Wedding Tactics

I just sat down to do my Trends on Tuesday research and decided on the VEIL as a topic. I typed in veil trends on Google, just to get myself started and wouldn’t you know, VEIL TRENDS is its own website! So I will use them as an example of the variety and stylistic trends found among veils this season.

Veils come short, medium and long in length and I will elaborate more on the names and intricacies of each style later in this post. Short veils are commonly called elbow length, medium is called just that, and long veils hang to your knees or even longer and are part of a train. Some veils have a separate layer of lace, called a blusher, which is designed to hang in front of your face at some point in the wedding ceremony. When and who covers and uncovers you is subject to ethnic and religious tradition as well as personal choice.

Some brides opt NOT to have a veil, and instead, choose from about seven million accessories. Accessories range from little hair clips that sparkle or have pearls on them, to feathers, little lace caps, crowns and tiaras. The possibilities are truly endless. And sometimes, downright hideous*.

The shortest veils, called a flyaway hit just above your shoulder and are best suited for day-weddings, wedding suits and simple sleek gowns. They are short and flirty and just a tad of a veil, perfect for the bride who really doesn’t want to get lost in lace.

Elbow and fingertip length are just as they sound. These lengths are most common because they are easy to find and very versatile. They are dressy and go with most gowns and wedding ceremony styles. It is generally considered more appropriate for evening weddings to have a longer veil.

(Ya’ll know I hate being all “it is usually considered more appropriate� … because I think wedding style decisions are intensely personal and rooted deeply in affordability and personal desire, so please forgive me for using this often angering terminology)

It is also very common these days to see a veil worn out of the back of the head, sort of emerging like a raging stream from the updo itself. While it might seem a little weird, personally, I think it is a style common right now because there is a movement from definitely having a veil to not typically having a veil. So the veil is sort of an afterthought, and more importantly, not in the bride’s face.

The choice to wear a veil or not is very personal and totally up to the bride. Or, in some cases, the bride and her mother or mother and mother-in-law. Some brides have less personal say in each matter.

Waltz, chapel and cathedral length are veils that extend below your knees, and up to three or more feet behind you. A cathedral veil is really only practical in a setting where you have a long aisle to walk down and you should be sure to have at least one attendant to monitor your veil as you enter and exit the ceremony.

This is just a lot of veil!

* An example of the hideous. This one reminds me of what the mother wore in the movie BeetleJuice.