How Have Wedding Trends Changed?

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Emily Taylor
Thursday, Septemeber 27 2018
A white dress, the tossing of bouquets, exchanging of rings, and an age old rhyme are most typically the first things pictured when viewing the traditional American wedding of today. However, the reality is that these so called traditions only date back approximately 100 years. The concept of marriage and the ceremony itself constantly fluctuate based on the time period, location, and the culture of the people involved. How have these trends changed in America and what social, political, or economic events have influenced these changes?
At the forefront of every bride’s mind is their wedding gown. Today what you get married in seems to be almost as important as who you are marrying. Weeks worth of time and thousands of dollars are spent researching, trying on, and altering the dress before the bride walks down the aisle. Almost every little girl dreams of looking like a princess in a poofy pure white dress on their big day. Most girls that walk into bridal salons when asked about color preference will look confused and say “white?” as if there weren’t any other color options. After all they are getting married and brides are supposed to get married in a pure white dress- right? According to Marlise Scheony, the pure white dress was really only solidified in the late 1930s. Before Queen Victoria got married in 1840 showcasing all white attire and the public began to attempt to copy her appearance, white was considered an impractical color choice. Once women did start wearing white for their gowns it took about 100 years for it to be considered the standard (Scheony). Before the 1930s, wedding dresses were seen in many different colors, including black and brown, and those that did wear white were often cream or ivory rather than true white. For the working and artisan class the wedding dress was often just the best dress that the woman owned, or a dress that could be dyed or modified to be worn more than once- most notably during WWII it may have not mattered what your economic standing was as resources such as fabrics were low. After the war there are multiple examples of wedding gowns being made from surplus army parachutes (Scheony). Today the ‘true white’ trend is fading as more and more designers turn to shades of ivory, champagne, and even variations of a light blush for a variety of reasons such as the preservation of the gown, stylistic preference and brides gravitating to color without even realizing. Styles and cuts have changed over the years in accordance to current fashion and economic standing, but today because bridal gowns are more accessible and come at a variety of different price ranges most salons and online retailers carry a large variety of different dresses, from ballgowns all the way to simple sheaths. Many major wedding dress styles, such as the currently popular mermaid style and A-line, follow celebrity and royal weddings.
A tradition that many recognize is an old english rhyme. “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, a silver sixpence in her shoe” didn’t appear in print until the late 19th century (Callaway). It was meant to bring brides good luck, especially if all the items were worn together, but nowadays many brides don’t know the meaning behind the rhyme or even why they are collecting these items. My aunt got married in 2011 and had all the items (other than the six-pence) but she didn’t have a clue what any of the items represent. The “something old” was to tie the bride to her past, family and tradition. “Something new” to symbolize the brides new life, usually representing hope and prosperity. “Something borrowed” is usually an item from a happily married ancestor or friend and can represent happiness and success of the marriage. “Something blue” represents purity, fidelity and love. Before Queen Victoria popularized the white gown, brides’ “something blue” may have even been her wedding gown, a trend that continued all the way up to the late 1930s until the white dress finally took over. While the trend of collecting all the pieces from the rhyme is still pretty popular today many brides do not know the meaning behind it and do not end up collecting the “silver sixpence”, as the coin is out of circulation. In fact many references to the rhyme today leave off the last item entirely.
Wedding rings themselves can be traced back to the ancient the greeks and romans and they were often originally made out of braided hemp and reed (Leafloor). Though at the time rings were not necessarily a symbol of love and dedication but more often a symbol of possession, sometimes they were even given to the father of the bride(Leafloor). The hemp and reed were not very durable and as time passed poeple began to switch to more wearable and lasting materials. As the ring became more expensive it also became a symbol of the grooms’ ability to provide for his bride. Although women’s engagement and wedding rings have been traced relatively far back, men’s rings weren’t popularized until the 1940s. They became a way for men to have a symbol of loyalty and commitment while away at war (Robb). After World War II men’s wedding bands became just as commonly used as women’s.
