Explore Eastern Religions

Why is the bridal gown white? There are many reasons as to why the bride traditionally wears white in her wedding. One obvious, and what other seem to believe, is that white symbolizes purity and virginity of the bride. However, in the past, white wedding dresses were to represent an effort by the monarch to promote lace sales, to conspicuous consumption by status-conscious families, because a white dress could be easily damaged and was therefore common only among wealthy families. However, it was later believed that that the color white symbolized virginity and should be worn only by a virgin bride. The wearing of white bridal gowns was popularly introduced by Westernized culture. The tradition was became popular in the Victorian era, after Queen Victoria wore a white lace dress at her wedding. Today, wearing white have been the traditional wedding dress for Western-style wedding ceremonies. However, other than the wearing of white, other cultures have come to wear other colors for their wedding practices. Many wedding dresses in China, India (wedding sari) and Vietnam (in the traditional form of the Ao dai) are colored red, the traditional color of good luck and auspiciousness. Nowadays, many women opt not to wear red and choose other colors. Today's trends, however, have implicated the use of white as the bride's wedding dress. In modern Chinese weddings, in which red (or sometimes gold) was the traditional wedding the bride usually wears, have opted for the white Western dress or changes from a white gown to a red gown later in the day and sometimes a gold-colored gown later on. The Japanese, although wearing white was also their traditional bridal gown color, have later opted to wearing Western-style wedding dresses. Other than the Chinese and Japanese, other eastern culture have also been very keen about the bride's wedding dress. South Indian weddings traditionally use white or cream-colored saris. Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards (lehnga, choli, etc.). In the Philippines, the wearing of Baro't Saya was the first bridal gown used by many Filipino women. The name is a contraction of the Tagalog words baro at saya, meaning "dress (blouse) and skirt". However, because of Western influences, wedding dresses of Filipino women today are those similar to Wester-style wedding dresses. For more information visit to our site at http://philippineweddingplanner.com