Plenty of webpages will cheerfully tell readers all about medieval wedding dresses, or wedding dresses of the Renaissance -- usually, they're generalizations based on little or no factual information. Take, for example, the color of a wedding dress -- should it be green? blue? white? And must it be a cotehardie?

In truth – there seems to be no overwhelming trends, in terms of color or style. Most of the examples below cover the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance; colors and styles generally cover the same array of what was fashionable at the time (or, in the case of the 16th century “peasant weddings,” of what was worn by women of that social status).

Some 14th century brides carry a set of purses (see Michael Camille’s The Medieval Art of Love for further discussion on this practice).

Some 15th century examples dress the bride in a sideless surcoat that was, at that late date, associated with ceremonial costume, primarily for princesses and queens; however, many of the illustrations depicting brides in such a costume seem to illustrate the wedding of a princess, anyway.

• The Wedding at Cana by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1308-1311
• The marriage of Gilbert Becket and the Saracen emir's daughter, The Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Royal 2 B VII, fol. 289v), c. 1310-1320
• Marriage, The Stefaneschi Missal (PML M.713, fol. 152r), late 1320s
• A marriage ceremony, Guido da Baysio's commentary on the Liber Sextus Decretalium (St. John's College MS MS A.4(I), fol. 101r), c. 1335-1350
• A marriage ceremony, the Liber Sextus Decretalium of Boniface VIII (St. John's College MS A.4(II), fol. 67v), c. 1335-1350
• A marriage ceremony, Giovanni dAndrea's Glossa ordinaria in Librum Sextum (St. John's College MS A.4(IV), fol. 60v), c. 1335-1350
• A bride and bridegroom (fol. 165v), a bride led to a flower-covered bed (fol. 166v) and another bride and bridegroom (fol. 181v), Concordantiae caritatis (Stiftsbibliothek Lilienfeld 151), c. 1349-1351
• The Marriage; the Kiss of the Bride; the Bride Abandoned by Nicolo da Bologna, c. 1350s
• Marriage, Omne Bonum (British Library Royal 6 E VI, fol. 286v), c. 1360-1375
• The sacrament of marriage on a base-de-page in the Trés Belles Heures de Notre Dame (BNF NAL 3093, fol. 175v), c. 1380
• The marriages of King Philip III of France and Mary of Brabant (fol. 10), and Philip, Duke of Burgundy, and Margaret of Flanders (fol. 182), Chroniques de France ou de St. Denis (British Library Royal 20 C VII, fol. 10), end of the 14th century
• Betrothal scene: the lady of the house (in the red gown) joins the couple's hands, wall-painting at Sværdborg church in Denmark, c. 1400-1410; in this scene, the the bride is the crowned figure, second from the right
• The weddings of Tanor and Celinde (fol. 1), Mark and Isolt (fol. 52), and Tristan and Isolt of the White Hands (fol. 64), Tristan de Léonois (BNF Fr. 97), first quarter of the 15th century
• The marriage of David and Michal, the Bedford Psalter and Hours (Brit. Lib. Add. 42131, fol. 151v), c. 1414-1435
• Marriage, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 286, fol. 79v), second quarter of the 15th century
• Liturgy: the sacrament of marriage, Pèlerinage de vie humaine (BNF Fr. 376, fol. 6v), second quarter of the 15th century
• The weddings of Bertrand de Roussillon and Gilette de Narbonne (fol. 102v), Ricciardo Manardi and Caterina da Valbona (fol. 150v), Federigo Alberighi and Giovanna (fol. 162), and Gualtieri di Saluzzo and Griselda (fol. 295), The Decameron (BNF Fr. 239), second quarter of the 15th century
• Jacob's wedding-feast in a Bible Historiale (KB 78 D 38 I, fol. 31r), c. 1430
• Cassone panel with scenes from a marriage ceremony, Florence, c. 1430
• The wedding-feast of Peleus and Thetis, The Epistle of Othea, (KB 74 G 27, fol. 56r), c. 1450-1475
• Wedding banquet in the Histoire d'Olivier de Castille et d'Artus d'Algarbe (BNF Fr. 12574, fol. 181v), 15th century
• Detail from The Seven Sacraments Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1445-1450
• A marriage scene, Livre de Valerius Maximus (British Library Royal 17 F IV, fol. 65v), second half of the 15th century
• The marriage of Syphax and Sophonisba, Ab urbe condita (BNF Fr. 274, fol. 262), c. 1455-1460
• St. Thomas at the wedding banquet, Speculum historiale (BNF Fr. 50, fol. 330v), 1463
• The weddings of St. Julian of Antinoe and St. Basilissa (fol. 77), Anastasius and Ariadne (fol. 412v), St. Arnulf of Yvelines and St. Scariberga (fol. 420v) and St. Hermenagilda and St. Ingonthe (fol. 453v), Speculum historiale (BNF Fr. 51), 1463
• The weddings of Tanor and Celinde (fol. 1), Mark and Isolt (fol. 59v), and Tristan and Isolt of the White Hands (fol. 73) in a 15th century manuscript of Tristan de Lonois (BNF Fr. 102), c. 1470
• The marriage of Philipe d'Artois to Marie, daughter of the Duc de Berry, Froissart's Chronicles (British Library Harley 4380, fol. 6), c. 1470-1475
• St. Thomas at the wedding banquet, The Golden Legend (BNF Fr. 244, fol. 20), 1480-1490
• The marriage of King Henry V of England and Catherine of France, Chroniques de France ou de Saint Denis (British Library Royal 20 E VI, fol. 9v), 1487
• King John of Portugal marries Philippa of Lancaster, Chronique d'Angleterre (Brit. Lib. Royal 14 E IV, fol. 284r), late 15th century
• Marriage of Bohemond I, Prince of Antioch, and Constance, daughter of King Philip I of France, Chronique d'Ernoul et de Bernard le Trésorier (British Library Royal 15 E I, fol. 170), late 15th century
• The Marriage Feast at Cana by Hieronymus Bosch
• The Marriage at Cana, c. 1495-1497
• Bridal couple on an oven-tile, c. 1495-1505
• The Story of Patient Griselda, Part I, c. 1493-1500
• The bride in The Marriage at Cana by Gerard David, c. 1500
• June: The wedding, a book of hours, 1522
• Marsilio Cassotti and his bride Faustina by Lorenzo Lotto, 1523
• The bride in the Peasant Wedding by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1568
• A Venetian bride before her marriage, and a bride from the Friuli region, De gli Habiti antichi et moderni di Diverse Parti del Mondo, 1589-1590; see also Brides Before Their Wedding in Our Time and Brides at Their Wedding and Brides Outside the House after They Are Married
• A Venetian bride, Album Amicorum of a German Soldier, 1595
• The Peasant Wedding by Marten van Cleve
• The dress of a bride and her dancing-master from Habiti d'huomeni et donne venetiane by Giacomo Franco, 1609
• Wedding Dance, The Peasant Wedding, and Wedding Dance by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, c. 1600
• The Wedding Dance in a Barn by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, c. 1616
• Wedding Banquet by Jan Brueghel the Elder
• The Wedding Dance in a Barn by Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Many thanks to Camilla Luise Dahl for her suggestions on Danish church paintings!