Mostly, today's weddings are centered around love. It is a ritual that unites two individuals who care about one another and want to commit to their relationship.
It wasn't always like this. In previous eras, weddings were more frequently the subject of business discussions, and in the end, wedding gowns were only needed to show the bride's wealthy background and her family's wealth.
It wasn't standard practice back then to buy a wedding dress the way we do today. Brides would not purchase a dress for a single event. Therefore, bridal dresses of any color were quite common. Dark dresses were frequently favored since they would hide any flaws or stains in the event of an accident. The only shade that was undesirable was green, since it was thought to bring bad luck. Whereas blue, which represents the purity of the bride, was among the most favored color choices.
When Queen Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert, in 1840, it marked a pivotal point for the modern bridal gown. Unexpectedly, Queen Victoria wore a white bridal gown that day. As you may surely imagine, many people thereafter adopted the trend she, most likely unwittingly, established. Years later, Lady's Book, the first American women's magazine, said that white was thought to be the ideal color for a bridal gown.
Nonetheless, it remained incredibly difficult for brides to have a flawless white dress throughout the 1800s, since it was so difficult to keep a fabric of this color clean. This indicated that only women who were more affluent could buy such a dress. At that time, brides who wished to flaunt their affluence chose to have more fabric in their dresses.
As the Great Depression hit, people yet again struggled to afford buying a garment for a single event. Women began to wear their every-day dresses once more, which were typically darker in color than white for the reasons stated above.
The memorable weddings of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco in the 20th century led to a revival in the popularity of the white wedding dress.