Wearing White

The following is reproduced from the AAWP. It is a great discourse on the bridal white that so many women wear.

Why do brides wear white? We know that white symbolizes purity and virginity-but what's the real reason? The answer dates back to 1840 when Victoria, Queen of England, married her Prince Charming, Albert, in a wedding that set protocol on its ear. The young Queen was only 20 when SHE proposed marriage to Albert. According to the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, all royal marriages were to be sanctioned by the sovereign but in Victoria's case, she was the sovereign and this independent young woman was not about to ask anyone's permission to marry-a royal first. The young queen married publicly, in the afternoon, and set another royal precedent. Since royal weddings were considered too sacred for the public's eyes, they were always held very late at night or early in the morning. And to top it off, she wore a wedding dress with a plunging, SEXY neckline-a dress that would change the course of history. Victoria, instead of wearing silver, the traditional choice for royalty, wore WHITE. It was a first, and the beginning of a tradition that has passed down to us throughout the ages. But how did the color become synonymous with purity and virginity? In the sixteenth century, another English queen, Elizabeth I, popularized the color white; she LOVED IT and wore it often! Because the queen was celebrated for her chasteness (she became known as the Virgin Queen), her favorite color came to symbolize purity and virginity-and that tradition passed down to us throughout the centuries also. Today white symbolizes joy and celebration and remains the traditional color for wedding gowns. But there's no reason not to wear any color that you choose.