Weddingbee

Last night I was contemplating weddings and what they mean now (Mr. Kiwi calls it a “big party”), and what they meant in earlier days. I decided to do some research on the history of weddings and from what I found, royalty has had a lot to do with how we celebrate marriage.

The tradition of the cake topper goes back to Queen Victoria of England’s marriage to Albert in 1840, when figures of the couple were placed on the cake. Ever the trendsetter (wedding favors became popular with her wedding), cake toppers shot to popularity in the United States, oddly enough not growing quite as popular in England.

While researching this further, I found more back history on weddings. Like this one regarding tiaras; although it seems that tiaras were commonly used for royal weddings, this isn’t completely true. The tiara has been a fixture in weddings since the 15th century, as it was used as part of an aristocratic woman’s dowry, and would often be worn at the weddings. When the trend began spreading to lower classes, the women who couldn’t afford tiaras of exquisite metals and stones would instead use flowers to mimic the effect. According to tradition, it is said a woman should not wear a tiara before her wedding day, because the tiara symbolizes the “crowning of love.” I guess that means I’m in trouble since I’ve worn mine daily!

Like most things, the popularity of tiaras have changed over the many centuries, coming back into popularity for various royal weddings, like Princess Diana’s use of the Spencer tiara in her wedding to Prince Charles.

The traditional white wedding gown, seemingly used to convey purity, is a misconception- it was not always part of the marriage ceremony. In actuality, white was not always the gown color of choice to represent purity, it was blue that was the “pure” color of choice, while white merely represented joy and happiness.

Royalty not only began the tradition of wearing white, but they also made it popular. Anne of Brittany is credited as having been the first bride to wear white when she married Louis XII of France in 1499, and since she was married once before and bore 4 children, I think her gown wasn’t really trying to convey purity! Although most women prior to the 19th century chose to wear their best clothes they had at the time (like a lot of women did during WWII), the aforementioned Queen Victoria eschewed the tradition of wearing silver dresses for her white gown. This time, the tradition stuck!

Finally, the last tidbit I have is regarding the wedding band. Despite being the band of choice, the plain band wasn’t always this way. Supposedly, Queen Mary I of England chose a simple band rather than the jewel-encrusted ones popular in the medieval and Renaissance ages when marrying King Phillip of Spain in 1554. In 860, Pope Nicholaus I decreed that a groom intending to marry must provide an engagement ring as symbol of his intent- thus beginning that trend. Although he was just following this decree, Holy Roman Emperor Maxmilian I may have been a trend setter when he gave Mary of Burgundy a diamond engagement ring in 1477. I, for one, would like to thank him!

Sure looks like we owe a lot of our tradition to royalty. What is a tradition you are trying to uphold, be it a family tradition, or a different kind?

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