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« Seen Over the Ether: A History of Fashion and Dress, A Self-Directed Course
Cotillion: A Review of a Georgette Heyer Novel »

Regency Wedding Dresses and Later Developments in Bridal Fashions

November 12, 2008 by Vic

wedding-dress-18182Gentle Readers, My niece is getting married and I will be away for a week to attend her wedding. In celebration, I have created this Georgian to Victorian era wedding dress post that consists of a series of quotes gathered on the topic.

The handsome veil of Mechlin lace,
A sister’s love bestows,
It adds new beauties to her face,
Which now with pleasure glows.
Friends brothers sisters cousins meet,
To attend the happy bride,
And Queer’s joy is all complete,
The nuptial knot is tied –
The Dandy’s Wedding, London, 1823, Two Centuries of Costume in America, MDCXX-MDCCCXX By Alice Morse Earle

Hand made lace was extremely expensive and few brides could afford a veil. As the 19th century progressed and machine made laces became more readily available, the bridal veil became more prevalent at weddings.
wedding-veil-1810
White was not the prevalent color for wedding dresses during this era. Royal bridal gowns were made of silver tissue and lace, and for a short time regency brides preferred to wear yellow bridal dresses over other colors.

You may be surprised to learn that in the 1800’s, it was common for brides to wear everyday colors such as blue, pink, green, dark brown, burgundy and, yes, even black, rather than white and ivory. It was much more practical for a bride of the average class to wear darker colors for a variety of reasons. One major reason being money. Prudent brides planned ahead – a wedding gown could be worn for many occasions, not just on their “special day.” The wedding gown was a lady’s “best dress” after the ceremony and it was much more practical to have a darker colored dress than a white or ivory dress. Let’s take a minute to imagine the time and effort involved in keeping the hemline of a white gown clean! Dust and dirt and no modern conveniences! Just think about what a white hemline would look like at the end of a day! Laundering was a big consideration, unless, of course, the lady was from a prominate family who had servants available to handle the laundry. – Wedding Gown Traditions

Princess Charlotte's silver net wedding gown, 1815

Princess Charlotte

Description of Princess Charlotte’s Wedding in 1816: The Royal Bride, happy in obtaining him whom her heart had selected, and whom consenting friends approved, wore on her countenance that tranquil and chastened joy which a female so situated could not fail to experience. Her fine fair hair, elegantly yet simply arranged, owed more to its natural beautiful wave than to the art of the friseur; it was crowned with a most superb wreath of brilliants, forming rosebuds with their leaves.

Her dress was silver lama [lamé] on net, over a silver tissue slip, embroidered at the bottom with silver lama in shells and flowers. Body and sleeves to correspond, elegantly trimmed with point Brussels lace. The manteau was of silver tissue lined with white satin, with a border of embroidery to answer that on the dress, and fastened in front with a splendid diamond ornament. Such was the bridal dress … La Belle Assemblee, May 1816

In the 1800’s, gray became a color for wedding gowns for brides of lower classes because the dress became re-used as the bride’s Sunday best. For those who had to wear a dress that would be used for regular occasions after the wedding, many brides would decorate the dress for the special day with temporary decorations.

The “traditional” wedding dress as known today didn’t appear until the 1800’s. By 1800, machine made fabrics and inexpensive muslins made the white dress with a veil the prevailing fashion. By the nineteenth century, a bride wearing her white dress after the wedding was accepted. Re-trimming the dress made it appropriate for many different functions.- Ezine Articles: Wedding Dresses

Satiric wedding scene, Thomas Rowlandson

Satiric wedding scene, Thomas Rowlandson

1907 Worth Wedding gown

1907 Worth Wedding gown

The bridal image has not always been white. Wedding dresses were virtually any color in the 1800’s, said Phyllis Magidson, the curator of ”New York Gets Married.”

”It was simply the best dress your family had to offer, meant to be worn at special occasions thereafter,” she said. A very wealthy woman might have her gown made at Maison Worth in Paris, where a dress could cost as much as a middle-class person’s salary for a year, but for most people, Ms. Magidson added, ”wearing something that was specifically and solely intended to be worn for the wedding — the concept that we have of being a fairy princess — is a fairly contemporary perception.”

