Perfume For The Bride

As well as looking beautiful, every bride needs to smell beautiful with an aroma that reflects the charm of her special day. After all, fragrance is romantic and sends a message of love's alchemy to those around her.

Aromatherapy, as a title, may have been invented in our time, but the idea of it is as old as the humankind. The Song of Solomon 4:11 says: Your lips drip honey, my bride. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The fragrance of your clothing is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

In the Old Testament, nard is named as the symbol of a bride's love. Horace offered to send Virgil a whole barrel of his best wine in exchange for a phial of nard oil for its legendary aroma. Nard is a plant from the Himalayan foothills, and from its roots, fragrant oils are extracted. It is named Jatamansi in Sanskrit.

The ancient Egyptians, also, were extremely fond of perfumes, and they produced expensive perfumes meant for the elite class, believing that Gods loved their smell. Egyptians went to great lengths to make their perfumes last for decades and even centuries. Accordingly, perfumes came into use in all ceremonies, including the wedding ceremony for bringing the favor of the gods on the couple.

The scent of almond oil and the fragrant almond blossoms made the Roman bride beam. After the wedding, the Romans showered the couple with almonds to promote fertility.

Rose Water, first distilled in the ninth century in Arabia, had been the perfume of choice for the bride in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. It is still used in isolated small towns in that area.

The fair maidens of the Elizabethan period romanticized the herbs like lavender, thyme, sage, and rosemary, as the bride's headdress. The brides also carried the herbs like the bridal bouquet in their hands. Afterwards, in the Victorian era, flowers replaced the herbs, and the brides took a liking to the scents of flowers.

In India and its surrounding countries, brides may still use incense on their clothes, and during the wedding ceremony, incense is offered abundantly to the bride and the wedding guests. Basic ingredients of incense are rose water, aloe, henna, sandalwood and ambergris.

A wedding is an emotional experience especially for the bride. Since fragrances seem to affect people's moods, the perfume of the bride has to enhance her delight and enjoyment of the wedding day. Even if her perfume does not secure perfection for her life, it can treat her stress and smooth her way through the wedding ceremony. This must be one of the reasons the prince of Monaco had a special perfume made for his bride, Grace Kelly, to wear on their wedding day.

Some perfume companies, too, create signature scents for each bride now, while others use totally organic means to make their perfumes. The bride's perfume, however, need not be expensive, but it has to fit her personality and the theme of the ceremony.

A few weeks before the wedding date, provided that the bride and the people in the wedding party are not allergic to perfume, the bride should select a fragrance suitable to her liking and to the occasion. The bride's perfume should agree with the smell of the flowers and the scented candles if they are being used as decorations. If the bride is carrying a bouquet of roses, her perfume may have a hint of the scent of roses. If her bouquet is of mixed flowers, this can be accentuated with a light flowery scent.

The idea of a special fragrance for the wedding day is an adventure, since the scent of the bride will express many aspects of her personality. The perfume for the bride, therefore, is another momentous issue for the wedding day.