Wedding Dress Style Guide

Maybe so many brides are in a dilemma for finding ideal wedding dresses because there are so many styles to choose from that it can be quite overwhelming. But when you break it all down, there are basically 6 choices: A Line, Ball Gown, Empire Waist, Halter, Mermaid and Tea Length.

A line wedding dress is a great dress that is suitable for most body types. The way the dress is made gives the impression of height and is good for the bride who wishes to look taller. The cut also helps to make the bride look slimmer which is a bonus. The style means that there is a full skirt and the whole dress is very versatile. It accentuates the best bits of your body and hides the others!



A line wedding dress

Ball gown wedding dress is good for the slimmer bride and also for those who do not wish to show off the leg area too much. The way the dress fans out at the bottom does not show off the legs at all but the centre of focus if at the upper half of the body. This style is also probably not best suited to shorter women as it can look proportionally unequal.



Ball gown wedding dress

Empire waist wedding dress is a very good dress again for most body types but especially good for those women with a smaller bust or those with a larger bust. This is because the dress brings the focus of attention to around the neckline. With some jewellery here, the effect is increased and the neckline becomes the centre of attention.

Empire waist wedding dress

Halter wedding dress comes up into a strap the ties or fastens around the neck, and your back is out.  One body type that the halter style flatters is the large bust or prominent busted body shape. The halter straps cut in the bodice with a V- neckline is the best shape for large busted shapes, followed by the sweetheart neckline. On the other hand, if you are small busted the best style choice would be the halter style that is closed in up to the neck.

Halter wedding dress

Mermaid wedding dress is best suited to the slender bride as it does show off the figure and does not look flattering for those who do not enjoy their body curves. There are a range of styles to choose form and you can see if there is one for you.



Mermaid wedding dress

Tea length wedding dress can be worn for many different occasions, but if you comes to weddings, the tea length is especially perfect for outdoor weddings, garden weddings, beach weddings, destination weddings and mountain weddings. Tea length dresses tend to be less ornate and appeal to a more mature bride. The length is great for showing off shoes, works well with more elegant, sharp heels due to its feminine, floaty nature.

Tea lengh wedding dress

Just remember that once you have decided upon your dress, you need to invest in the proper dress storage box otherwise you are risk ruining your investment in many years time through fabric degradation.

The History of White Wedding Dress

Mention about wedding dress, white has long been accepted as the traditional color, but wedding gowns were not always white. The marriage of Queen Victoria to her cousin Albert of Saxe- Coburg in 1840 has had more influence on weddings than any other. Queen Victoria put the wheels in motion by marrying in white. Though brides continued to wed in gowns of different colors, white was now set as the color of choice for weddings and has continued ever since. In Godey’s Lady’s Book, 1849, this statement was printed: “ Custom has decided, from the earliest ages, that white is the most fitting hue, whatever may be the material. It is an emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one.”

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.”

The Industrial Revolution also brought about change. By the 1890’s and the arrival of the department store, almost every woman could realize her dream of being married in a “new” wedding dress. The white dress was gaining popularity and in 1890, Ladies Home Journal wrote: “That from times immemorial the bride’s gown has been white”. Although this statement was not true, it shows how deeply accepted it was that a wedding gown be white. Although white was popular, some brides, especially the frontier brides, wore dresses that were more practical and could be worn after the wedding. As wedding dresses closely resembled the fashions of the time, only a little alteration was needed for the dress to be perfect to wear again.

Edwardian brides took the traditions of their Victorian ancestors to new extremes. Fashions became more extravagant as the decade progressed, but came to a screeching halt with the outbreak of WWI. Styles became simpler, and also reflected the changing role of women in society with hems getting shorter and the disposing of tightly laced corsets. Coco Chanel was a powerful force behind the change in women’s fashions, and was the one who officially introduced the short wedding dress in the 1920’s. It was a white knee length dress worn with a long train. This cemented white as the universal color of the wedding dress.

During WWII, women considered it their duty to give up the traditional wedding , although most brides might be engaged only for a few weeks or even days before the wedding took place. This did not leave enough time to find a wedding dress so the best suit had to do. If the bride was set on having a white dress, one could be borrowed or rented for the ceremony. If both the bride and groom were in the military they were married in their respective uniforms.

After the war, prosperity made it possible for the large dream weddings inspired by the Victorian era to become a reality. Grace Kelly’s marriage to Prince Monaco garnered much publicity because of its grand fairy tale wedding. She wore a white silk and lace gown. The focus of wedding dresses has shifted since the 1950”s. The emphasis now is on the individuality of the bride. So whatever color you choose to be married in, you now know a bit more behind the tradition of the white wedding dress.