<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony . Color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants . In Western cultures, brides often choose white wedding dress, which was made popular by Queen Victoria in the 19th century . In eastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolize auspiciousness . </P> <P> Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people . They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries . Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes . Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light and befitted their social status, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony . Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics . It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk . Brides dressed in the height of current fashion, with the richest materials their families' money could buy . The poorest of brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day . The amount and the price of material a wedding dress contained was a reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests . </P>

When did the white wedding dress tradition start