The Modest Bride

When you think of bridal modesty, what do you think of?
Straps instead of strapless, sleeves instead of straps, or even somewhere along the lines of, “what’s your problem? I’m getting married, and I don’t mind if my groom is thinking about my cleavage!”?

Of course, the first thing you think of when the words “bridal” and “modesty” come together is the dress! But what about the person wearing the dress? Is she a modest person, or is the dress simply something to please her mother, grandmother, or the church in which she is getting married?

Let’s examine.

I believe that a person’s clothing eventually will reflect the person wearing it. Think of the recent trend of changing from the more modest “ceremony dress” into the shorter, lower, sassier “reception dress”. Why is there so much fuss about wanting to change clothes halfway through your wedding so that your “wilder side” can come out for the reception?

It’s the heart. See, either women are accompanied by their mothers when wedding dress shopping, or they are accompanied by the knowledge that there will be people at her wedding besides her groom, and she’s wondering who will be seeing her on her day and what they will think of her choice of dress. This is the part of the nonbeliever that wants to buy a decent, modest dress. The other part of her, however, wants to show some skin, have her husband be attracted to her, and even if it offends people, wants to be just a little bit provocative. So the solution? Buy two dresses of course! One is to appease the part of herself that wants to be modest and classy, and one to please the part that wants to be sexy.

This, in my opinion, is what an immodest heart looks like. The immodest heart really wants to wear something skimpy, but knows that may not always go over well. There is also a bit of conscience that connotes the fact that being modest really would be for the best, hence the two-dress situation.
I’m not saying that having both a reception dress and a ceremony dress is intrinsically wrong, but if one of them is pushing some boundaries you normally wouldn’t, you perhaps need to examine your heart.


Just "sacrificing" what you would want to wear for something more modest doesn't cut it, either. The Lord desires truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6).


²² So Samuel said:

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He also has rejected you from being king.”
(1 Samuel 15:22-23, New King James Version)


Now, as far as being scantily clad and sexy for your new husband goes, I say live it up. But please keep it in the confines of your own bedroom! A modest heart saves the intimate dress for…well, intimacy.