I always heard of the superstition that your groom shouldn't see your wedding dress before your wedding day and that also on the wedding day you're not supposed to see one another before you walk down the aisle. Luckily, I was able to fool my now-husband into never seeing my dress before the wedding day and also not seeing me before he needed to on our wedding day. If you're a bride who is struggling to keep your nosey man away in order to not "jinx" your wedding day, I've got some tips and tricks for you!
Store your dress at a secret location
Keeping your wedding gown at the place you're living is too easy of a location for your dress to be spotted! I found I needed to up the position to more than just the back corner of my closet – I needed to really put my dress in a location that would be hard to narrow down. For me, I ended up keeping mine at my mom's house, aka at the "seamstress" for months leading up to my wedding. My husband would NEVER go into my mom's closet, let alone think to look in there if it had been at the seamstress for only a couple of weeks!
Keep photos hidden
I know you'll have photos of your gown on your phone, and as tempting as they are going to be to show off, make sure the photos don't accidentally get around to your soon-to-be husband! Keep in mind who you send them to and if you post them on social media. Also, be careful when you're scrolling through your camera roll to show your spouse a photo! You never know when the photo will pop up and what they might see.
Part ways before midnight the day before your wedding
The superstition that the groom can't see the bride starts the second your wedding day begins right at midnight! Traditionally, this means staying at different places that you do not currently live in the night before your wedding. It's also a superstition that the groom can't enter the bride's home on the day of the wedding, so make sure you have everything you need before heading off to your venue!
Arrive at the venue at different times
Even if you do not have your dress on, seeing each other before the ceremony in any way is bad luck! The legend states that this was a way for the groom to not see his bride until she is at the end of the aisle, potentially deterring the groom from getting cold feet and cutting off the marriage. Arriving at the venue at different times ensures you won't accidentally run into one another before your ceremony!
Do a first look or walk down the aisle alternative
If you just can't wait until you're walking down the aisle to see your soon-to-be husband for the first time (whether it's to calm your nerves or you're just impatient), you can always do a first look! While it does break the superstitions, first looks have become very popular and also make for a sweet, special time at weddings right before the ceremony. The memories are priceless!
That's all for today's blog post! Come back next week as I share more of my wedding tips and tricks to help you prepare for your big day. Cheers!
Author's Note: This story is based off of the common legends/superstitions surrounding the groom not seeing his bride, the wedding dress, or his bride in the wedding dress before they are standing at the altar. The legend states that this originated from "the build-up to the lady’s unveiling at the altar possibly keeps the groom from getting cold feet and rethinking the whole matter." It even talks about the groom going as far as to have his back faced to the bride the entire time she walks down the aisle as to not see her until she is directly standing in front of him, making it really too late for him to bail out. While there is no proven stories that these superstitions cause marriages to fail, the groom not seeing the bride or her dress are practiced by the majority of couples today before their wedding day, even ones that cohabitate before they get married. For this story, I went back to the formatting of how I wrote my first story and did a blog post except this time directly from the bride on her own blogging site about tips and tricks to help other brides prepare for their wedding day. I kept it in first person and bride it up into five main takeaway points that all stuck to trying to find their way to not have the superstitions come to life on their wedding day. As always, I hope you enjoy reading along my modern take on wedding urban legends – enjoy!
Cover photo of wedding dresses – Taken by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash
Story based off of legends taken from Snopes.com, "Not Seeing the Bride"