The diamond engagement ring is a centerpiece to any good wedding. Every aunt, little girl, grandma, and bridesmaid is expected to ‘ooh’ and ‘aw’ at the expensive stone on the brides posed hand. A symbol of eternal love and purity for the ages. Truthfully, the diamond trend was almost entirely created in the advertising world. According to the American Gem Society the first diamond engagement ring was commissioned by the Archduke Maximillian of Austria in 1477(American). As any good trend it holds true that it was started by a celebrity of sorts, but it was De Beers who turned the diamond into what it is today. When the Archduke purchased his engagement ring, diamonds must have been rare and very expensive but today it is not quite the same case. In the late 19th century huge amounts of diamonds were discovered in De Beers’ mines in Africa (Friedman) and De Beers ended up controlling almost every aspect of the diamond trade, practically a monopoly. Now that De Beers had the product they had to figure out a way to sell it. They wanted every man convinced that only a diamond would do for a proposal, and that the size and quality directly corresponded to the man’s success and even love (Friedman). In 1938 the founder of De Beers’ son hired N.W. Ayer as their ad agency, a smart and ultimately successful move on their part. In the late 1940s the De Beers coined the phrase “A Diamond is Forever” -a brilliant marketing move on the part of the ad agency. The De Beers have been using this slogan ever since, and for good reason. This slogan is a classic marketing technique. It puts value in something that may not be inherently valuable by associating it with something else, in this case, your marriage. “I have to propose with a diamond- because a diamond is forever- and the diamond must be a symbol for marriage- and I want my intended to know that I want my marriage to last forever- so I have to buy a diamond.” The exact thought pattern that got many men to buy a ring that costs them a months salary right at the end of a depression and war, and still have men buying them almost seven decades later. But as Edward Epstein says in a 1982 issue of The Atlantic “diamonds can in fact be shattered, chipped, discolored, or incinerated to ash”. Now that would be a sad thing to associate with marriage.
While the garter belt and bouquet toss has origins in a very outdated trend, the toss itself is only about a 100 years old. The origins of this particular trend often shock and horrify brides who learn about it. Its was, and still is, considered good luck to have the garter belt and bouquet, but before the toss it was considered good luck for the guests to have any part of the brides ensemble, from the garter belt, all the way to a tattered piece of the dress. The toss was invented to pacify guests. At a time when a bride’s virginity was considered very important, family members or members of the wedding party would stay in the bedroom with the newly wedded couple until there was proof of virginity, that is why you might hear some sayings that the wedding isn’t complete until after the wedding night. As watching the couple became less popular a family member or bridesmaid snuck into the marriage bedroom and took the garter belt containing proof of the brides virginity (susong). Directly before the toss existed the garter belt was often torn from the bride's leg as she was entering the marriage bedroom or the bride would throw the bouquet to distract the guests while the couple went to the bedroom and the groom would toss the garter belt out of the room so they wouldn’t be interrupted (Erickson). These are the actions that evolved into the garter belt and bouquet toss we have today (susong). Not exactly the romantic backstory for a tradition that is meant to predict the next couple to get married.
One notable thing that many brides and grooms think of from the moment the wedding is put into action is their wedding party. Most often it consists of the most trusted, valuable, and dear friends or relatives of the couple. They are sent cute invitations and gifts to ask them to stand up in front of everybody and… do what exactly? Often today it is the bridesmaids, maid of honor, best man, and groomsmen’s job to help the couple prepare for the wedding, plan parties, witness the couples ceremony, and make a cringeworthy speech at the reception. But how did we end up with all these extra people as part of a ceremony that really only involves two people? The easy answer I found is that in most cases you have to have another person, outside of the officiant and couple, witness the marriage and sign the registry (Nowak). This is true even in history. In ancient Rome, to get married the couple had to have ten male witnesses present during the ceremony (Nowak). In the bible there are references to the bride having brought a servant with them to the ceremony, quite literally a “bride’s maid” (Nowak). The groomsmen, also sometimes referred to as “brides knights” were often actually in charge of protecting the bride and her dowry to and from the wedding as it wasn’t uncommon for men to try and kidnap or rob a bride on her way to the ceremony (McGee). Historically, the groomsmen may have actually kidnapped the bride from her family for the groom, which is a much darker aspect of the tradition that tends to be overlooked.
When looking back at wedding traditions there are often clear indicators as to what made trends popular, caused them to change into unrecognizable trends or even die off. Examples vary from economic shift, war, all the way to following celebrity and royal wedding trends. These examples make it clear that social, economic and political trends affect our traditions and ideas about marriage.

This is a satirical website. Don't take it Seriously. It's a joke.