Many brides in the United States think of white wedding dresses as “traditional,” but the white wedding dress is actually a fairly recent custom. When Queen Victoria was married in 1840, she chose a white wedding dress and immediately started a fashion. While most working-class brides continued to get married in a best dress, regardless of color, well-to-do brides in Britain and America followed the Queen and got married in white.

As other brides followed suit, people began to think of the white color as a symbol of purity, and within one short century the white wedding dress became a must.

But as times have continued to change, more and more brides are beginning to buck Victoria's example and let their true colors show.

Some brides brighten up the traditional white dress with deftly placed colored accents. These can serve to draw the eye to the bride’s best features, match color accents in the groom’s outfit, or just add a fun splash of color.

Modern brides looking for something a little bolder are making wedding dresses in champagne and gold increasingly popular. Either color is elegant enough for a formal wedding, and the brides look every bit as striking as their sisters in white.

Adding a little color to your wedding dress doesn’t just add flexibility to your choices – it can also be a beautiful way to honor your heritage.

Traditional African bridal wear comes in all kinds of colors. Some colors and patterns are used to honor the area the bride and groom come from, or some have personal or family significance to the bride and groom. A modern couple that chooses traditional brightly colored cloth to enhance standard Western wedding outfits can make for a stunning pair.

Indian saris are known around the world for their gorgeous colors. Depending on the region, a wedding sari might be done in red and white or in green, white, and yellow. Either will have beautiful accents in gold thread. Saris are wonderfully easy to adapt – you’ll look gorgeous whether you choose to wear a full traditional sari or to blend Indian and Western traditions.

Korean brides wear green overlays over their wedding dresses. The overlays may be embroidered with flowers – a nice way to set off the colors in your bouquet. Irish brides, in contrast, rarely wear green at weddings, as the usually lucky color is considered bad luck at weddings. A blue dress, however, is considered very good form at a traditional Irish wedding. Blue dresses used to be far more popular in all of the British Isles – the color was popularly supposed to guarantee a long marriage and a faithful husband. Israeli brides often wear blue or blue highlights for a different reason: the color symbolizes the bride’s spiritual powers.

If you like red, you’re in luck. It's considered good fortune for brides to wear the cheery color in China, traditional areas of Russia, and many other nations. Japanese wedding gowns are often lined in red, and as mentioned above, many Indian brides wear the color as well. There’s even a case to be made for calling a red gown an American tradition as well – some brides wore it during the Revolutionary war to show their desire for independence.

…And of course Goth brides have been decking themselves out in red for more than a decade. If you and your groom have a taste for lush, brooding elegance, a Goth wedding can satisfy your desire to dress in a traditional Western silhouette while opening up the possibility of a deep purple, gray, or black wedding dress.

Or maybe you don’t need to follow any tradition at all. As increasing numbers of modern couples plan and pay for their own weddings, guests have become accustomed to seeing very personal weddings that break new ground. Simply choosing the dress that makes your heart sing, regardless of color, is a great way to put your personal stamp on your wedding and know that you look your best.

Unia Griffin is a contributing writer for OneWed.com. She writes about choosing wedding dresses, bridal shoes and wedding shoes, keeping the wedding party sane, and other wedding planning issues on OneWed.

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Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_712233_34.html

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