Every bride has a certain image in mind when they think of their perfect wedding dress, with many of them involving flowing, silky, white gowns, often with lace detailing.
The image of the white wedding dress seems to have existed for the longest time, with choosing, fitting and adjusting a bridal gown one of the most important moments for any bride to be. It is the perfect dress to wear for the first moments of married life.
However, whilst a lot of wedding dresses are white, ivory or another off-white shade, they do not have to be, and up until the 19th century, it was far from the norm.
Whilst there have been white wedding dresses throughout history, most notably the one worn by Mary, Queen of Scots in 1558, but this was the exception rather than the rule.
Typically, brides would wear the finest dress they owned, but they tended to be dresses that would be worn to any formal gathering or religious ceremony rather than a dedicated gown.
Even in the royal courts of Europe, where it was more likely that a dress would be worn just once, dresses would typically be brightly coloured brocaded gowns.
Whilst they would often have silver thread and detailing, the most common colour for wedding dresses at the time was red rather than white, and there are documented accounts of gowns of almost any colour.
This changed with the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the first true royal wedding that was a public spectacle and a major public event.
Queen Victoria wore a white dress mostly to support the English textile industry; the cream satin was made in Spitalfields in East London, and the lace came from Honiton, a small town in Devon.
It was only after this wedding that the white dress became part of many wedding traditions, growing in popularity after the end of the 19th century and only becoming the standard after the Second World War in 1945.
Whether you want a traditional white satin dress or something that is more personally expressive, get in touch today, and we will find the perfect dress for you.
