just make sure that you are comfortable with the dress you wear and you will look beautiful at your wedding day.
Like us on Facebook
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Enjoy this post by Denver and Sacramento wedding photographer provided by Shutter Avenue Photography offering Denver and Sacramento wedding photography in Denver and Sacramento metro area.
Shutter Avenue Photography is not your regular Denver and Sacramento wedding photographer. Every wedding that Shutter Avenue Photography photographs is treated with care and creativity not found with any other Denver or Sacramento wedding photography studio. Shutter Avenue Photography captures your wedding day in a unique photography style in the Sacramento area.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________