If a woman is not a virgin and she will get married for the first time, can she wear a white dress? Or does it HAVE to be ivory? What has the Church said about this?

But I have always heard that white resembles purity and virginity and that it's a sign that the bride is a virgin, which is why those who aren't virgins wear ivory since supposedly it would be a lie to wear white when you're not a virgin.

But I have always heard that white resembles purity and virginity and that it's a sign that the bride is a virgin, which is why those who aren't virgins wear ivory since supposedly it would be a lie to wear white when you're not a virgin.

Typically it does, yes, and most people accept this, though the origin of the white dress is not Catholic.

It's not a lie, because the white wedding dress arose out of a royal (protestant) trend, not Catholic tradition.  It wasn't even common for regular women to wear white on their wedding day until WWII, I think.

I think you just wore whatever you wanted.  I'm really not sure.

White is the color of baptismal purity. Here is some of what Gloria polo had to say about the sacrament of marriage.

I would like to speak to you about the great grace that is the sacrament of matrimony. When we enter into church the day of our wedding, at the moment in which we say our “yes”, promising to be faithful for ever, in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, etc., do you know to Whom we promise? Nothing more, nothing less than to God the Father! Our God is enthralled with matrimony! He is the only Witness, when we say these words. Each of us, when we will die, will see this moment precisely in the Book of Life. Then we will catch sight of an indescribable golden light, an intense splendor: God the Father writes these words in the Book with letters of gold, so beautiful.

In the moment in which we receive the Body and the Blood of Jesus, we form a pact with God, and with the person whom we have chosen to share together a life. When we pronounce these words, we say them to the Most Holy Trinity.

I saw that on the day of my matrimony, when myself and my husband received the Most Holy Eucharist, we were no longer two, but three! We two, and Jesus! In fact, as soon as we communicate with Jesus, He unites us as one thing only! He places us in His Heart and we become ONE, forming with Jesus a holy trinity! “Let man not separate what God has united”.

Now I ask: who separates this ONE? No one! No one, brothers, can separate it! No one, after the matrimony has been consummated! And if the two spouses arrive virgin to the matrimony, you cannot imagine the blessings that are poured on this matrimony!

I saw also the matrimony of my parents. When my father slipped the ring on the finger of my mother, and the priest declared them husband and wife, Our Lord consigned to my father a staff of wood, shining with Light, which seemed a little bent. We are dealing here with a grace that God gives to the man: it is a gift of authority of God the Father, so that this man might be able to guide this little flock who are his children, born in matrimony, and also to defend the matrimony and the children from so many evils that attack the families.

To my mother, God the Father placed in the heart something that seemed like a sphere of Fire, so beautiful: it signifies the Love of God, the Holy Spirit. I knew that my mother was a very pure woman. God was happy, joyous. You cannot imagine how many unclean spirits seized my father in that moment. These spirits seem like larva, bloodsuckers. You know, when someone has relationships outside of marriage, the evil spirits immediately attach themselves to all the parts of the person; they begin with his sɛҳuąƖ organs, they take possession of the flesh, of the hormones; they occupy the brain, they take the pituitary gland and all the neurological parts of the organism of the person, and they begin to produce a quantity of hormones that bring the instincts lower. They transform a child of God into a slave of the flesh, of his own instincts, of his sɛҳuąƖ appetite, that which brings the person to be that which, as they say, “they enjoy life”.

