A recent exhibition presented by the Berkshire County Historical Society at Arrowhead highlighted the wedding customs and traditions that still echo today.( Anastasia Stanmeyer and courtesy of Berkshire County Historical Society)
Weddings Through Time
Through the early 19th century, a bride didn’ t need to buy a white dress to walk down the aisle in; she often wore her finest dress, along with a few pretty accessories. Sometimes, the bride’ s dress was made by her mother. Or, the bride wore her mother ' s dress, which had been passed down through generations. After Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’ s wedding on February 10, 1840, the trend changed from wearing one’ s best dress to wearing a standalone white wedding dress. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, on the day of her wedding, Queen Victoria stated she would make her vows as Albert ' s future wife and not in her role as the monarch. She chose to wear a white satin court train, bordered with orange blossom— a symbol of virtue and fertility— instead of the crimson velvet robe of state. The visual ideal of the bride clad in pure white spread quickly, largely due to the rise of
print media and newspapers and their coverage of society weddings. Commercialization also had a hand in this new trend. Adverts, fashion plates, even Valentine’ s Day cards sold the image of the white dress and lace veil as a model of romantic propriety and purity spread. As a result, if a bride was marrying for the first time and could afford it, a white wedding dress became the norm.
Queen Victoria ' s original choice of white was as much about practicality and patriotism as it was purity, according to the Victoria and Albert Museum. As head of state, she wanted to support and stimulate Britain ' s lace industry, which was being threatened by machine textiles. She chose a large piece of handmade Honiton lace, and white was the best color to showcase this.
A recent exhibition presented by the Berkshire County Historical Society at Herman Melville’ s Arrowhead, Marriage and Memory, explored the local roots of wedding traditions and customs that still echo today. It included several dresses, accessories, wedding invitations and guest books donated to the historical society from Berkshire families.
Even when a family had money, brides often still wore their mother or grandmother’ s dress, according to historical society curator Erin Hunt. One standout dress in the exhibition was worn by three generations of brides, from 1872 to 1922— and each bride made the dress her own. That original dress, made of organdy and lace and worn by Mary Stuart Field for her Stockbridge wedding in 1872, was worn by the bride’ s daughter, Julia, in 1900, and Mary’ s granddaughter, Averill, in 1922. In photographs, Averill styled the dress with a white flapper-style headband to bring the look into the 1920s.
The exhibition also highlighted the changing styles in weddings through the years. Lace has long been a staple of wedding attire, and in centuries past, it adorned white handkerchiefs and, of course, bridal dresses. Hunt says that through her work with the historical society, she’ s come to appreciate lace and all the work that went into creating a lace design by hand, as it was in the past.“ I feel like it ' s something that we take for granted now,” she says.“ The work that went into this and some of the beautiful designs are really pretty great.” Also on display was a blue shoe dating back to a 1776 wedding, made of silk, leather, brass and glass. The blue silk was adorned with red embroidered flowers; a buckle with glass bead accents that still shine; and a gold leather heel. It looked straight out of a painting from the Rococo era. Wealthier families often had weddings at their estate. Smaller weddings could be held at the parents’ house. Although choosing wedding venues has become increasingly popular since then, the Berkshires is one place where many weddings are still held at a family member’ s home, according to local wedding planners. Where many of today’ s weddings incorporate new practices, looking through history to see the parallels in what traditions have remained, like getting married at home, in lace-adorned dresses, and with loved ones by the couples’ side, gives an insightful look into the longstanding ceremonial aspects of weddings.“ All together, they do tell a story,” Hunt says. n
— Elise Linscott Gladstone
50 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE Holiday 2023 2025