Queen Victoria’s wedding in 1840 was the 19th-century equivalent of Lady Diana Spencer’s extravaganza in 1982, and Victoria just happened to get married in white because she wanted her gown trimmed with a particularly rich lace. Her wedding-picture engravings were so widely circulated that the public began to associate white with weddings, Ms. Magidson said. – New York Times, Style, 1997

Queen Victoria's White Gown

Queen Victoria

The wedding of Queen Victoria had more of an impact than most and actually started an entirely new trend when she decided not to wear the traditional royal silver bridal gown. Instead Queen Victoria gave the white wedding dress completely new meaning and symbolism when she married her beloved Prince Albert in a simple dress, made of white satin, trimmed with Honiton lace, with Honiton long veil and a wreath of orange blossoms to represent purity. It was then that white became the dominant, traditional choice, symbolizing purity and maidenhood. – Emma’s Wedding Diary

Reproduction wedding dress in two parts, from 1799 model

Reproduction wedding dress in two parts, from 1799 model

Additional Links:

  • Wedding Dress in Two Parts: Regency Reproductions
  • Regency Weddings
  • A Brief History of the Wedding Dress
  • Royal Wedding: Queen Victoria
  • Princess Charlotte’s Wedding Page

There is an old poem about how the color of your wedding dress will influence your future: “Married in white, you will have chosen all right. Married in grey , you will go far away. Married in black, you will wish yourself back. Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead. Married in blue, you will always be true. Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl. Married in green, ashamed to be seen, Married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow. Married in brown, you’ll live out of town. Married in pink, your spirits will sink.” – History of the White Wedding Dress

Modern Jane Austen inspired chiffon gown wedding dress

Modern Jane Austen inspired chiffon gown wedding dress

  • Click here for the Jane Austen Inspired Chiffon Gown
  • More About Weddings on this Blog: The Wedding Procession in Sense and Sensibility

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Posted in Fashions, jane austen, Jane Austen's World, Regency Life, Regency style, Regency World | Tagged Maison Worth, Princess Charlotte, Queen Victoria, Regency Wedding | 13 Comments

13 Responses

  1. on November 16, 2008 at 14:56 Kim at Printable Wedding Invitations

    Oooh! I love the modern Jane Austen inspired chiffon dress you have shown above.


  2. on February 22, 2009 at 01:27 Princess Charlotte’s Bellflower Court Dress - 1814-1816 « Jane Austen’s World

    […] some of the embroidered bells were missing, is similar to the one on Princess Charlotte’s silver net wedding gown. Tradition has it that this court dress was made for Princess Charlotte on her engagement in […]


  3. on February 24, 2009 at 19:17 Giuliana

    Amazing post! Am planning my own wedding and have bought original Victorian wedding boots as couldn’t find any modern ones that were very nice.

    Giuliana

    http://sevenweddings.wordpress.com/


  4. on March 14, 2010 at 15:08 amberdawn

    The Peabody Essex Museum had a really interesting exhibit of wedding dresses. The yellow gowns were displayed, but I didn’t know (or remember) about the darker colors. Interesting!


  5. on June 11, 2010 at 15:03 Artificial Wedding Flowers Sydney

    Your blog is really great. I get some ideas for my wedding.


  6. on June 24, 2010 at 09:15 The Regency Bridal Bouquet « Jane Austen's World

    […] Regency Wedding Dresses and Later Developments in Bridal Fashions […]


  7. on July 8, 2010 at 15:47 ely

    very good


  8. on August 7, 2010 at 09:33 A Jane Austen Inspired Wedding « Jane Austen's World

    […] Regency Wedding Dressing and Later Developments in Bridal Fashions […]


  9. on December 27, 2010 at 15:22 Grace Elliot

    Just found this post on the archive and its so enjoyable to read. I hadnt realised the tradition for white gowns came from Queen Victoria. Fascinating.
    Grace x


  10. on April 25, 2011 at 11:05 In Honor of the Royal Wedding: Princess Charlotte’s Wedding Dress, 1816 « Jane Austen's World

    […] Regency Wedding Dresses and Later Developments in Bridal Fashions […]


  11. on June 30, 2011 at 07:41 Cindy@ silk bouquets

    It’s pretty amazing how wedding dresses evolved and how the designs looked way back then.


  12. on February 8, 2012 at 04:31 Flowers Sydney

    The modern Jane Austen inspired chiffon dress looks pretty gorgeous, truly classic design. It’s pretty amazing how bridal gowns evolved through the years and some of the designs remains to these days.


  13. on May 16, 2012 at 06:23 Empress Marie-Louise’s wedding gown « Versailles and More

    […] Cloth-of-silver, sometimes overlaid with silver netting or lace, had been the preferred choice of royal brides. For an astonishing 18th century example, see the wedding gown of Princess Edwige Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp here (second from the bottom.) Likewise Princess Charlotte of Wales wore a gown of silver lamé over a silver slip, with a manteau (overcoat) of matching silver lamé, to her wedding in 1816. For a picture of that gown, fortunately preserved to this day, see this post at Jane Austen’s World. […]



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