Westernized White Weddings Aren’t the Only Weddings

Blah blah, white dress, blah blah, tuxedo, blah blah, limos, etc. While I’m all for white wedding dresses and Westernized traditionalesque traditions sometimes all those strapless necklines, peak lapels, tiered wedding cakes, and plantable wedding favors can get a little old. Yes, most Manolo for the Brides readers are American or Canadian or from somewhere in Europe where white wedding dresses are the norm, and white wedding dresses are now becoming the norm in countries where white is considered a color of mourning!

I say that while white wedding dresses (and all the other things that make a Western wedding complete) are a-okay in my book, I think we can all find inspiration in images of weddings from countries where brides prefer brighter hues. Here are some amazing examples:


Fusion wedding – via



Custom dress by Cassandra Bromfield


Indian wedding – via


Wedding in Bali – via


Chinese – Indian wedding – via


Wedding in Bali – via

4 Responses to “Westernized White Weddings Aren’t the Only Weddings”

  1. ChristianeF says:

    So pretty! I love non-Western weddings. I wish our tradition embraced multiple shades of wedding dress just a weensy bit more. I never wear white (or ivory or “diamond” or “bone” or whatever the latest “not quite white” is), I think it washes me out, plus I am forever dropping things on myself, so why would I wear white on the day I should feel the most happy and beautiful?

    *sigh* Sorry for the rant. And thank you for the lovely photos. :o)

  2. Blossom says:

    I wore a red kimono and loved it. Also our reception was very red. I love the clolour red its such a happy colour.

  3. Courtney B says:

    Sure, it was our second time around, but The Ooo Team didn’t do a western white wedding. We hiked up Bradbury Mtn. in Durham, ME with a notary and our parents. I wore a green sundress with my birks. He wore a blue shirt with linen pants. No diamonds either. My band is cheap silver; engagement ring is silver with a poem engraved on it. His is a thick silver band. We plan to have a huge party when one of our rings breaks from the every day wear and tear. We got the idea because one of the jewelry sales people exclaimed in horror “you can’t have a silver wedding band, it will wear out and break” when went to get my poem ring resized. We are looking forward to that day, many years from now, when our rings wear out and break.

  4. Twistie says:

    @ Courtney B: You could have a hell of a long wait for those rings to break! My mother’s sterling silver wedding band didn’t break in the more than thirty years she was married to my father, and it didn’t break in the three years I wore it on my right hand, and it hasn’t broken in the seventeen years it has served as my wedding ring, either. Oh, and my sterling silver frog prince engagement ring hasn’t even begun to lose any detail in the twenty years I’ve been wearing it every single day.