Non-White Wedding Dresses: Would You Dare?

You should certainly. Why not? It is that one day in your life that you can wear the most beautiful dress you have ever dreamt of. It should be in whatever color you please and, most importantly, whatever makes you feel happy and satisfied.

The wearing of white wedding dresses started with Queen Victoria of England when she was wed. It certainly helped that it was a sort of a “wedding of the century” kind of event. People back then were in the beginnings of copying “celebrity trends” and taking them on as their own. Everybody thought the white looked so beautiful and also teemed with the symbolism of a pure, radiant, virginal young woman about to be blessed by matrimonial rites, in the same manner as the other rites had also required one to wear white. Before that though, women wore whatever color of dress on their wedding day, as long as it was their nicest one. So, if you were to do it today, you are merely reverting to actual tradition.

Gray area
Obviously, if you’re wearing a colored gown on your wedding, you will have to plan the whole thing to fit into a more rigid color scheme, as opposed to white dress weddings wherein almost any color idea would be applicable. You would have to plan more, and make sure that you really stand out.

Gray is a great (pardon the pun) color for wedding dresses. It is muted; formal, elegant and easy on the eyes as well… lighter shimmery hues of gray look beautiful on a dress, but stick to simple lines and patterns, and long flowing dresses instead of fluffy and poofy ones. You wouldn’t want to look like a little rain cloud on your best day. Unless, that is, you’d want to look like the prettiest darned rain cloud anyone has ever seen.

Metallics are almost synonymous to bombshell glamour. Think Hollywood circa the roaring twenties- onward with the voluptuous women with full lips, dramatic lashes and lush hair. Think noir and adventure and eyebrows by design raised in playful jest. Think prohibition era and swinging parties. Again, beware the fluff and puff; metallics, when done wrong could be a disaster on a woman’s silhouette. Yikes!

Bright Colors: This means bright shades of all colors on the spectrum – orange, yellow, green, pink, purple, red etc. It’s your dress, your day, you go for it! Usually you can get away with any cut or puff of bright colors: make it simple, you have the pleasant contradiction of simplicity and loudness. Go all poof and fluff and you can get away with looking like a princess, or a giant flower.

Hushed colors: light green, creamy pink, dreamy blue–these look great in floaty material, no matter how simple or how extravagant the gown. It gives you a more fairytale-like vibe.

Black. Oh, you seductress. You can go all black, all the way, or you can go with black trimmings.

So there you go; whatever you wear in whatever color, it’s your day. Work it!

AUTHOR BYLINE: Chuck Smith manages a small crafts business that offers a range of unique gift ideas and home decors. Currently, hey works as the marketing manager at www.jafgifts.com and focuses on the retail industry and events management.

Photo from Watters.com

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