The History of the Veil
Have you ever thought about the history of the bridal veil?
Here's some fun facts:
-it was believed in Ancient Greek and Roman times, that a bride's face should be shielded from evil spirits; in fact the veil and dress were not white, instead it was usually a bright colour like red and the material was not shear. Hence, another tradition evolved, where the father-of-the-bride would walk his daughter down the aisle because she was unable to see where she was stepping due to the thick veil covering her face. The bridal veil comes in different styles. Is a veil part of your planning? For more information on the different types of styles, see the end of the article. 
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Did you also know that bridesmaids were dressed with the same gown as the bride, as decoys to the real bride? This again was to keep the evil spirits and demons from detecting the real bride! Ugh, can you imagine not standing out as the bride at your own wedding!
The veil, back then, also served to shield the bride from her groom as it was believed to be bad luck for the groom to lay eyes upon his bride while walking down the aisle. Although slightly changed, hence the tradition of modern-day superstition of the bride not seeing her beloved before the ceremony. Eventually, the meaning of the veil became integrated with cultural and religious traditions. The white veil symbolized chastity, modesty and reverence not exposing the head.
There are several different types of veils:
-blusher: covers just the bride's face -flyaway: short veil to the shoulders -sweep: ends to the floor -fingertip: falls at the bride's waist and just touches her fingertips -cathedral: lengthy,follows the bride 9ft and 12ft If you are adding a veil to your gown, which one would you prefer? All photographs are the copyright of Cecilia Landers Photography. |