Origin of Wedding Elements

Its beginning lie in the deserts of North Africa, where the Egyptian civilization sprang up along the fertile flood plains of the Nile river. All fortune and life to the Pharoah’s people came from this river. The first wedding rings were fashioned from the plants growing on its river banks. Sedges, rushes and reeds growing alongside the well-known papyrus were twisted and braided into rings for fingers and larger bracelets for wrists. The ring which is circular in shape was the symbol of eternity for the Egyptians as well as other cultures. It had no beginning and no end. The shape was worshipped in the form of the Sun and the Moon. And the hole in the center of the ring is important because it symbolized as the gateway leading to things and events both known and unknown.

Over time, the ring and the gift of a ring began to be associated with unending love because of its circular shape which symbolizes eternity.

The Christians started the use of ring in marriage ceremonies in about 860. It was however not the simple plain band that we know. It was usually highly decorated with engraved doves, lyres, or two linked hands. The Church discouraged such rings. That’s the reason why wedding and betrothal rings were considerably simplified around the 13th century and given more spiritual look which a Bishop aptly expressed when he dubbed it a “ symbol of the union of hearts. “

From a tradition derived from the Romans, the wedding ring is worn on the left hand finger because there was a thought that a vein in the finger referred as the “Vein of Love” said to be directly connected to the heart;

Although wedding invitation is one of the wedding elements that allows the bride and groom to incorporate their wedding theme and color motif, its history and development involve its content rather than its aesthetic which are answer by these questions:

This sections tackles the following origin and development of bridal veil.There are numerous stories about the origin of the bridal veil.

1. It is believed that the veil was introduced in ancient Rome. In order to confuse the evil spirits that would be attracted to the bride, the people in that era covered her face with a veil. There is a big possibility the bridal veil got its name from the definition of veil which is to obscure, shroud, mask or cover.
   
   
2. In the medieval times, the veil was also symbol of purity, chastity and modesty
   
   
3. Others thought the bridal veil was due to the circumstances of pre-arranged marriage, where after the wedding ceremony, the veil was lifted to reveal the features of the bride to make sure the groom could not back out even if he didn’t like what he saw.
   
   
4. In the past, the veil was also used by the bride as asymbol of submission and willingness to obey her husband.

Veil length has a significance on the formality of the ceremony. The longest bridal veil, known as a Cathedral veil, is used in the most formal weddings. Other veil sizes include the fingertip, waltz and chapel lengths.

Brides of our modern day are making their own wedding veil history. In 2004, the longest veil ever was worn by media personality, Star Jones at her wedding. Her Cathedral veil measured 27 feet long was dubbed the “Star Cathedral Veil”, which was two feet longer than the veil worn by Princess Diana at her wedding to Prince Charles.

Wedding flowers have been around for a long time and there are signs that wedding flowers has been a tradition since the earliest days of civilization.

Origin of white wedding is commonly credited to England’s Queen Victoria, who chose to wear a white wedding dress at her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840 at Chapel Royal of St. James in London. Royal brides before her did not typically wear white but instead wore “heavy brocaded gowns embroided with white and silver thread with red because it was the particular popular color in Western Europe at that time. The white gown the Queen wore was made of silk and accented by orange blossoms and her veil was made of Honiton lace. In her journal, Queen Victoria described her dress, “I wore a white satin dress, with a deep flounce of Honiton Lace, an imitation of an old design. My jewel were my Turkish diamond necklace & errings & dear Albert’s beautiful sapphire brooch.”

In that era, many people considered her choice of color as unusual—more so because she was a monarch. At that time , brides commonly wore clored dresses, including black. A lot of wealthy women considered the Queen’s white wedding gown as a statement and soon followed suit. In fact in the 1950’s white wedding dresses became main stream in the United States.

White was once considered a symbol of virginity, happiness and innocence. White has long been accepted as the traditional color of the wedding dress, although wedding gowns were not always white.

In 1981, the white wedding style was given another significant boost. ¾ billion people – one out of six people around the globe watched Charles, Prince of Wales married Diana Spencer in her elaborate white taffeta dress with a 25 foot-long train. This wedding is generally considered the most influential white wedding of the 20th century.

Currently, brides to be choose from different styles of white wedding dresses based on their body types, wedding themes and preferences.