Wedding Gowns

Renaissance Wedding Gowns

In the Renaissance period the nobility wore elaborate and brightly colored dresses. The people of the upper class wore usually gowns made out of silk because they were the only ones who were able to, peasants being forbidden to wear or posses them even. Embroidery made with gold or silver tread representing scenes from nature, religion or legends decorated the finest pieces of clothing.

Accessorizing had a very important role also, the more extravagant you were wearing furs, belts or jewelries of a great value the more important role you had in the upper class. The use of wigs was also popular among them, usually made from the hair of the peasants.

In those days white wasn’t the traditional color that the brides wore when getting married, instead the color blue was the representative of purity and that is the source of the saying that every bride should wear “something blue”. The wedding gowns could usually be of any color, but they usually were of a dark color like burgundy wine, deep purple or hunter green.

The fabric dominating when making a gown was usually velvet in jewel tones. The dresses were of a floor length, mostly long-sleeved and having a respectable low-cut, they had an exquisite amount of detail and sometimes gold or silver ribbons ran along the design.

Garters were the most important accessory that a bride had and they had several traditions related to them, for example after the ceremony the guests of the newlyweds followed them to the room and tried to catch the garter for good luck, also if a man gave the person who he loved a bride’s garter it was said that he will be eternally faithful to his love. Other traditions involved wearing a band of blue ribbon by the groom and the bride or trying to touch the brides wedding gown as many times possible also for good luck.

Brides usually didn’t wear veils or tiaras the only exception being royalties, they wore their long hair flowing free, sometimes making it curly and some even chose to accessorize their hair with a circlet of flowers. Some brides would like to wear a Renaissance wedding gown or maybe organize a themed wedding, there are several possibilities to do that, the most popular and cheap method would probably be to rent the wedding dress, and the bridesmaids can also find dresses inspired by that period in rental stores.

You can also find a lot of online stores who sell beautiful dresses, but in order to make the event more memorable and the gown unique you can sew it yourself, but it is advisable to have good sewing skills in order for the dress to turn out perfect. But not everyone is great in sewing so in that case find a good seamstress and all your problems will be resolved.