Reasons to Wear a Veil For Your Wedding -

There are many reasons to wear a veil for your wedding! You will have many headpiece / hair accessory choices for your wedding day because, let’s face it, there are no rules anymore, and as far as wedding fashion is concerned, anything goes.

But why not consider a veil for your wedding? The wedding veil has a long and illustrious history, and there’s no way to make a greater statement as a bride than wearing a wedding veil.

Reasons why you should consider wearing a veil for your wedding.

1. Veils are slimming.

The volume created by the veil makes your figure look slim and elongated.

2. Veils are just plain elegant.

The minute you put the veil on you will feel like a combo of fairytale princess and glamorous movie star. How often will you get to have this feeling?

Veils are the perfect frame for your gorgeous wedding makeup and hair. For more information on getting gorgeous wedding day makeup and hair, see my wedding photo gallery.

Imagine the romantic photo ops with this sheer fabric over your face, and the heavenly cloud of fabric surrounding you and your groom!

3. Veils are timeless, classic, and nothing says BRIDE more than a veil.

Why not take your wedding day look to the next level. Yes, you really are a bride now. The veil is magical!

There are so many reasons to wear a veil for your wedding.

The history and meaning of the wedding veil.

The wedding veil dates back throughout history. Don’t forget that the bride had to be delivered chaste, and the veil symbolizes wrapping her up and delivering her as an unspoiled gift. Also the veil sort of kept the bride “veiled” from evil spirits.

Most religions required a head covering of women as a sign of reverence, so a wedding veil was a version of that.

gorgeous bride with a sheer veil and beaded wedding gown. Another reason to wear a veil for your wedding

When did brides start wearing wedding veils?

I see a roman statue of a “vestal Virgin with a veil. The veil did come to represent virginity throughout the centuries.

Here is 15th century French queen Isabeau with a veil and crown, looking strikingly contemporary.

French queen Isabeau with crown and veil, showing that veils were around in the 1400s. — *French queen Isabeau with crown and veil.*

I researched this and found that during the 17th and 18th centuries wedding veils had become popular, but then became unfashionable when other hair ornaments appeared.

Queen Victoria brought the veil back into popularity when she wed Prince Albert in 1840.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at their wedding in 1840. Queen Victoria wears a white dress with veil. Another reason to wear a veil for your wedding

What does wearing a wedding veil symbolize?

Throughout history the veil came to symbolize chastity, modesty, and obedience.

When white wedding dresses evolved to symbolize chastity, the white veil followed suit. Queen Victoria popularized the white wedding dress.

You can see that as early as Roman times the vestal virgin wore a veil.

Roman sculpture of vestal virgin. She is wearing a veil which symbolizes chastity early in history.

What can a bride wear for her wedding instead of a veil?

Flower Crown. So nice to see this boho fashion regain popularity.
Wide-Brim Hat. A wonderful nod to the 60s and 70s.
Hair flower or fascinator with birdcage veil
Hairpins and jeweled hair pieces: a nod to the Great Gatsby.
Headbands. Another nod to our 70s boho roots.

bride has a flower crown instead of a traditional bridal veil for her wedding — *Bride wearing boho inspired flower crown.*

Nowadays you can wear what you want, because, as you know, anything goes! But there are so many reasons to wear a veil for your wedding

A veil is so steeped in history and tradition and takes your wedding day elegance to the next level!

A short History of the veil

As you can see below, the headpieces that the veil attached to mimicked the style of hats that were worn during the same time period.

The 1920s veil was a cloche, and the late 30s headpiece sat straight up and formed a “halo” around the head, like hats of the day.

bride and groom from 1912 — *A wide, elegant headpiece is being worn by this bride, my grandmother, from 1912.*

1920s bride with long veil and "cloche" style headpiece — *1920’s bride with “cloche” style wedding headpiece.*

photo of 1930s bride with long train and cathedral length veil — *Late 1930’s bride*, my Auntie Ella, with cathedral length veil and upright “halo” headpiece.

The 1940s headpiece was undulating, and echoed the shape of the hair in front.

The 1950s bridal headpiece mimicked the head-hugging half hat of the era, which was really like a crescent shape.

1940s era veil with long flowing veils and undulating headpiece. — *WWII era bride with undulating “Little Bo Peep” style hat, which followed the lines of her high hair in front.*

1950s era bride with fingertip bridal veil for her wedding. This elegance is another reason to wear a veil for your wedding — *1950’s bride, my mother in law, with fingertip length veil and crescent shaped “half” hat.*

The 1960s veil complemented the high spiritedness and high hemlines of dresses from that era. The 1980s saw a return to voluminous fabric and miles of yardage for cathedral length veils and trains.

1960s bride with fun floral veil and short dress — *Fun, high-spirited 1960’s bridal look*.

Princess Diana with ultra long train and cathedral length wedding veil. — *Princess Diana’s wedding day dress and veil epitomized the excess of the 1980’s.*

I hope you enjoyed this article about the history of the wedding veil. Whether or not you choose to wear a veil on your wedding day, I hope you gained some clarity to help you in your wedding planning.

As always, if you have an idea of something you would like to see in another blog post, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

photo of makeup artist Stacy Lande — Hi there! My name is Stacy Lande, and I am a Los Angeles based hair and makeup artist. I am in love with the vintage style, and have been transforming women into the most glamorous versions of themselves for weddings, events and photo shoots since 2009.