I was reading "The Bridesmaid's Companion" by Valerie Berrios today (I realize I'm not a bridesmaid, but I figured there would be something to learn from it) and it's a really cute book! I recommend it to any bridesmaids or brides-to-be. In fact, I ordered one for each of my four bridesmaids. Anyway, in all my nerdy glory, I came across a really cool section of bride history. Here's what I read:
"The history of bridesmaids dates back to the Roman era, when the bride would travel to the groom's town or village accompanied by a group of similarly dressed women, a ruse to help guard her from robbers, bandits, and kidnappers. Other historians trace the origin of bridesmaids to biblical times. In the book of Genesis, Jacob's two wives, Leah and Rachel, are escorted to their wedding by handmaidens. The Romans eventually made it law for a marrying couple to have ten witnesses present at their wedding to protect them from misfortune brought on by evil spirits. The attendants were required to wear the same attire as the bride a groom in order to confuse the spirits who wished to bring harm to the newlyweds.
"The tradition of the couple and their attendants dressing alike continued well into the nineteenth century, as many people still believed that a couple could be cursed by ill-wishers on their wedding day. In later years, the number of attendants in a wedding party signified the family's status in the community. In essence, the more attendants you had, the wealthier you were. Today things aren't so gloomy-or materialistic. Now it's perfectly acceptable for a bride to have just one bridesmaid or two female attendants, especially if the wedding is an intimate one."
Pretty interesting! But then, any mentioning of the words wedding, bride, groom, or white sends me in a tizzy!
Hope everyone's having a wonderful day!
Love from SoDak,
The Future Mrs. Simmons
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