You Are Cordially Invited Wedding Gowns and Communications.

You Are Cordially Invited

Wedding Gowns and Communications

Weddings are rituals and rituals are communications!

A ritual is a SYMBOLIC FORM OF COMMUNICATIONowing to the satisfaction people

experience through itsREPITITION

and it is acted out in a SYMBOLIC FASHION

over time.

The Wedding DressA costume

The Wedding DressSingle-

purpose article of clothing

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The Wedding Dress

Worn by the bride during the marriage ceremony



The Wedding DressWorn by

the bride during the marriage ceremony



The Wedding Dress Has huge

communications power QuickTime™ and a

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The Wedding Dress Has huge

communications power

Communications Aspects of Wedding Gown

Different from daily wear!

COMMUNICATES:Very Special

Occasion QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor


White has all sorts of Communications

PowerPurityVirtueWealth

Innocence of GirlhoodUnsullied heart

In 1849, Godey’s Lady’s Book said:

Custom has decided, from the earliest ages, that white is the most fitting hue, whatever may be the material. It is an emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one.

Wedding Gowns haven’t always been White





Nor are they white in all cultures

All Started with Queen Victoria’s Wedding in 1840

1840’s wedding of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxen -- HUGE INFLUENCE



Queen Victoria’s Dress Gave Us White

Married in white,You will have chose all right.Married in grey, You will go far away.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 sprits will sink.

Industrial Revolution brought about change.

By the 1890’s there were:

DEPARTMENT STORES Everyone could access a wedding dress

A number of women’s magazines.

White become the official color.

More prosperity

Not Every Bride Wore White

Frontier brides Wore more practical dresses that could be worn after the wedding

Wedding Gowns Became More Elaborate As Decades Wore

on Edwardian brides took traditions of their Victorian ancestors to new EXTREMES.

WWI – extravagance halted.

Coco Chanel – POWERFUL FORCE.

Introduced the SHORT wedding dress in 1920’s with LONG TRAIN.



Edwardian brides took traditions of their Victorian ancestors to new EXTREMES.

WWI – extravagance halted





War halts extravagance in general.World War II Wedding Photo

WWII Wedding Photo.



Coco Chanel – POWERFUL FORCE.





Introduced the SHORT wedding dress in 1920’s

with LONG TRAIN.



Depression: Brides Got Practical

Brides made due with “best” dress for wedding.

1950’s – large wedding dream!




Famous bride of the 50s?



Wedding Shoes Communicate a Lot, Too.

Anglo-Saxon marriages, when father gave the bride to the groom, he handed him the bride’s shoe.


The groom touched the bride’s head with her shoe as a token of authority.


In France, the groom would rest his foot on his bride’s shoes throughout the wedding ceremony, to show his authority.

Abduction and Little Privacy

Groomsmen would help abduct the bride Wedding party would charge the bride for the garter because it was such a symbol of good luck

Wedding party would accompany the couple to their marital bed.

You Are Cordially Invited Wedding Gowns and Communications.

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