When a couple is virgin, it gives glory to God. A sacred pact happens with Him, who sanctifies this sɛҳuąƖity. In fact the sɛҳuąƖity is not sin! God has given it as a blessing, because sɛҳuąƖity is God and the couple. Where there is the sacrament of matrimony, (also if the spouses did not arrive there virgins), God is present in this sacramental bed! Because in the wedding bed, blessed by the sacrament of matrimony, there is the Holy Spirit; even in the meals of this couple there is the presence of the Lord God, who blesses the food. God remains enraptured before matrimony; He is happy to accompany the spouses in their new life, in this beginning of a new life together. The couple and the Lord form a Trinity. Unfortunately many spouses do not know this, they do not have this notion… And they do not even think about God: they marry only because of tradition, and not for faith… They think only to go out of the church to go to have a party, to eat, to drink, to take off on the honeymoon… Keep in mind that in this there is no evil: the evil lies in leaving the Lord outside of all of this. As I did, who left the Lord on the street; it did not even enter my head to invite Him in my new life, in our new house. He, in fact, has pleasure that we invite Him to enter and to be with us forever, in the joys and in the moments less good; He desires that we feel His presence… Certainly, in the sacrament of matrimony the Lord is present also without being invited… But how much more beautiful it would be if of this presence we might be conscious…

In the matrimony of my parents, the most beautiful thing was that God gave back to my father the gifts and the Grace that he had lost: this because he married my mother, who was a woman very pure in sentiments, and virgin. I looked at my father, his disordered and filthy sɛҳuąƖity. But because he was very “macho”, and his friends having begun to put into him poison, telling him not to let the wife charm and dominate him, and that he had to continue his life as before, and so two weeks after matrimony he ended up in a whorehouse, in order to show his friends that he was continuing to be the same, that he did not let himself be dominated by the wife…

Do you know how his staff of authority and protection, that God gave him, ended up? The devil took it away from him! And all those evil spirits, those unclean beings, returned to take him to themselves. From pastor of his flock, my father transformed himself into a wolf of his own family and of his home!

When one is unfaithful to his wedding, he is unfaithful to God. He is lacking in his word, to the oath that he made, to God and to the person that he married, in the day of his matrimony. He does not do what he promised. If someone has the intention of not being faithful to his own marriage, it is better not to get married. The Lord tells us: if you are unfaithful, you will condemn yourself! If you will not be faithful, do not get married! Son, daughter, ask me the grace to be faithful to your wife, to your husband, and to God.

How many evils come into a marriage, due to infidelity?! A husband, for example, goes to a whorehouse, or is unfaithful with the secretary. Notwithstanding the precautions, he contracts a virus; and even washing himself afterwards, that virus does not die… So, when later he has relations with the wife, the virus enters the vagina of the woman and it remains there in the bottom, and arrives to the uterus. In time it forms an ulcer, of which often the women does not notice. And when, years later, the wife goes to the doctor suffering very much, it is diagnosed cancer. Yes! Cancer! And then, who says that adultery does not kill? Moreover, how many abortions are done due to adultery? For example, how many women, who had been unfaithful and became pregnant, have recourse to abortion so that the husband might not discover it? They kill an innocent one that is not able to speak, nor defend himself! And this is only some examples. Adultery kills in so many and diverse forms! Then, we still have the courage to protest against God, when things do not go well, when we have problems, when sicknesses arrive: while it is we who procured these things with our sins, drawing evil on our life. Behind sin, there is always the evil one! We open the doors to him, when we sin so gravely! And then still we lament that God does not love us. Where is God, who permits this or that?! What nerve we have! May you know that God is the rock that protects marriage. Woe to the one who tries to destroy a matrimony! When someone tries, he collides with this Rock who is Jesus. God defends matrimony, do not ever doubt it!

I desire also to inform you to be very careful with regard to those mother-in-laws who interfere in the marriage of the children, to disturb them, causing problems in their relationships. Also if the son-in-law or the daughter-in-law, in the right or in the wrong, that they might not be to her liking, they are already married, and there is nothing more to do. The only thing is to pray for them: that they might pray for that marriage, and put it aside! Many women have condemned themselves for having interfered in the marriage of their children! This is a grave sin! If you see that something is not going right, that one of them or both are sinning, supplicate God for them, ask help from God. You can also call the couple and speak to the two, inviting them to save the marriage, to think about the children, and reminding them that marriage is for love, to give and to forgive reciprocally. One must fight in favor of the marriage, this yes: but never interfere in another way, and even less to take a position in favor of one or the other.

http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/

White was worn by a PROTESTANT "queen" to symbolize EXTRAVAGANCE as she wouldn't be wearing a white dress a second time. It had NOTHING WHATEVER to do with purity. Nothing whatever at all. So, to say that women shouldn't wear white is a really ignorant thing to say if you know the history of the wearing of the white dress.

