What Color Wedding Dress Should I Wear?

Historically, the white wedding dress has been used since the Victorian period in history to symbolize the bride's chastity when marrying. Over the centuries, the use of the white wedding dress continued in popularity, but for the most part, lost much of its symbolic meaning.

Today, brides are frequently choosing to marry in more non-traditional style weddings, rather than the more 'traditional', religious based church weddings. Because of this, wedding attire by both bride and groom has become less traditional as well.

While the fashion industry is known for seasonal fads, and the bridal gown industry follows those fads too, one should think long and hard about falling into choosing a fad wedding dress. These photos will be around for the rest of your life, and a wedding dress that can stand the test of time, without dating the photos is recommended.

Wedding dress colors can often be seasonal, with pastel colors and lightly tinted dresses working great for spring; bolder but light colors, such as yellows and greens, are great for summertime wedding dresses; and dark, richer colors, such as royal purple or blues, are excellent choices for wintertime wedding dress colors.

Not everyone looks good in white, and not everyone cares to follow tradition. A wedding dress should fit the body style, build, coloring of the bride while matching any color themes for the wedding itself, but most importantly, a wedding dress should match the personality of the bride too!

A red wedding dress or a red and white wedding dress might be the perfect choice for a Valentine's Day wedding. A royal blue with silver and gold could be perfect for an evening wedding in the winter or around the holidays. For an outdoor garden wedding, light florals or pastel colors might be a perfect complement to the surroundings.

While some in the wedding party or guest list may balk at colored wedding dresses, when it comes right down to it, the wedding dress, and of course the wedding, is for the bride and groom, and therefore the bride should pick a color that suits her and her future husband's tastes and personality.

If, however, the bride doesn't want to stray too far from the traditional white gown but still craves color, one option for adding color to a wedding dress is to choose a traditional white wedding gown but accent the gown with colorful sashes or embroidered inlay that is colored. Shawls, wraps, colored veils, colored gloves and colorful shoes can all add color to the traditional white dress, without breaking from the traditional white completely.

In the final assessment, it really comes down to this: A wedding day is a very special occasion for the bride, and the choice of wedding dress should be entirely up to her! If you are a bride and want to select the perfect wedding dress, but traditional white doesn't work for you, don't be afraid to choose a colorful wedding dress or a wedding dress with a splash of color, and enjoy your special day!