The Elizabethan era (1558-1603 CE) was a golden age in English history, characterized by the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and the rise of England as a major European power in politics, exploration, trade, and the arts. The bride and groom did not wear special wedding clothes, but were required to wear their best clothes, typically made from flax, cotton, and wool. The wedding ceremony was a big bash with loads of guests and a huge cake.
Brides could wear any color for their wedding dress, and white-colored gowns were not popular until the 19th century. The middle-class bride would wear her best gown and kirtle, and if she could afford it, she could sew a new dress. Wedding gown styles were full-length and covered most of the body except where it had a plunging neckline. The wealthy made their gowns with luxury fabrics, and brides could wear any fashionable or current color and cut.
The Elizabethan era also saw the emergence of new colors, such as natural, puke, orange-tawney, watchet, and lions, which were popular among King Edward VI.
Elizabethan marriages were legal at 14 and 12 years old, with parental permission. The corset marked a shift in clothing and tailoring, as the body conformed to the fashionable shape of the clothing worn. The white wedding dress was more prevalent during the Regency era, with religious beliefs playing a significant role in determining the color of a bride’s dress. Men’s fashion during the Elizabethan Age was redefined, with lighter, more athletic clothing designed to show off a narrow waist. The bride did not wear a white wedding dress, instead opting for her best gown and kirtle (petticoat), usually in red, blue, green, yellow, grey, or black. The bride and groom did not wear special wedding clothes, but both were required to wear their best clothes. The Elizabethan period featured low-cut, square necked gowns, elaborate lace ruffs, and various sleeve styles. White gowns did not come into fashion until Queen Victoria in the 19th century.
📹 The History Behind Bridal Traditions Still Practiced Today
The tradition of two people joining together in matrimony is a tale as old as time – you get married, you throw a party, and you live …
Did Elizabethans marry for love?
It was a way for families to get property, money, and friends. But marriage wasn’t just a business deal. Elizabethans believed love was important in a good marriage.
What was expected of a bride in Shakespeare’s time?
In the Elizabethan era, women had to give their husbands money or other things. A dowry was money, goods, and property brought to the marriage by the bride. It was also called her marriage portion. After the wedding, Elizabethan women were expected to run the household and have children. The law said a husband could do whatever he wanted to his wife. In the Elizabethan era, boys of 14 and girls of 12 could marry with their parents’ permission. However, it was unusual for marriages to occur at such young ages. Men generally didn’t marry until they were 21. Wedding ceremonies were arranged with the local church. Weddings were always religious. There were no courthouse marriages. The first step was announcing the wedding on three Sundays in a row. This gave the community time to object. No invitations were sent because everyone knew about the wedding. Wedding clothes were different colors. White was later added to the tradition, but yellow was not worn because it was a mourning color. Gifts were sometimes given, but weren’t required. The bride and groom would go from each family’s house to the church. This was a festive occasion with music. At the church, the ceremony was serious. After the ceremony, there was a big feast with exotic foods like peacock.
What did an Elizabethan wedding look like?
Wedding Procession. The bride and groom would leave their house and go to the church. This was a special event, and the procession would be accompanied by musicians. Once at the church, the ceremony would be serious. In Elizabethan times, everyone stood during the ceremony. Afterwards, the wedding party returned to their homes. The families of the couple sometimes had a wedding feast and were wished a long and happy life.
The Wedding Dress. The bride didn’t wear a white wedding dress. This was a later tradition. She would wear her best dress and kirtle, or a new dress if she could afford it. The gown covered most of the body and was full length. A cloak was worn as an outer garment. Velvet, satin, and corduroy were expensive, so the nobility wore them. Most brides wore clothes made from flax, cotton, and wool. Colors included red, blue, green, yellow, white, gray, black, orange, and tan. Corsets were sometimes worn, but other undergarments were rare. The bride wore flowers in her hair and on her gown. Girls could wear their hair loose before marriage, but had to hide it beneath a bonnet after. Wealthy brides wore jewel-adorned gowns and carried bouquets. They also had bridesmaids who wore similar dresses.
