These days, not as many wedding dresses have trains, at least in America. Many brides have realized that extra fabric on a wedding dress ends up costing them a little more. That, plus the fact that they cant see that part of their wedding dress all that well, and it drags on the ground, has made the train an extra accessory that some brides decide to eliminate.
However, theres nothing as elegant as the train on a wedding dress. Every royal bride has a long train as an integral part of their wedding gowns; that shows the regality of the bride, who deserves to feel like a queen on her special day. Wedding trains bring glamour, especially if it looks like it was part of the original design, as opposed to an add-on.
In general, there are six types of trains that wedding dresses can have. Lets take a look at each one.
The royal train is the longest of all trains, and of course, by the name, you know this is the type of train that the royals will have as their wedding dresses. Royal trains are extreme; they go back at least 10 feet, and obviously were planned to be there, as the silhouettes theyre attached to are blended so that the gown is seamless. This will definitely make the bride the center of attention.
The next train is pretty long also, and its known as the cathedral train. This train extends between 6 to 9 feet, and, as the term indicates, this was the traditional wedding train for religious ceremonies for centuries, and is still worn by todays brides for mainly Catholic ceremonies.
The next train that comes into religious favor is the chapel train, which only extends from 4 to 5 feet. This train was also a traditional religious train, but not for as extensively religious ceremonies as the cathedral train.
The court train comes in around 3 feet, and traditionally this was for weddings of lesser royals such as duchesses and countesses, though it was regal in its own way.
The sweep train is one that barely touches the ground, kind of sweeping the ground but not by much. This is probably the most popular train with todays brides.
The last train is more of an attachment than originally part of the wedding dress. Known as the watteau, it attaches to the top of the wedding dress at the shoulders, then falls to the length of your dress, or further.
Of course, wedding dresses dont have to have trains, but it just adds so much glamour to the occasion that we hope more brides decide to return to the days of long and elegant trains.