The Dress of a French Bride
The French have used long white dresses for hundreds of years. They are very fond of lace but also of emphasizing the beauty and charm of the individual woman wearing the dress. To the French, any woman - young or old, dark or light, freckled or fair, can be truly beautiful on her wedding day.

The very complex white dresses can trace to the wife of Napoleon III, the Empress Eugenie. Louix XII married Anne of Brittany in 1499, where she wore a full white dress. The white represents her purity and clean state as she comes to the wedding.

The Flowers of France
The traditional flowers in a French wedding would be orange blossoms. This comes from a traditional story of a gardener's flower who managed to get some orange blossoms for the French Ambassador to Spain. He was so pleased that he gave her a big dowry, and she was able to marry her true love. She wore orange blossoms to her wedding to show her thanks for a dream come true.

Flowers were often used to freshen a sometimes damp and dusty church. The fragrance would also help to drive away evil spirits.

Diamonds and France
King Charles VII of France gave diamonds to his fiance as a sign of his love. Diamonds have always been a symbol of wealth and eternity, but here they took on a romantic aspect as well - that he was willing to give something everlasting and important to his true love, to show he meant to be with her forever.

Love and Romance French style