If you've ever seen anything about a wedding, ever, you've probably noticed that it's not
uncommon for all the bridesmaids to be rocking identical dresses.
Bridesmaids have, for centuries, donned the same frock to stand by the bride's side on
one of the most special days of her life.
But with bridesmaid dresses now trending in the opposite direction, where did that original
tradition come from, anyway?
From evil spirits, to royal weddings, these are the reasons why bridesmaids all dress
the same.
"This is my wedding.
When I say 'taffeta,' you say 'what color?'"
The royal treatment
In an interview with The Independent, Lou Taylor, professor of dress and textile history
at the University of said the reason brides in the West often dress their 'maids in the
same thing is because of Queen Victoria's wedding ceremony in 1841, when her 12 attendants
wore "white off the shoulder fashionable 1840 dresses, with full-blown artificial roses
decorating their hair behind their right ears."
Now, typically in the U.S., only the bride wears white, but the tradition of the bride's
best gals wearing the same dress stuck around.
Who wore it best?
In The Independent, Taylor said that one of the reasons Queen Victoria probably chose
to have all of her bridesmaids dress identically, was because there would then be no way that
bridesmaids could outdo each other — or the bride!
"I have eleven bridesmaids.
I know if I leave it up to them, it probably won't get done, or it won't get done right."
If all of your bridesmaids are dressed in the exact same thing, you don't have to worry
about conflicts arising from the process of having them choose their own dresses.
Wedding planner Tasheea Nicholson says, "Having the bridesmaids in the same dress minimizes
the additional decisions for the bride, as well as what I call 'dress envy.'"
"Holy s--- you look amazing."
Too many options, opinions, and details can make picking out bridesmaids dresses more
than a little bit heated.
Shalyce Tyson, owner of Sensational Soirees says, "At times, selecting different looks
can cause friction among the ladies when one bridesmaid has the neckline another bridesmaid
wants, or another has the dress length another prefers.
Too many opinions can lead to many headaches, so uniformity generally keeps the peace."
But that isn't the only reason bridesmaids have traditionally dressed alike.
In fact, the tradition has its roots in straight-up ghostbusting.
Warding off evil
"Boo!"
[Scream]
In an interview with Brides Magazine, Hanne Bank — author of Virgin, the Untouched History
— said that, originally, the bridal party dressed identically to the bride as a way
to protect the couple from evil spirits.
The idea was that the spirits would get confused about exactly who was the bride... and just
leave everyone alone.
As Reader's Digest reported, via MSN Lifestyle, in Ancient Rome, there was even a legal requirement,
which mandated that each wedding have ten attendants or witnesses present, each dressed
in the exact same color, for the same purpose: keeping the bride safe from evil spirits.
But, according to Racked, it was also to discourage kidnappers that might want to steal the bride
away from her own wedding ceremony.
And that could mean anyone: ex-lovers, secret lovers, disgruntled family members, or the
family nemesis.
As Reader's Digest reported, that's also why the bride stands on the left side — so that
the groom's sword-fighting hand is free to fight off intruders.
To match or not to match?
Brides themselves can feel the pull of tradition when deciding what to have their bridesmaids
wear and end up insisting that they all wear the same dress.
Anne Churchill, owner of AnnaBelle Events, says, "[An] entire bridal party in the same
dress is the norm and what we expect.
It works, so why reinvent the wheel when the couple already has another 100 items on their
to-do list?"
Whether family members are insistent that the tradition matters or the bride feels that
way herself, identically dressed bridesmaids are still traditional in many U.S. weddings.
While lately there's been a trend to mix that up a bit — and there are even ways to make
sure your bridesmaids wear the same dress but still don't match exactly — it's not
likely that the tradition of matching bridesmaid dresses is going away for good anytime soon!
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