Wedding Veils

An occasion on which a Western woman is likely to wear a veil is on her wedding day, if she follows the traditions of a white wedding. Brides used to wear their hair flowing down their back at their wedding to symbolise their virginity, now the white diaphanous veil is often said to represent this.
It is not altogether clear that the wedding veil is a non-religious use of this item, since weddings have almost always had religious underpinnings, especially in the West: in the Christian tradition this is expressed in the Gospel passage, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder" (Mt. 19:6). Veils, however, had been used in the West for weddings long before this. Roman brides, for instance, wore an intensely flame-colored and fulsome veil, called the flammeum, apparently intended to protect the bride from evil spirits on her wedding day.
The lifting of the veil was often a part of ancient wedding ritual, symbolising the groom taking possession of the wife, either as lover or as property, or the revelation of the bride by her parents to the groom for his approval.

Traditional French Wedding: CROQUEMBOUCHE CAKES!

Posted by Olivier -
Another French wedding tradition is the Croquembouche cake- Literally meaning “crack in one’s mouth” a croquembouche is a traditional French wedding cake consisting of puffs of choux pastry filled with a vanilla creme patissiere, held together with a delicious cobweb of caramel. Hum, I am hungry .... Although traditionally decorated with sugared almonds, most couples prefer the more delicate decoration of tiny fresh flowers, fine curls of ribbon, and of course, a web of spun sugar.
Spun sugar does not last well on wet and humid days, and turns into shiny droplets of caramel. Spiralled ribbons can achieve a similar effect to spun sugar and can produce a spectacular effect by using two or more colours. This croquembouche’s upright shape is suitable for smaller weddings.


This croquembouche can be displayed with a generous drizzle of dark chocolate and perhaps strawberries around the base, or chocolate glaze can be supplied ready for pouring instead of the traditional cutting of the cake.

SOURCE

little White Wedding History

Posted by Olivier Lalin -

From ancient times to the present, weddings have always been important religious ceremonies and social occasions. While some wedding traditions, customs, and fashions have withstood the test of time, our modern conceptions of weddings, particularly the white wedding, are primarily a 19th century creation.

The white wedding first became fashionable during the Victorian era, roughly 1840 to 1900, with the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. Before that time, it was quite common for a woman to wear the best dress that she owned, whatever color it may have been. At other times, a particular color was fashionable for wedding attire. Roman brides often chose to wear yellow, while women in the 16th and 17th centuries preferred pale green. It was not until the early 19th century that white became a fashionable color to wear at formal occasions. And it was not until white became fashionable as the color for a woman's wedding gown in the mid-19th century that it became associated with the purity and innocence we associate it with today. Even so, our modern concepts of white are quite different from the Victorians'. Thus, today we would consider "white" from this time period as more of a cream color.



After the inception of the white wedding in the mid-19th century, wedding fashions continued to change. While the continuity of the "white" wedding is apparent, each dress is unique and indicative of the fashion of its particular time. Each dress is also significant because of the women who wore it. Many of the dresses were shared among sisters or passed down from mother to daughter. So, while each is representative of a particular time period, they all reflect the continuity of marriage and the strong ties of family...
taken from Sumter County Museum


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