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June Brides - What Brides Looked Like in the Past

Updated on Jun 21, 2019. Originally added on Jun 09, 2016 by Kathy Pinna

June is wedding season thanks to the Roman goddess of marriage - Juno. Families believed when a couple married in June they would be blessed with happiness forever.

Marrying in June is a tradition that's lasted for centuries, and it seems, so has the wedding dress. Today, some variation of white - or ivory, ecru, or eggshell - is the most common color for a bride's dress in the West. In the East, red is considered a color of good luck and the bride's dress is most often a variation of the color.

Checkout these wedding photos of brides all taken before 1960, and see how wedding fashion has changed over the past 100+ years. When done, there are tens of thousands more wedding photos to discover.

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Weddings Dress Fashion over the last 100+ Years

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Lm Hahn
6 favorites
shared on 04/21/2016

Circa 1910?

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Photo of Stacy Blake Stacy Blake
58 favorites
shared on 02/02/2014

You tell us!

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Photo of Ward Hartmann Ward Hartmann
112 favorites
shared on 12/19/2015

Circa 1940?

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Photo of Ron Riedell Ron Riedell
5 favorites
shared on 08/10/2014

Circa 1900?

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Circa 1910s? Germany

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Julie Goyne
6 favorites
shared on 07/23/2014

1920s

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Mel King
15 favorites
shared on 04/09/2014

1910

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Ashley McCarraher
3 favorites
shared on 02/27/2013

Early 1950s?

I think that these brides and their gowns are more beautiful than most you see nowadays. Do you agree? Fashions have changed to reflect the fashion of the day. Seventy-five percent of bride's dresses now sold in the U.S. are strapless or sleeveless. But when Kate Middleton married Prince William in 2011, sleeves made a comeback - especially in the United Kingdom. Another "royal" influencing wedding dresses!

From the Middle Ages on, marriages - especially among the upper class - were considered more of a business or social alliance than a matter of romance. So what the bride wore often needed to be a reflection of the high status of the family. Furs, velvet, silk, and bold color were the fashion for centuries. Rich and luxurious, these dresses made the family look prosperous. In poorer families, the bride would simply wear her best dress - often her "go to church" dress.

Until Queen Victoria married in 1840, dresses were rarely white (some were even black). Stories vary as to why Victoria wore white - because of some beautiful lace she had? to honor a custom in her husband's homeland? - but once her wedding picture was published, it became the height of fashion to wear white as a bride.

Have photos that you'd like to see included? Share your photos or see photos weddings of 100 years ago on the next page.

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