Source: Life Magazine

Americans are absolutely obsessed with weddings.  Numerous television shows are devoted to different aspects of the experience: where to find the perfect dress, the perfect cake, and even contests where couples compete against each other for some grand prize.  A popular show is TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress, where some dresses cost nearly $20,000. Assuming that the average bride wears her wedding dress for five hours… that $4,000 per hour of wear!  Wedding dresses aren’t the only thing engaged couples are expected to pay for.  Spectacular wedding venues, catered meals, soaring cakes, and lively music are all common place in today’s weddings.  Many aspects of weddings like the cake, weddings dress, and bouquets are thought of as traditional.  Even though we associate many components of weddings as traditional, most of them were created in the post-World War II (WWII) era.

Prior to WWII, weddings were simple and intimate affairs.  They were often held in family living rooms.  The meal shared after the union was prepared by the bride and some of her female guests.  Weddings were not thought of as the most important day of your life.  The union of two people was the emphasis of the day, not parties or material goods.  White weddings, with their fancy invitations, delicious sit-down meals, and grand cathedrals, were reserved for the elite social classes.  These weddings were a social event that was used as a status symbol.  These standards shifted after the war, when there was a notable rise in American consumerism.  Production during the war helped pull the economy out of the depression, and after a period of rationing, Americans were ready to spend money.  As noted in Karen M. Dunak’s book As Long as We Both Shall Love, the rise of media largely coincided with the rise of the white wedding vision.  Films like Father of the Bride served as a model for the new white wedding. The popularity of such films heavily influenced engaged couples about to be married.  This wedding emphasized the luxury of choice while also enforcing certain archetypes, such as white dresses and lavish parties. Weddings quickly turned into an individualistic celebration of the bride and groom.  Previously, wedding celebrations connected marriage with community.

Although weddings had become a personal celebration, many aspects have become the tropes of a White Wedding.  Many of these archetypes that we associate with weddings were born out of opportunistic vendors and industry (Dunak).  If jewelers could successfully reinforce the idea that the cut and clarity of your engagement ring is positively associated with how much your fiancé loved you, then they would successfully sell a higher quantity of expensive rings.  Shows like Say Yes to the Dress use a similar tactic.  Almost no dress shown on the show is under $2,000.  The managers of the bridal boutique often point out that two thousand dollars affords you simplicity. Even though this statement is false, the message is engrained in the minds of an entire generation.  Eventually go on to spend $2,000 or more on a wedding dress.  What we think of as traditional wedding components are a byproduct of adaptable vendors that recognized the rise of white weddings in popular culture and capitalized on an opportunity.