The Wedding Ring A wedding ring was a big deal for Elizabethans. It showed that a girl was ready to marry her husband and that a boy was ready to marry her. The ring went on the third finger of the left hand, just as it does today. People thought that women had a vein in that finger that led directly to the heart. Even people who know it’s not true believe it at weddings.
What color should the bride’s dress be in the Elizabethan era?
The bride wears her best dress and kirtle (petticoat) on her wedding day. Colors were usually red, blue, green, yellow, gray, black, orange, or tan. A wedding ring symbolized commitment.
What age did girls get married in the Elizabethan era?
In Elizabethan England, girls could marry at 12 and boys at 14, but it wasn’t common. If it did happen, it was usually for political or financial reasons.
What did brides wear in the 18th century?
Wearing white from head to toe was not common for brides until Queen Victoria’s wedding in 1840. White was a color for bridal dresses in the 18th century, but it was usually for accessories. A bride might have worn white shoes or a white fan. White millinery supplied these details for the bride, while black millinery focused on mourning accessories. A bride could choose any color or style for her wedding dress. Many colonial Virginia weddings happened in the morning and were held at the bride’s or her parents’ home. The bridal gown was an informal dress that could be worn after the wedding. This past holiday season, our mantua-makers from the Margaret Hunter Shop made a wedding gown for an 18th-century bride using tools, techniques, and materials from the 1700s. The gown was inspired by a 1769 portrait of Isabella, Viscountess Molyneux (later, the Countess of Sefton) by Thomas Gainsborough.
What did brides wear in the 1700s?
The white wedding dress has a long history. The white wedding dress came from the 18th century. Wedding dresses had always been in many colors, but in Europe of the 1700s, white was fashionable. Catherine the Great was not yet known as great when she married Peter in 1745. She wore a silver dress with silver roses and a silver lace cloak, and a diamond crown. In 1766, Princess Sofia Magdalena of Denmark married Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden in a silver and silk dress that still exists in the Museum of Swedish Royal History in Stockholm. I’ll add a link to the website. It’s worth a look. Even though most of the decorations were melted down in 1774, it is still decorated (Museum of Swedish Royal History). But to us, it’s the hips. They’re huge. She had to turn sideways to get through the door. There was enough room to hide a lot of things. Princess Charlotte married King George III of England in white with silver trim. But in Sir Joshua Reynolds’ painting, the bride isn’t the only one in white and silver. Her bridesmaids and guests look similar to me.
When did brides start wearing white in England?
The color white came from Anne of Brittany’s wedding dress in 1499. The white dress became popular with the rich after Queen Victoria wore a white lace dress at her 1840 wedding to Prince Albert. The term now also means the whole Western wedding routine, especially in the Christian religion. This usually includes a church service where the marriage begins, followed by a reception. The white wedding style got a big boost in 1981 when 750 million people watched Diana Spencer marry Charles, Prince of Wales. She wore an elaborate white taffeta dress with an 8-meter train. Mary, Queen of Scots, wore a white wedding gown in 1559 when she married her first husband. The tradition of a white wedding dress is commonly credited to Queen Victoria’s choice to wear a white court dress at her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840. Debutantes had long been required to wear white court dresses and long white gloves for their first presentation at court. Before Victoria, royal brides didn’t wear white. They wore heavy brocaded gowns embroidered with white and silver thread, with red being popular in Western Europe. During this time, European and American brides wore many colors, including blue, yellow, and black, brown, or gray. As people heard about Victoria’s wedding, they started wearing white too.
Who was allowed to wear purple in the Elizabethan era?
Did the Queen start the royal purple trend? Purple has been associated with royalty and wealth since ancient times. Cyrus the Great wore a purple tunic as his royal uniform. In Roman times, it was only for the Emperor. Some even punished people for wearing it! During the Elizabethan era, Queen Elizabeth I set laws that only her close relatives could wear purple. George VI, the Queen’s father, wore purple in his official portrait. The color also appeared in her own coronation 70 years ago. Why was purple chosen for royalty? Purple dye was hard to get because textiles could only be colored with natural dyes. To make purple, dye-makers crushed sea snail shells, extracted the mucus, and exposed it to the sun. The color was so rare and expensive that wearing it showed wealth. When did purple become more common? The first synthetic dyes were created in the 1850s, making the color much easier and cheaper to make. Mauve was the first successful synthetic color. Purple has come to symbolize many things, from spirituality to Cadbury Dairy Milk to the 1980s cult classic The Color Purple.
