What is the significance of a white wedding dress?

Question

What is the significance of a white wedding dress?

Answer 1

I think it is supposed to symbolize the innocence and purity of the bride, as she has not had s*x before the wedding.  Obviously, in today's culture that is not always the case.  But in history I believe that was the meaning of it.

Answer 2

It means that you have the money to buy a dress that you can't wear for everyday. The whole idea started as conspicuous consumption, and now it's because everyone does it.  

Answer 3

It represents purity and tradition

Answer 4

purity

Answer 5

according to most articles I have read it means commitment. Are there really any virgins out there anymore?

Answer 6

It's just traditional.It's your wedding, wear what you want.  

Answer 7

This is asked almost weekly.  The idea of the white wedding dress meaning 'purity' is an urban legend - but it sells dresses. A lot of modern brides wear other colors

Queen Victoria wore a white dress to set off some expensive antique lace, not because it was to show that the dress could not be worn again.

The real fashion for 'white' dresses was after WWI, when the wedding industry went into high gear, and they could get brides to spend money on an 'exclusive' wedding dress that would not be worn again. A "white wedding" means a big formal wedding - with the dress, the flowers, the cake, and the wedding planner -  the wedding dress industry would not survive if people simply wore a nice new dress they could wear again.

From wikipedia:

"The tradition of a white wedding is commonly credited to Queen Victoria's choice to wear a white wedding dress at her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840.

Queen Victoria was not the first royal bride to wear a white wedding gown, but the first of the modern era. White had been a traditional color of royal mourning, and although not often utilized as such, white was not considered a suitable choice for a royal wedding. Victoria's choice popularized the white gown as no other had before her. Previously, brides wore their best clothes or the most expensive new clothes they could afford. Gold or gold-threaded dresses became popular with royal brides; the rank-and-file wore dresses that reflected their station. White was one of many choices, pastel shades were also popular.

Until the mid-twentieth century, many brides in the United Kingdom did not wear a traditional wedding dress, merely a specially bought dress that could later be worn as an evening gown. This was also the case in pre-20th century America, where working and frontier brides often opted for a formal look that was practical and could be used again on special occasions.

After World War I, as full-scale formal weddings began to be desired by the mothers of brides who did not have a permanent social secretary, the position of the "wedding planner" who could coordinate the printer, florist, caterer, seamstress, began to assume importance. Bride's Magazine began to be published in 1934 as a newspaper advertising insert called So You're Going to Get Married! in a column entitled To the Bride, and its rival Modern Bride began publishing in 1949. Now a whole industry surrounds the provision of such weddings.

Answer 8

It ususally means that you are a virgin, but its really up to you if you want to wear white or not..

Answer 9

This has been asked often and you will get plenty of answers that say "purity" and "virginity."

However, that is all incorrect.

The white wedding dress is a fairly new tradition that started with Queen Victoria.  When she got married, she wore white not to symbolize purity or virginity or innocence but to symbolize wealth.  Traditionally, a wedding dress was any good dress you had of any color.  Queen Victoria chose to wear white because she wanted to convey wealth and class--most people didn't have the money to buy one ornate dress that they would only wear once in their life.  Even years after that, many brides still did not really wear white to their weddings but chose whatever good gown they had.  As the trend caught on, people started pinning purity and virginity and innocence to the white wedding dress.  In many cultures though, white is not worn at the wedding because in many cultures it actually symbolizes death.