Perfume For The Bride

As well as looking beautiful, every bride needs toscents of flowers.
smell beautiful with an aroma that reflects the charmIn India and its surrounding countries, brides may still
of her special day. After all, fragrance is romantic anduse incense on their clothes, and during the wedding
sends a message of love's alchemy to those aroundceremony, incense is offered abundantly to the bride
her.and the wedding guests. Basic ingredients of incense
Aromatherapy, as a title, may have been invented inare rose water, aloe, henna, sandalwood and
our time, but the idea of it is as old as theambergris.
humankind. The Song of Solomon 4:11 says: Your lipsA wedding is an emotional experience especially for
drip honey, my bride. Honey and milk are under yourthe bride. Since fragrances seem to affect people's
tongue. The fragrance of your clothing is like themoods, the perfume of the bride has to enhance her
fragrance of Lebanon.delight and enjoyment of the wedding day. Even if
In the Old Testament, nard is named as the symbolher perfume does not secure perfection for her life,
of a bride's love. Horace offered to send Virgil ait can treat her stress and smooth her way through
whole barrel of his best wine in exchange for a phialthe wedding ceremony. This must be one of the
of nard oil for its legendary aroma. Nard is a plantreasons the prince of Monaco had a special perfume
from the Himalayan foothills, and from its roots,made for his bride, Grace Kelly, to wear on their
fragrant oils are extracted. It is named Jatamansi inwedding day.
Sanskrit.Some perfume companies, too, create signature
The ancient Egyptians, also, were extremely fond ofscents for each bride now, while others use totally
perfumes, and they produced expensive perfumesorganic means to make their perfumes. The bride's
meant for the elite class, believing that Gods lovedperfume, however, need not be expensive, but it has
their smell. Egyptians went to great lengths to maketo fit her personality and the theme of the
their perfumes last for decades and even centuries.ceremony.
Accordingly, perfumes came into use in allA few weeks before the wedding date, provided
ceremonies, including the wedding ceremony forthat the bride and the people in the wedding party
bringing the favor of the gods on the couple.are not allergic to perfume, the bride should select a
The scent of almond oil and the fragrant almondfragrance suitable to her liking and to the occasion.
blossoms made the Roman bride beam. After theThe bride's perfume should agree with the smell of
wedding, the Romans showered the couple withthe flowers and the scented candles if they are being
almonds to promote fertility.used as decorations. If the bride is carrying a
Rose Water, first distilled in the ninth century inbouquet of roses, her perfume may have a hint of
Arabia, had been the perfume of choice for the bridethe scent of roses. If her bouquet is of mixed
in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. It is stillflowers, this can be accentuated with a light flowery
used in isolated small towns in that area.scent.
The fair maidens of the Elizabethan periodThe idea of a special fragrance for the wedding day
romanticized the herbs like lavender, thyme, sage,is an adventure, since the scent of the bride will
and rosemary, as the bride's headdress. The bridesexpress many aspects of her personality. The
also carried the herbs like the bridal bouquet in theirperfume for the bride, therefore, is another
hands. Afterwards, in the Victorian era, flowersmomentous issue for the wedding day.
replaced the herbs, and the brides took a liking to the