It did NOT symbolize virginity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_wedding

"Queen Victoria" was the one who came up with the white wedding. It was the color that the elites used. They had the stature to be able to buy a dress and never wear it again. That was the idea. It's absolutely unnecessary to be married in white. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with purity!

(PS, didn't mean to sound snarky, I just went back into my old posts about what I've said about this before, and pasted it here. :) )

I think you just wore whatever you wanted.  I'm really not sure.

Double take and a half.

Given the phrasing of the OP and the subject matter, I really, really, really misread that. Do you see what I mean?

White is the color of baptismal purity. Here is some of what Gloria polo had to say about the sacrament of marriage.

I would like to speak to you about the great grace that is the sacrament of matrimony. When we enter into church the day of our wedding, at the moment in which we say our “yes”, promising to be faithful for ever, in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness, etc., do you know to Whom we promise? Nothing more, nothing less than to God the Father! Our God is enthralled with matrimony! He is the only Witness, when we say these words. Each of us, when we will die, will see this moment precisely in the Book of Life. Then we will catch sight of an indescribable golden light, an intense splendor: God the Father writes these words in the Book with letters of gold, so beautiful.

In the moment in which we receive the Body and the Blood of Jesus, we form a pact with God, and with the person whom we have chosen to share together a life. When we pronounce these words, we say them to the Most Holy Trinity.

I saw that on the day of my matrimony, when myself and my husband received the Most Holy Eucharist, we were no longer two, but three! We two, and Jesus! In fact, as soon as we communicate with Jesus, He unites us as one thing only! He places us in His Heart and we become ONE, forming with Jesus a holy trinity! “Let man not separate what God has united”.

Now I ask: who separates this ONE? No one! No one, brothers, can separate it! No one, after the matrimony has been consummated! And if the two spouses arrive virgin to the matrimony, you cannot imagine the blessings that are poured on this matrimony!

I saw also the matrimony of my parents. When my father slipped the ring on the finger of my mother, and the priest declared them husband and wife, Our Lord consigned to my father a staff of wood, shining with Light, which seemed a little bent. We are dealing here with a grace that God gives to the man: it is a gift of authority of God the Father, so that this man might be able to guide this little flock who are his children, born in matrimony, and also to defend the matrimony and the children from so many evils that attack the families.

To my mother, God the Father placed in the heart something that seemed like a sphere of Fire, so beautiful: it signifies the Love of God, the Holy Spirit. I knew that my mother was a very pure woman. God was happy, joyous. You cannot imagine how many unclean spirits seized my father in that moment. These spirits seem like larva, bloodsuckers. You know, when someone has relationships outside of marriage, the evil spirits immediately attach themselves to all the parts of the person; they begin with his sɛҳuąƖ organs, they take possession of the flesh, of the hormones; they occupy the brain, they take the pituitary gland and all the neurological parts of the organism of the person, and they begin to produce a quantity of hormones that bring the instincts lower. They transform a child of God into a slave of the flesh, of his own instincts, of his sɛҳuąƖ appetite, that which brings the person to be that which, as they say, “they enjoy life”.

When a couple is virgin, it gives glory to God. A sacred pact happens with Him, who sanctifies this sɛҳuąƖity. In fact the sɛҳuąƖity is not sin! God has given it as a blessing, because sɛҳuąƖity is God and the couple. Where there is the sacrament of matrimony, (also if the spouses did not arrive there virgins), God is present in this sacramental bed! Because in the wedding bed, blessed by the sacrament of matrimony, there is the Holy Spirit; even in the meals of this couple there is the presence of the Lord God, who blesses the food. God remains enraptured before matrimony; He is happy to accompany the spouses in their new life, in this beginning of a new life together. The couple and the Lord form a Trinity. Unfortunately many spouses do not know this, they do not have this notion… And they do not even think about God: they marry only because of tradition, and not for faith… They think only to go out of the church to go to have a party, to eat, to drink, to take off on the honeymoon… Keep in mind that in this there is no evil: the evil lies in leaving the Lord outside of all of this. As I did, who left the Lord on the street; it did not even enter my head to invite Him in my new life, in our new house. He, in fact, has pleasure that we invite Him to enter and to be with us forever, in the joys and in the moments less good; He desires that we feel His presence… Certainly, in the sacrament of matrimony the Lord is present also without being invited… But how much more beautiful it would be if of this presence we might be conscious…