Did brides wear white in Regency England?
Were Regency wedding dresses white? Regency wedding dresses weren’t often white. Queen Victoria wore white for her wedding in 1840, making it popular. Yellow was a popular color for wedding dresses in the Regency era. Where can you wear a Regency wedding dress? A Regency wedding dress would fit in at a country house wedding, but they also work well in other settings. Katya says we can wear a Regency-inspired dress to a hotel, city wedding, cathedral ceremony, or manor house.
Add more opulence to your big day with these Bridgerton-inspired ideas.
How were females treated in the Elizabethan era?
These ideas formed the core of 17th-century English gender dynamics. During Shakespeare’s time and the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I, ideas about sex, gender, women’s rights, and femininity shaped theatre, stories, and performers. Women were also expected to behave in certain ways. Women were expected to be quiet and stay home. They were expected to get married and have kids. Queen Elizabeth I was an example of this. Acting was the opposite of those expectations. Female actors were seen as promiscuous. Women acted in street performances and other places, but all acting companies were made up of men. It was illegal for women to act on stage until 1661. Despite the bad reputation of acting and the growing opposition to the theatre from the Church, these all-male companies were seen as socially acceptable because they did not challenge the gender hierarchy. Only women were portrayed on stage, not men. These professional companies were often funded by the royal family, for example, The King’s Players.
Picture: Woodcut of Mary Frith smoking a pipe and holding a sword. Photo from Wikipedia Commons.
What did brides wear in the 16th century?
This sixteenth-century-style wedding dress was made of gold and purple silk dupion, printed in gold. The corset is top-stitched to show the bone channels and has piping at the neck and waist. It laces at the back and has a silk chiffon chemise and sleeve puffs with velvet ribbon and tags. The cuffs are in gold lace. The full skirt is worn over a bum roll and petticoat, made in the same way as at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-Upon-Avon. The complete gown, including the bum roll and petticoat, costs £3,500. Ask about other options. You don’t have to include a bum roll with period gowns or wedding gowns based on period shapes. However, padding will make a gown look right. These supports can be tiny pads worn at the back of the waist for a classic Austen gown, crescent-shaped hip pads for medium-sized eighteenth century skirts, or complete wrap-around pads for Elizabethan farthingale frames.
📹 The Strange and Absurd Rules Of Elizabethan Manners
England was the clear winner of the latter half of the 16th century. Flourishing under the reign of their industrious and stylish …
I am an old geezer and I remember back in the day we, as kids, were sent to classes at the Officer’s Club to learn dancing (which I hated) and basic etiquette. Because, god knows, there’s nothing more insufferable than a middle-class snob. My mom and grandmother were something of a walking encyclopedia regarding those rules they were taught as children. I haven’t been to a dinner party in decades where a fish course, you know with its own knife and fork, was served. Some of these rules of etiquette had really practical (for the time) reasons but others left me gobsmacked. I remember one rule my grandmother followed which involved not wearing platinum jewelry before 5pm. WTF?!
1) Please make a article about Emma Goldman! 2) I am half Swedish half Tunisian. In Tunisia usually after shaking ones hand; men put their hand against their chest/heart and women kiss their own hand as a sign of appreciation for the person they just shook hands with. 3) If you do go back to the Elizabethan era do not bring with you the Joe Cocker song “You can leave your hat on”.
Even in the US Army today when walking with someone of senior rank, the junior should be to the senior’s left and slightly behind. The Army claims it’s from when we wore swords so the senior could draw and fight if need be. I’ve personally always felt it was a hold over from days of old when the so-called masses stayed to the left of royalty and nobility.
