Black Wedding Dresses: Would I Wear One?

My fiancé and I are in the beginning stages of planning our wedding, and are definitely going to be having an unconventional affair. Since my new favorite internet past time is looking at wedding dresses and reading bridal magazines, I thought I might as well investigate black wedding dresses for this article.

Historically, only very rich women who could afford to wear a dress once got married in white dresses. Women often got married in their best dress, which in many cases was a black one. White wedding dresses became popular when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840.

I started my research by googling "black wedding dresses" on the Images page. The first dress that caught my eye is not exactly black, but was a fabulous dress made entirely of peacock feathers. Apparently it took factory workers in Nanjing, China 40 days to sew it. I have a thing for peacocks, and it was a beautiful dress, but bordered slightly on overkill. You can check out this link: http://redhotbrides.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/05/a-look-at-a-splendid-black-wedding-dress to see a picture of the dress. Peacock feather colors (green, blue, and purple) are however the colors I have chosen for my wedding.

I have a thing for period clothing, and definitely for modern clothing that has a period feel. This includes anything that falls into the "ballgown" category. The next dress that caught my eye was a black sleeveless ballgown by John Galliano for Christian Dior. It has a wonderfully full skirt and long train, with lots of ruffling and detail work all over the dress. Beautiful, but a little too dark for my tastes.

The next dress which caught my eye was a black and white court gown circa 1888. The skirts are a little less voluminous than the last dress, but still includes a train. The pattern is composed of thick and thin black swirly lines on a white background. Definitely a striking contrast, and for me a head turner. Not what I want to wear down the aisle, but definitely something to try and replicate in some fashion in my own dressmaking adventures someday. To see a picture of this dress, as well as the Dior dress, you can go to: http://www.lasplash.com/publish/cat_index_Style_and_Fashion/AngloMania.php.

I next ventured into the world of Gothic weddings, which are very close in style to what my fiancé and I are planning (a Celtic medieval style). I found some very nice designs done by Katrina Marie, which are definitely more medieval in style, and combine black with colors like red and purple. You can view her designs here: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.katrinamariedesigns.com/RG260SateenNS.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.katrinamariedesigns.com/theme_weddings.htm&usg=__SC5Lo9ExrxLH6apZ0w0yrP2JrEs=&h=250&w=182&sz=23&hl=en&start=41&tbnid=XesICwYyGQRL1M:&tbnh=111&tbnw=81&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgothic%2Bwedding%2Bdresses%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D36.

At the end of this Sunday morning before church foray into black wedding gowns, I must say I have found some beautiful dresses. And while I do want a very unconventional wedding, I also have to say that I will not be walking down the aisle in a black dress. I will be incorporating black into my wedding-I found some great Moroccan lanterns in black with purple, green, and blue glass, but it won't show up on my dress!

I do however plan on writing future articles on my wedding planning adventures, because there don't seem to be as many resources on planning a medieval themed wedding as I'd like. So I will write my own!