In Christianity, the explanation of the bridal veil can be found in the Bible where St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 11:16) mentions that the married woman should be veiled as a sign of her devotion to God. Since marriage is a religious celebration, in the same spirit and for the same reason as in that text, the bride (“the veiled one” in Hebrew) had to wear a veil. She was not to reveal herself until she reached the bridal chamber. The symbol of purity and chastity was therefore strong: the veil was reserved for a pure young woman.
In 1840 that Queen Victoria launched the fashion of the white wedding. As a queen, the young woman should have worn red. But, defying tradition and to everyone’s surprise, she opted for a white satin dress adorned with lace, with a white tulle veil turning into a long train.
The young royal bride thus launched the fashion of the white wedding gown. More surprisingly, the color white was not chosen as a symbol of purity (a meaning given a posterior) but simply because the white satin enhanced the beauty of the lace. This use of white for wedding gowns then took the same symbolism as the bridal veil, that of purity and virginity, in 1858, following the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes. The young girl described how Mary, dressed all in white, presented herself as the Immaculate Conception.
Queen Elizabeth II revived the traditional bridal veil in the style of Queen Victoria: hers was 13 feet long and decorated with embroidery in the form of flowers and pearls. As for Lady Di’s veil, it still holds the historical record for the longest veil worn at a royal wedding, measuring nearly 40 feet!
Although the bridal veil is not mandatory today, it is still a common tradition for a bride to wear a veil in front of her face until the bride reaches the altar or until the vows are exchanged and the husband lifts the veil from her face in a gesture that completes the beautiful symbolism of the bridal veil.
(Adapted and editedfrom Aleteia)