Some wedding lore makes me laugh...

While double-checking the symbolism of certain wedding flowers, I stumbled upon this very funny Old-World rhyme about the color of a wedding dress. Way long ago, white wedding dresses were a sign of being fabulously wealthy, and not every woman could get her hands on a white dress. At the Morris Museum, where I recently gave a lecture, their historical wedding gowns on display showed bright emerald green dresses from the 1800s, sapphire blue dresses...and even today's bride might choose a dress with a touch of color to it. Top-name designers are showing pink dresses, sage green dresses for organic weddings, lilac dresses, metallics and brights. With modern fashion trends in mind, how funny is it to see a poem like this one:

Married in white, you have chosen alright.
Married in green, ashamed to be seen.
Married in red, You will wish yourself dead.
Married in blue, you will always be true
Married in yellow, ashamed of your fellow.
Married in black, you will wish yourself back.
Married in pink, of you he'll think.

Of course, we know that cultural weddings often call for gorgeous red wedding dresses, and it would be a bit dramatic to think a bride is wishing herself dead!

It's quite funny to look back on the role that superstition and 'what's proper' played in weddings of olde, and aren't we lucky that we can choose a gown of color if we want to?