Today DCist highlights an exhibit on the history of the American wedding at the Daughters of the American Revolution Building at 1776 D St. NW, located near the Ellipse. The exhibit, which has been open since April, is titled “Something Old, Something New: Inventing the American Wedding,” and features fifteen vintage wedding dresses.

The exhibit traces the origins of much of the pomp surrounding the modern American wedding: the white dress, the veil, even the use of a church for the ceremony:

“…According to Alden O’Brien, curator of the exhibition, “In the years following the Civil War, America’s so-called Gilded Age, members of the aristocracy created elaborate rules of behavior and manners to set them apart from the middle classes. Weddings became the focus of increasing amounts of ritual and etiquette. New wedding inventions introduced in this period included the wedding procession, the reception, cutting the cake, and holding the ceremony in a church, a public location that was subject to a more obvious display of expense.” Victorian traditions, such as those cited above are still common to today’s American bride, but during the 20th century brides began to take wedding traditions in new directions. … “