Italian Wedding Attire

Italian wedding attire includes formal wedding gowns for the bride and iron in the groom's pocket. Photo by photo.nic on Unsplash.   Italian wedding attire includes a wedding gown and veil for the bride. Meanwhile, the groom wears a suit and tie and carries a piece of iron in his pocket.  

Italian Wedding Gowns

Traditionally, Italian brides wore a color other than white. In fact, brides in Tuscany wore a black dress with a white hat. Can't you see it now? So classy, so Italian! Meanwhile, brides in Venice wore two dresses. One formal gown for the ceremony, and an even more elaborate gown for the first dance with her new husband. Long ago, Italian brides chose the color green for their gowns. Green symbolized fertility and prosperity, making it the perfect color for a blushing bride. Not surprisingly, modern Italian brides primarily choose white. As such, it has become passe, even rude, to wear white as a guest to an Italian wedding. Now, it is the guests who can wear black, or any other color they choose, so long as it's not the color white.  

The Bridal Veil

Tradition holds that an Italian bride wear a veil. This custom dates back to ancient Rome, when arranged marriages rendered the family a bit anxious. To prevent the groom from backing out before saying his vows, the bride wore a veil which completely obscured her facial features until after the ceremony. Today, brides wear their veils in different ways. Some wear them open, while others choose to cover their faces until the kiss. No matter how they wear them, one fun southern Italian tradition is to apply a special formula to determine the proper length. This formula, based on the "length" of love the couple has enjoyed, dictates one meter in length for every year the couple were engaged. Another tradition involves the bride making a small tear in the hem of her veil. Italian brides believe this practice brings good fortune.  

La Giarrettiera

Translated, the garter. Like American brides, Italian brides wear a garter high up on one of their thighs. Dating back to the 14th century, Italian brides wear the garter believing that the lacy fabric brings them good fortune on their wedding days. In some regions, the bride removes the garter during the reception and tears it into small pieces. She hands these pieces out to guests in exchange for coins. In other regions of Italy, the groom removes the garter and tosses it into the crowd as a keepsake for one lucky guest. Absent a garter, the groom throws one of the bride's shoes to the crowd as a keepsake. One thing you will not see on an Italian bride is gold jewelry. Besides her wedding band, which she receives during the ceremony, gold worn on her person was thought to bring ill fortune. Instead, she wears something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and something she received as a gift, so long as it's not gold!  

Italian Groom's Attire

As I mentioned, an Italian groom wears a stylish suit and tie. In addition, the groom carries a piece of iron in his pocket. Traditionally, iron wards off the evil eye. The evil eye refers to the negative effects of those guests who harbor envy in their hearts. Without this iron charm, these jealous thoughts might poison a groom's happiness. Additionally, iron symbolizes the strength of the groom's commitment to his bride. Similar to the tradition of throwing the garter, during the wedding dinner the bride cuts the groom's tie into small pieces. These pieces are then offered to guests in exchange for money. ~Angela Magnotti Andrews