Wedding dress

A wedding dress is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony.

The origin of wedding dress dates back to when Christianity spread to Europe in Roman times. The wedding ceremony was held in the church and a bride wore a wedding dress.

The veil worn by a bride originally symbolized the bride's virginity, innocence, and modesty. The veil can be traced back to ancient Roman times when it was a complete head-to-toe cover. It was later used as her burial shroud.

In ancient times, the traditional color of bridal gowns was red.

Green has long been a symbol of fertility and in the 1400s was the preferred color of choice for wedding gowns.

During the American Revolution, many brides wore red wedding gowns as a symbol of rebellion.

When Queen Victoria married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe- Coburg and Gotha in 1840, brides of the time preferred bright colours. However, the queen surprised everyone when she wed in white lace — and began a tradition which continues to this day.

Queen Victoria re-wore her wedding veil on a number of occasions, including her funeral.

Portrait painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1847, of Victoria wearing her wedding clothes

Charlotte Brontë married her father's curate, the Reverend Arthur Nicholls in 1854. Charlotte wore a white muslin wedding dress with delicate green embroidery and a lace trimmed bonnet. It was said she looked like a "snowdrop".

Bereaved Victorian girls married in black bridal gowns.

Because Britain had not yet completely recovered from the devastation of World War II the then-Princess Elizabeth required ration coupons to buy the material for her wedding dress when she married Philip Mountbatten in 1947. The gown was designed by Norman Hartnell.

African American designer Ann Lowe made New York socialite Jacqueline Bouvier's wedding dress twice for her marriage to Massachusetts-born junior senator John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1953. A flood ruined the first ivory silk taffeta gown ten days before the date. Lowe hired extra staff to finish on time, barely avoiding bankruptcy. When asked who made the dress, Jackie said, "A colored woman."

When Lady Diana Spencer married Prince Charles in 1982 her wedding gown became one of the most famous outfits in the world. It was embellished with 10,000 pearls and a 25-foot train, which was badly crushed during the coach ride to the ceremony.

Wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer

The world's most expensive wedding dress was a £7.4 million ($12 million) diamond-encrusted creation designed by Martin Katz Jewellers and Renee Strauss. Adorned with 150 carats worth of diamonds, it was created for a bridal show in 2006.

When Mariah Carey married Tommy Mottola in 1993, her wedding dress was an ivory-silk duchess satin gown designed by Vera Wang, with a 8.25 m train and matching satin pumps.

Twenty-three years later, Mariah Carey got engaged to Australian billionaire James Packer. The wedding dress she planned to wear was a gown by Valentino costing $250,000. Later in the year, the singer broke up her engagement and she dramatically set her gown on fire in her " I Don't" music video.

Catherine Middleton's dress from her 2011 wedding to Prince William had a price tag of £250,000 ($434,000). Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen designed the classic gown, which had a 2.7  (8.8 ft) train and hand embroidered individual lace flowers.