My best friends……Do the Bustle!

Do the Bustle!

What is it about a wedding dress that is so seductive? I mean, I’m not even the bride, I have never fantasized about (potentially) my own wedding dress yet, going into the three boutiques that Marina had chosen was really…well…exciting.
I wanted to try on all the dresses, but naturally had to settle for the role of chief cheer leader, under the watchful eye of Marina’s mum who somewhere under her spray St Tropez fake tan believes that Marina and I are still only 14.

Marina was in her element. Every fantasy you could wish for Elizabethan Marina; Georgian Marina; Ancient Greek Marina; Mermaid Marina; Lady Macbeth Marina; A-line Marina, column Marina, Prom Queen Marina, Princess Marina…my God I could go on. That was it we did go on. Marina’s Mum was fussing and weeping in equal measure and then telling everyone over (and over) again about her own dress which apparently used the best French lace and was exactly like the one worn by Grace Kelly when she married Prince Rainier.

Anyhow, did you know that we owe the tradition of the white wedding dress to good old Queen Victoria who married her beloved Albert in the aforementioned shade? It was also at this marriage that bridesmaids for the first time carried the Quenn’s wedding dress train kicking off yet another tradition.

The wearing of whiter shades of pale is a symbol of innocence but because these pale shades are impractical, weren’t always the colours of choice. Did you know that Blue, associated with the garb of the Virgin Mary, was another a strong symbol of purity? It also symbolized fidelity and eternal love (hence the popularity of the sapphire in engagement rings). Brides who wore blue believed their husbands would always be true to them, so even if they weren’t wearing a blue frock, they would be sure to wear something blue about their person, which of course is another tradition that has survived to modern day.

Actually, there’s an old poem about wedding dress colours that I unearthed in my ongoing NVQ of bridesmaiding. It goes like this:
“Married in white, you will have chosen all right. Married in grey, you will go far away. Married in black, you will wish yourself back. Married in red, you’ll wish yourself dead. Married in blue, you will always be true. Married in pearl, you’ll live in a whirl.

Married in green, ashamed to be seen, married in yellow, ashamed of the fellow. Married in brown, you’ll live out of town. Married in pink, your spirits will sink.”