THE British Royal Wedding is this Friday! After months of anticipation, Kate Middleton and Prince William will finally walk down the aisle, kiss on the balcony, and ride in a vintage car, waving to their adoring public.
Hundreds of fashion websites and blogs have been buzzing with guesses as to what Kate will wear to the wedding, what jewels will adorn her, even how she will wear her hair (will it be a tiara, or flowers?).

With all this talk about Kate’s wedding dress, and having attended a wedding recently, I began to wonder about different cultures and their traditional wedding gear.

White for a bride’s dress did not actually become popular until quite recently. Prior to the Victorian era (1837-1901), a bride got married in any colour dress, black being especially popular in Scandinavia.

In modern weddings, most brides will don a white dress and wear a veil. However, some will still get into their traditional gear at some point of the celebration – even if it is just for pre-wedding pictures!

Check out some of these beautiful traditional wedding gear from around the world.

Japa

Traditionally, Japanese brides wear an “uchikake”, a very formal kimono worn only by brides or stage performers.

Worn in either white or very colourful with red as the base colour, the outfit paints a picture of a demure and gentle bride.

Japanese

There are two choices of headgear. There’s the “watabshi” (a white hood) and the “tsunokakushi” (a rectanglar piece of cloth, which covers the bridal high topknot). The hood is supposed to hide the bride’s “horns of jealousy”. It also symbolises the bride’s intention of becoming a gentle and obedient wife.

Vietnam

The “ao dai” is Vietnam’s traditional dress, a tight-fitting silk tunic worn over lost-fitting trousers. A popular design worn by women in every-day use, as uniforms in school and some companies, and also for formal dinners.

Vietnam

For weddings, the most popular ao dai colours are red and gold, and the tunic part of the dress is intricately embroidered with images of the dragon, phoenix or lotus flowers. Oh, by the way, the bride and groom change gowns at least three times during the wedding.

A Vietnamese bride wears the ao dai with a traditional cone-shaped hat made from dried woven leaves or the more popular saucer shaped “khanh vanh”.

China

Although the tight-fitting cheongsam is a more popular version these days, the traditional costume or the “qi pao” was a lot less loose and more modest.

Meanwhile, in Southern China, women wore two-piece outfits called the “qun gua”. These traditional outfits were worn by women daily back in the day.

Chinese

During weddings, however, these outfits were adorned with elaborate stitchwork and other embellishments depicting images of the golden phoenix and the dragon.

The bride also wears a red veil on her wedding day; her groom can only see what his bride looks like on their wedding night.

South Africa

There are many different tribes in this region, but the Zulu tribe has quite a unique bridal costume, as shown by South African President Jacob Zuma and his wife Thobeka Madiba on their wedding day.

South Africa

The colourful costume consists of a leopard skin top, and women traditionally wear fully-beaded outfits. Oh but don’t worry, leopard skin is only worn by Zulus of elevated social status.