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Gothic Weddings
A gothic wedding doesn’t necessarily mean black lipstick and despair. You can create a gothic romantic ambience with dark colors and candlelight, with luxurious fabrics such as velvet, silk, taffeta and brocades. Your possibilities are as endless as your imagination. You can define what gothic means to you. By choosing creative locations, decor, dress, flowers, and colors, your wedding can take on a special meaning for you and reflect your lifestyle.
If you have dreamed of wearing a white wedding gown since you were a little girl, but also want to incorporate a gothic theme, black for bridesmaids is always appropriate and denotes a timeless elegance. Why not incorporate some Whitby Jet into your jewelry choices? Your family wants you to wear white, when you would really prefer black? Remind them that in many parts of the east, white, not black, is the color of death and mourning. And we all know what a white flag symbolizes.
Until Queen Victoria’s marriage in 1840, white wedding dresses were not the norm. Instead of purity, usually signified by wearing blue, white represented wealth and luxury. Victoria, that trendsetter, also was the first to have bridesmaids carry the gown’s train. The wedding of her oldest daughter in 1858 was the first to feature the now-traditional Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn.
Prior to the mid-1800s, a full range of colors were used for wedding dresses, with the wealthier families opting for bold luxurious fabrics encrusted with jewels that were part of the bride’s dowry. Black was often used since the wedding dress also had a dual purpose as the new wife’s Sunday church dress. Don’t get us wrong—we love the Victorian era, but traditions from the mid-to-late 1800s, don’t have to dictate your 21st century wedding ceremony.
Your bridal bouquet, an important and beautiful accessory to your dress, can also be gothy and elegant. Calla lilies may have a special meaning to you and are beautiful in bridal bouquets, but your dear Aunt Martha doesn’t have to know that they represent death. Of course, one of our favorites is the deep red Amaranthus, known as Love Lies Bleeding. (No symbolism there.) It looks particularly beautiful when combined with white roses.
Red poppies, always lovely, look bright and cheery but are also symbolic of death and were used to commemorate the soldiers killed in the first and second World Wars. Are you having your wedding on Halloween or Dia De Los Muertos? How about using orange marigolds in your bouquet? These are just a few examples. You can find your own meaningful symbolism without hitting your family over the head with gothiness. It’s all in the presentation.
Using darker jewel-toned colors such as burgundy or a deep rich purple for your bridesmaid dresses, flowers and decorations can be gothic, but also straddle both worlds. Have your ceremony at night dripping with candles and music of your own choosing. It’s not just gothic; it’s the romance inherent in a gothic aesthetic.
Are you a Perky Goth? Pink and black always work well together and can set a lighter tone, while still retaining a gothic ambience. Fetish or Industrial Goth? Why not incorporate a bit of leather or PVC into your attire—you don’t have to go overboard in order to retain your sense of self while also including “normals” in your ceremony. Usually the ceremony isn’t the place for whips and chains, and we suggest that you save that for the honeymoon. Cemetery Goth? Mortuaries do have chapels and often can be used for wedding ceremonies as well. And really, who wouldn’t want to arrive in a classic black hearse? Want to wear a gown like Dita Von Teese and a have a ceremony to match? That is certainly within the realm of possibility. You don’t need Vivienne Westwood to design your gown; you can find gorgeous dresses in a whole range of deep gothic colors through the glories of Internet shopping. Once you choose the core elements of your wedding design—theme, colors, and concepts—the rest of the wedding design will follow harmoniously.
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