For decades it was one of society's biggest taboos: the bride with the baby bump having a shotgun wedding.And of the avant-garde brides who would admit to being in the family way, few of them, if any, would have dared walk down the aisle in a cheap wedding dresses 2013.But times, it would seem, are a-changing. Last year, an estimated 20,000 brides in Britain were pregnant on their wedding day, accounting for 10 per cent of all first-time brides under the age of 45.
And if soaring sales at maternity bridal boutiques are anything to go by, more pregnant women than ever are opting to wear a traditional white dress. One person feeling the benefit is Tiffany London, founder of Tiffany Rose - a website selling wedding dresses solely for pregnant brides. She has seen sales of her range of maternity wedding bridesmaid dresses, ranging from £135 up to £369, soar recently, reaching sales of 1,000 dresses in 2008 alone - 50 per cent up on 2007."It's been amazing to watch our maternity bridal range take off," she said. "We've seen a steady growth in over the last few years, and it's still growing. It's really a reflection on our society: we're much more open-minded than we once were." Most of the brides are aged between 25 and 29, say the figures from the Office for National Statistics, and are around three to five months pregnant on their wedding day.
"A few years ago you'd have struggled to find a designer flower girl dresses. Now, you can find one easily - and people are much less embarrassed about wearing one."The dresses are specially tailored to accommodate the baby bump, and designers are trained to estimate how much a bump will have grown by the big day, with extra fabric added into the dress to help with adjustments if a bump grow faster than expected.
Spring is here, which means many of us will be spending all of our weekends for the next four to five months going to wedding after wedding after wedding. When you’re an adult, weddings are the closest thing to high school proms or homecoming dances. Unless you’re a socialite who attends charity balls on a regular basis, weddings are one of the only times we get to put on a pretty ivory flower girl dresses and go dancing! But what to wear? Over on Fashionista, commenters are going wild discussing whether female guests can wear white. It’s long been a rule that no one but the bride should wear that color; however, some schools of thought say that rule is no longer relevant. Keep reading to hear what Peggy Post of the Emily Post Institute, along with various wedding authorities, has to say about wearing white when it’s not your wedding.
Peggy Post, the director of the Emily Post Institute and a columnist at Good Housekeeping, wrote in that magazine: “Yes, you can wear white, just as long as it doesn’t look remotely bridal.”Dear Sugar believes that wearing a formal dresses with a hint of white in it is fine, but nothing should compete with the bride’s gown.58bridesmaid.com responded to a question from a reader concerning her fiancé’s mother wanting to wear white to the wedding and the bride being against this. According to the website, the bride wins: “white, which traditionally has symbolized youth and purity, is worn only by the bride. That goes for ivory, cream, off-white, linen and all other pale variations.”
We think there are too many factors to consider to give a solid yes or no. If the person whose wedding you’re attending is a real stickler for tradition, then it might piss her off if you wear a dress in a matching shade. However, if she’s a modern woman and your dress doesn’t resemble a prom dresses in the least bit, then go ahead and wear white. Just know the bride’s grandma is probably going to be talking about you at the bridal party brunch the following day.
They were worn in ancient Greece because white was a color of celebration.In 1840, Queen Victoria of England raised eyebrows when she wore white for her marriage to Albert of Saxe-Coberg. White wedding gowns were uncommon at the time, and her choice was a sign of wealth rather than a proclamation of virginity or moral purity.But somewhere along the way, as the ball gown wedding dresses became widely popular, it went from fashion statement to moral statement.
In the 50th anniversary edition of the "Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette," first published in 1952, authors Nancy Tuckerman and Nancy Dunnan wrote that a pregnant bride "must not walk up the aisle in a traditional wedding dress,if her pregnancy will be very apparent. To do so is quite poor taste, considering her condition, and would probably be interpreted as an act of defiance or rebellion on her part. If the wedding is planned for so far in the future it's certain she'll be noticeably pregnant, she and her fiance can cancel their original plans in favor of a smaller, less formal wedding at an earlier date. She may still wear a toddler flower girl dresses if she wants to, although a pale color would be more appropriate than all white."
This view is a reminder that there is still a stigma attached to the conception of children out of wedlock. It suggests that to show proper shame for such immoral behavior, a pregnant bride should don a colored wanweier wedding dresses to acknowledge her impurity and, while she's at it, have a low-key ceremony so it doesn't appear that she's flaunting her immorality. It was white-maternity-bridal-dress drama that caused Mrs. Iverson to start 58bridesmaid.com and to design white frocks as part of her collections. She was pregnant during her wedding in 2004 and had difficulty finding a white bridal gown that fit.
