Does the bride have to wear a veil during her wedding ceremony? That depends on her religion as certain faith communities ask the bride to wear a veil while others do not. Read on to learn more!
Hey, John!
Thanks for answering my questions about all this wedding planning stuff. I appreciate the help!
OK, this might sound a little weird but I have a question: Is a bride required to wear a veil? The reason I ask is that I’m scared of veils.
When I was a little kid in Sunday School, Mrs. Myton told us this horrible story from the book of Genesis.
Jacob worked seven years for his uncle so that Jacob could marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel, whom Jacob had the Biblical hots for. Laban made his older daughter, Leah, wear an ornate veil, and snuck her into the wedding ceremony—which Jacob didn’t figure out until the next morning. That’s why I’m afraid of veils.
So, does my bride have to wear a veil?
–Connor, Confused in Cornelius, Oregon
Hey, Connor!
I am happy to answer your questions! This is a great one!
In short, no.
Let’s go back to the Biblical Jacob for a moment. According to experts, he was born in about 1791 years before the Christian era began.
The good news is that Judaism, the religion which Jacob practiced and is still practiced today, has a solution: the Bedeken ceremony. Before the wedding, the groom looks at his bride (to make sure she’s the right one) and then puts the veil on her. The veil allows the groom to concentrate on her qualities of character and her inner beauty and thus reminds him that marriage is a union of these two people in the spiritual and the physical realms.
How did the tradition of a wedding veil start?
No one is quite sure. We know that brides in Ancient Rome wore a veil to protect her from malevolent spirits seeking to harm her or diminish her happiness.
In other cultures, a wedding veil symbolizes the bride’s modesty and chastity.
Traditionally, in Catholic weddings the bride’s shoulders were covered by her dress or her sleeves or her veil as a symbol of her modesty, her desire to be humble, and as a sign of her purity.
Does the bride have to wear a veil now? No. She could wear a crown of flowers or a small bouquet of flowers or a tiara or nothing but her beautiful hair. It’s up to you two as to how to want your wedding to look!
If you have any other questions, please reach out to me.
Your friend in the wedding business,
John Shyne
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