Black Wedding / White Funeral: WHY NOT?

Black clothes for a wedding.

White clothes for a funeral.

That's not right, or can it be?

Ever wonder why not? Why not wear black to a wedding? Why not have a brighter funeral? Yes, someone died but what if that's your dear, dear grandmother? Would you WANT to have a gloomy old funeral?

NO.

So why not spice it up a little? Why not bring in some color in your dress?

Wedding in Color

Weddings don't have to be a pure, innocent, untainted white. You don't have to still pretend you are Queen Victoria who got married in white in 1840 and basically set a permanent trend.

But that's the thing. There is no such thing as a "permanent trend". Besides, people in Scandinavia apparently wore black wedding dresses before the Victorian era and people elsewhere wore wedding dresses of different colors.

Today, why still wear white? It's not the frickin' Victorian era, people! (Lori Mae Hernandez's audition reference).

What if someone wants a goth wedding? Well, white doesn't really match well with that now does it?

Funeral in Color

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying black or white are not colors to be reckoned with. They are...something. Black is the exclusion of all color and white the inclusion of all color simply put. You could say white is infinity color and black is...something.

If you have ever, EVER thought about your own funeral, you might really want to consider assigning a dress code otherwise every single living soul (even the neighbor's cat) is going to come in black.

If I'm dead, and watching over this funeral from heaven, I think even I would be depressed if everyone wore black to my funeral. Think about it. Just imagine everyone you love, dressing in black.

Black is associated with lots of sinister and gloomy things. A spooky night, the unknown, black holes, ditches, bottomless pits, black cats...although black cats aren't supposed to be evil or bad luck.

I would want the people I left behind to smile. Not because some of them are gonna get my money but because they know that I am at peace (if I die peacefully. If it's an accident, yes, be gloomy because I will, too.)

Get this: the reason we wear depressing black to a funeral is the Victorian era's fault again. In the 1500s in Spain and also before the French Revolution, people wore white. Widows, especially it seems. But then comes the Victorian era. I like the Victorian era but please, black???

And because the U.S is a copycat of the U.K, black at a funeral became a THING.

No one seems to like to talk about the possibility of wearing other colors to a funeral.

Darn.

And look at all these rules!

At my funeral, I'll tell people the rules are: No skimpy, revealing outfits and no dark colors but men must wear suits (because colored suits are just no.)