WEDDING ATTIRE
There are relatively few prescriptions about the garments the bride and groom wear on their wedding day. It is customary for both to wear white, as a symbol of the spiritual purification they have undergone in preparation for the wedding day. The bride and groom are supposed to be dressed both attractively and modestly, without undue expenditure or extravagance. In some traditions both are prohibited from wearing jewelry while under the chuppah, so as to emphasize that the wedding ceremony should not be concerned with visible signs of wealth but rather with the pure act of commitment.
Bride’s Attire
Jewish brides are required to wear a wedding veil. The veil plays a significant role in the day’s events, being the focal point of the bedeken, the ceremonial veiling of a bride by her groom, just prior to the performance of the marriage rites. (For more on the veil click here)
Groom’s Attire
Ashkenazi men may choose to wear a kittel during the wedding. A kittel is a robe made of white linen that a man traditionally wears during certain ceremonial events. In addition to his wedding, a man wears his kittel on Yom Kippur and during the Passover Seder; it is also customary for a man to be buried in his kittel, which serves as his shroud. The kittel is a symbol of purity and humility, and is worn over a suit of formal clothes. It is put on just before the man proceeds to the chuppah, and taken off immediately after the ceremony.
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