It isn’t true that only royalty was allowed to wear fur. That’s ridiculous and surprising that the makers of this article didn’t realise such an obvious mistake. Perhaps they read that only ermine fur (white with black spots) was allowed to be worn by royalty and misunderstood this to mean all fur. What is the point of these history articles that aren’t fact-checked? Come across far too many obvious errors like this that make it seem like a robot is creating these
At 0:48, the picture on the screen is of Queen Victoria’s marriage, during the Victorian Era, not the Elizabethan. That’s a completely different time!!! Actually, now that I’m paying more attention to this, I will ssay that a lot of the pictures don’t match up with the correct time period. I love the content – it sounds super interesting. But man, couldn’t you get paintings from the actual Elizabethan Era? Wayyy too many pictures don’t make sense!
I downloaded this article to watch for when i had no data/wifi. Only reason i didnt delete it after 3 minutes was so I could write this comment. Does the creator realise that 90% of his pictures are at times hundreds of years from when queen Elizabeth 1st was on the throne? Did they litterally just google history in British and use any old photo??? Really poor.
“Manners Skool” for even poor 5-7 year old kiddos eh? If you were born poor throughout much of human history you were already proper screwed for life. In the 16th Century? That’s a big ask. Especially assuming- with modern medical knowledge- that you the parent and child survived to reach manners age. In the slums and poorer districts of Renaissance London the poor child had to first be one of the lucky ones and survive TB, Plague, Cholera, any number of rampant respiratory infections, Scurvy and a hundred other diseases that routinely killed. And don’t forget the aroma of the great unwashed everywhere. Very interesting article. I’d pet the dog or cat too! Banned from the upper crust, but they were probably better company.
Wow. That’s a lot of rules. I think some sort of manners school could be useful these days. I wonder what Meghan Markle would had think about doing a little jig before meeting and speaking to the Queen ? I would not be able to follow the rules nor wanting to if I were to be transported there right now…but I would be second class gal anyways 🤣😎👋👍
I would not last because I love dogs and sneaking them a little food and I would have been a pleb and peasant then and not thought about lol the irony is I’m poor but had a family with money once and in the 19 the century my family would have been doing the debutante and finishing school thing and me I’d have been a odd ball resisting that crap lol
I think a lot of people need manners today to know that when you’re at a dinner table you shouldn’t be scratching petting them animal ever. ☢️⚠️☣️⚕️🤧⚕️🤬🤦🏻♀️👀🤷🏼♀️ Proper table manners these are people that didn’t even believe in taking showers 👎🏼😳🥴🧼🤢🤡 when you look at the history of Europe how unsanitary they truly were very awful.
Here in Australia if you walk into some pubs or club, “The Club for all the. Community” where you can enjoy unlimited relaxation you must remove your any type of hat unless you are buying drinks for everyone and me i all ways remove my hat when ever i walk into a place where you need to sit and waiting, and me being born in the early 70s here in Australia manners was teached 100% and had to do church and prayers in school “some schools never did this” i never liked it as much (thanks mum) hehehe..
I’ve never realized how OCD people were back then. I don’t know why I haven’t thought of it before. They had to do so many things a certain way or else they were looked at differently. Who’s to say the person who came up with these “proper” rules wasn’t crazy OCD? You must have your arms this way, you take to hat off with the right hand and kiss you left because it’s closest to the heart. Right sides good, left side is bad, same with numbers and even and odds. Eerily close to all modern day OCD symptoms 🤷♀️
Personally I don’t think I would have called this a time where England became a super power. Much less the most powerful super power, I mean during the reign of Victoria you could say this. But during the reign of Queen Elizabeth they had a long way to go. I would say that they had started their rise, they finally had started to colonize the new world, and they beat the Spanish armada.
Manners…. you are supposed to be born with if you are in the”upper crust”and the ones in the lower class are supposed to be taught to, with me I just watched what others are doing or not if you don’t want to be a jerk you can have manners or good taste and some people don’t have good taste or not 🚫 it depends on how your family is or if you have money 💲💰💸
Sorry. A vid about the Elizabethan era with continual stock images of the late Victorian period? They are 300 years apart!! If you dont know the difference, you shouldn’t be teaching anything about history. Edit: 3:00 “Absolutely wear tails and make sure they’re even”?!?! That is 1920’s fashion!!! That’s it. Not even finishing this article.