Traditional Wedding Officiant Wear
Many of the major participants in a wedding choose their clothing according to traditions and ritual. For example, the bride often wears a white, formal dress and the groom may wear a tuxedo or a dress suit, depending on the time of the wedding and the location. Even the officiant chooses his or her attire based upon tradition and the desires of the wedding couple.
Other People Are Reading
-
Protestant Ministers
-
When a couple chooses to get married in a church, mainline Protestant ministers traditionally opt for either ministerial robes or formal church clothes for wedding attire. Many Protestant denominations don’t use robes, so a male officiant traditionally wears a dress suit and female officiants wear an attractive dress or business suit. Those who wear traditional religious vestments or robes may include a white stole to represent the purity of marriage and the love of the couple. Some may wear a white robe when performing weddings and black robes for regular religious services.
Catholic Priests
-
Catholic priests often wear the traditional black or white cassock with a stole or parament to match the cloths on the altar for both formal and more casual weddings. Some priests choose traditional ceremonial pastoral robes for more formal weddings.
-
Judges
-
If the couple desires a civil wedding, they can ask a judge or justice of the peace to perform the ceremony. The traditional attire for a judge performing a wedding is his or her judicial robe. Judges wear robes similar to those used in academic graduations. The robes seldom have any adornment or stoles.
Pagan and Wiccan Priestess
-
Pagan and Wiccan priestesses may also wear traditional ceremonial robes to officiate at a wedding, depending on the preference of their local group. If she wears the traditional satin or velvet robe for ceremonies, she may also wear a silver tie cord around her neck and silver religious symbols around her neck and wrists.
Naval Officiants
-
Some nations still allow the captain of a ship to perform a wedding as long as the wedding takes place aboard ship at sea. The captain traditionally wears his or her dress uniform for weddings. The captain would not add special adornments or insignia to perform the wedding.
-
References
- Photo Credit Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images
