Wedding Underwear Traditions

British brides, traditionally, wear white or ivory as the colour for their wedding gowns and their wedding underwear.
This tradition dates back to the marriage of Queen Victoria, who wore a white wedding gown for her marriage to Prince Albert in the 1840’s, and it has been the most popular choice for brides in the UK ever since, but white is not always the first choice for brides from other countries:
Chinese Bride
Chinese brides traditionally wear a wedding dress and wedding underwear in red because red is thought to bring good luck. A traditional Chinese wedding is a very formal affair and has strict rituals to be followed, starting with the hair- dressing ritual and the tea ceremony, where the bride must serve tea to her in-laws and bow to the ancestral tablets. More modern Chinese brides would follow these steps, but then, possibly, change into a more western style white gown and underwear. It does not end there for the Chinese bride because once the wedding ceremony is past she changes into a formal daytime gown and to wave her guests away at the end of the evening she wears an evening gown, too. So for a Chinese bride, that would be 4 different dresses and 4 sets of wedding underwear.
Indian Bride:
An Indian bride will often wear a red sari for her wedding dress, which is made of one piece of material that can measure from 12-27 feet long. Worn with a choli, a short sleeved blouse, an Indian wedding sari is considered incomplete without a matching petticoat. Popular choices are Bandhani sari (tie dyed and handmade), Banarsi Sari (an exclusive silk) and Kanjeevarani silk sari (made from the finest silk with stunning tribal designs.
Spanish Brides:
A traditional Spanish bride wore a black wedding gown with, of course, matching black wedding underwear, accompanied by a black lace mantilla veil and was to signify her devotion, unto death, to her new groom.
Japanese Bride:
Japanese brides have been wearing the Uchikaki kimono since the 7th century. Usually made from silk, featuring heavy brocade, this kimono is a highly formal wedding dress, typically, in white. Two layers of wedding underwear is worn beneath the kimono, Hadajuban is worn next to the skin, to protect the silk kimono from perspiration, and Nagajuban, which is kimono shaped and worn to hide the body shape and to make the kimono appear smooth.
Many brides, many different cultures and customs, but, brides, the world over, take extra special care choosing their wedding gowns and their wedding underwear.