In the matrimony of my parents, the most beautiful thing was that God gave back to my father the gifts and the Grace that he had lost: this because he married my mother, who was a woman very pure in sentiments, and virgin. I looked at my father, his disordered and filthy sɛҳuąƖity. But because he was very “macho”, and his friends having begun to put into him poison, telling him not to let the wife charm and dominate him, and that he had to continue his life as before, and so two weeks after matrimony he ended up in a whorehouse, in order to show his friends that he was continuing to be the same, that he did not let himself be dominated by the wife…

Do you know how his staff of authority and protection, that God gave him, ended up? The devil took it away from him! And all those evil spirits, those unclean beings, returned to take him to themselves. From pastor of his flock, my father transformed himself into a wolf of his own family and of his home!

When one is unfaithful to his wedding, he is unfaithful to God. He is lacking in his word, to the oath that he made, to God and to the person that he married, in the day of his matrimony. He does not do what he promised. If someone has the intention of not being faithful to his own marriage, it is better not to get married. The Lord tells us: if you are unfaithful, you will condemn yourself! If you will not be faithful, do not get married! Son, daughter, ask me the grace to be faithful to your wife, to your husband, and to God.

How many evils come into a marriage, due to infidelity?! A husband, for example, goes to a whorehouse, or is unfaithful with the secretary. Notwithstanding the precautions, he contracts a virus; and even washing himself afterwards, that virus does not die… So, when later he has relations with the wife, the virus enters the #### of the woman and it remains there in the bottom, and arrives to the uterus. In time it forms an ulcer, of which often the women does not notice. And when, years later, the wife goes to the doctor suffering very much, it is diagnosed cancer. Yes! Cancer! And then, who says that adultery does not kill? Moreover, how many abortions are done due to adultery? For example, how many women, who had been unfaithful and became pregnant, have recourse to abortion so that the husband might not discover it? They kill an innocent one that is not able to speak, nor defend himself! And this is only some examples. Adultery kills in so many and diverse forms! Then, we still have the courage to protest against God, when things do not go well, when we have problems, when sicknesses arrive: while it is we who procured these things with our sins, drawing evil on our life. Behind sin, there is always the evil one! We open the doors to him, when we sin so gravely! And then still we lament that God does not love us. Where is God, who permits this or that?! What nerve we have! May you know that God is the rock that protects marriage. Woe to the one who tries to destroy a matrimony! When someone tries, he collides with this Rock who is Jesus. God defends matrimony, do not ever doubt it!

I desire also to inform you to be very careful with regard to those mother-in-laws who interfere in the marriage of the children, to disturb them, causing problems in their relationships. Also if the son-in-law or the daughter-in-law, in the right or in the wrong, that they might not be to her liking, they are already married, and there is nothing more to do. The only thing is to pray for them: that they might pray for that marriage, and put it aside! Many women have condemned themselves for having interfered in the marriage of their children! This is a grave sin! If you see that something is not going right, that one of them or both are sinning, supplicate God for them, ask help from God. You can also call the couple and speak to the two, inviting them to save the marriage, to think about the children, and reminding them that marriage is for love, to give and to forgive reciprocally. One must fight in favor of the marriage, this yes: but never interfere in another way, and even less to take a position in favor of one or the other.

http://testimony-polo.blogspot.com/

Although, I'm not sure what it had to do with the thread, I enjoyed reading that.  Thanks for posting it!