The idea that a white wedding dress symbolizes purity or virginity could almost be called an urban legend. The white dress is a fairly recent tradition that is most often credited to Queen Victoria. When she got married in 1840, she wore white not to symbolize purity, virginity or innocence but to symbolize wealth. Traditionally, a wedding dress was any good dress you had of any color. Queen Victoria chose to wear white because she wanted to convey wealth and class. Most people didn't have the money to buy one ornate dress that they would only wear once in their life. White dresses were favored by the upper class as a way to show that the bride's family was so wealthy that the bride could choose an elaborate dress that could easily be ruined by any sort of work or spill.
Even years after that, many brides still did not really wear white to their weddings but chose whatever nice gown they had. Eventually the trend caught on and people started pinning the idea of purity, virginity and innocence to the white wedding dress.
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