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Traditional wedding dresses as we think of them today, mostly in America consist of a full-skirted, or mermaid fitted white satin dress. Usually sleeveless and strapless. A veil to match reaching the lower back or even floor length.
This tradition, like many others, is not static and unchanging, or really very old. The styles and colors of wedding dresses vary according to the fashions of the time, and the culture in which the wedding is taking place.
In the early 20th Century, 1901-1935 after the turn of the century, the white wedding dress tradition was firmly established. The romantic and historical epics of the cinema, featuring glamorous evening and exotic historical styles also influenced wedding dress designs. Around the turn of the century, proper gentlemen’s wedding attire consisted of a frock coat, striped trousers, and a light waistcoat. The morning coat or cutaway regained popularity by 1910, and was in widespread use after WWI. Working men wore a dark suit, which eventually gave way in the 1930s to a formal suit, or tuxedo, often rented for the occasion.
In China brides not only wear one dress but three. The first dress, is a traditional qipao or cheongsam, an embroidered, slim-fitting frock that's usually made red for weddings, red is a symbolic color for China, because red is a strong, lucky color in Chinese culture. The next dress, the bride would get into a white fluffed ball gown that wouldn't look out of place at an American wedding — a bridal nod to the popularity of Western trends and western visitors. Finally, the bride ducks out of the reception to change into a last dress, this one a gown of her color choice or a cocktail dress.
The painting of the brides hands has been tradition for many years in I...
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... between the bride and groom's families. Zulu brides start the day in a Western white wedding dress, but change into traditional tribal clothing after a church wedding. In a traditional ceremony, the groom's family slaughters a cow to welcome the bride. The bride places money inside the stomach of the cow to symbolize that she is now part of the family.
A tradition I thought was rather funny was this of the Pakistani men have to pay up if they want to keep their shoes. After a Pakistani wedding, the couple returns home for a ceremony called the "showing of the face." The family and friends hold a green veil over the couple's heads and a mirror as the bride removes the veil she wears throughout the wedding ceremony. While the newlyweds are conversing and gazing at each other, the bride's female relatives take the groom's shoes and demand money for their safe return.