DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a close friend who is getting married, for the third time. In between her marriages, she has had lengthy relationships with other men. Related Articles Advice | Miss Manners: I uninvited a sick guest, and things got nasty Advice | Miss Manners: How does one give a wedding gift without a checkbook? Advice | Miss Manners: I need a script for these awkward conversations Advice | Miss Manners: When did ‘welcome in’ become the default greeting? Advice | Miss Manners: Can I tell my wife not to discuss bodily ills at the table? I’m OK with all of that, except for one thing: She is treating this third marriage and its ceremony as if it’s her first.
She is planning on wearing a traditional white wedding dress, despite the fact that she has two grown children from the other marriages. She has signed up for a bridal registry and is planning on having a lavish post-wedding celebration. Am I an old-school traditionalist, or is the meaning of the white wedding dress a thing of the past? GENTLE READER : Far in the past.
Big white dresses have been the uniform for all brides for decades now. Whether previously married, elderly, pregnant or surrounded by their children, they all don the uniform. And you know what? Miss Manners is not sorry.
After the white dress fashion was started by Queen Victoria, the idea got around that it symbolized virginity. But the vulgarity of reading the dress as truthful or not about the body inside was astounding. People — even.
