The answer to what is a wedding trousseau is it’s a collection of the bride’s personal items before marriage. We will provide a wedding trousseau checklist below and how to pack it.
You will also know the purpose of the wedding trousseau for brides. And besides the items you’ll need, we recommend that you learn what to say to your groom on your wedding day to prepare for the big event emotionally as well.
What Is A Wedding Trousseau: All The Items You Need
The bridal trousseau is a collection of items brides have collected before marriage or at the wedding itself. Usually, the wedding trousseau is inside a chest containing bridal jewelry, accessories, lingerie, loungewear, and even honeymoon clothing.
The wedding trousseau can also include gifts from her relatives or friends for the bride. Some even have family heirlooms like jewelry or different outfits she can use while preparing for the wedding or immediately after.
The tradition of having a trousseau comes from collecting clothing pieces that the bride can use before or at the wedding, during the honeymoon, or during the first few days or weeks of marriage. Back then, the bride could also sew the items herself or her family members did them.
What Is In A Bridal Trousseau?
Nowadays, the bride can choose what items to put in a chest for her wedding trousseau. But to give you an idea for a checklist, here are the things that are usually seen in a bridal trousseau:
- Wedding morning preparation loungewear
- Jewelry and accessories for the wedding day
- Wedding day lingerie or undergarments such as shapewear, corset, or bustier
- Wedding garter
- Wedding stockings
- Wedding night lingerie
- Wedding nightgown and robe
- Honeymoon lingerie
- Honeymoon nightgown and robe
- Family heirloom or jewelry
- Accessory or clothing gifts from the wedding party or bride’s family
- Clothing pieces such as loungewear the bride can wear during the first days of the marriage
How Do You Pack A Bridal Trousseau?
Brides are free to pack their wedding trousseau as creative or as traditional as they want. You can even follow a wedding theme in mind or ask your closest friends and family to help you prepare the bridal trousseau.
Perhaps your mom has vintage luggage that she can pass down to you. If you and your bridal party like sewing, you can make the items and clothes for the bridal trousseau as well.
Regardless, here is a guide to packing a wedding trousseau that any bride can follow:
- Create a list of what you want for your wedding trousseau one month to three weeks before the wedding; plan the theme you want for the package and the items you want to put on your bridal trousseau
- Divide the wardrobe and jewelry into different categories; what items will be used while preparing for the wedding, on the wedding day, honeymoon, and during the marriage
- You can also organize the items into formal wear, casual wear, or lingerie
- Begin shopping and collecting the items for the wedding trousseau; you might also want to sew some of the pieces for added sentimentality
- Don’t forget to include gifts from relatives and friends
- Know the proper way of folding different clothing pieces and put the jewelry in a secured box with dividers for better organization
- Consider packing the bridal trousseau in a carved chest, vintage suitcase, or even an adorned box; you can also follow the wedding theme or color palette when choosing a trousseau container
- Include a scented sachet inside the trousseau and use tissue sheets on some clothes if needed when folding
- Decorate the wedding trousseau with embellishments, dried flowers, lace, or ribbons
- Paint or personalize the wedding trousseau to make it more special
Where Did The Word Trousseau Originate From?
The etymology for the word “trousseau” from the French word trousse which means bundle. Then, the definition of the word trousseau itself is it’s a bundle of the bride’s clothing brought from her home.
Nowadays, a bridal trousseau is not only composed of clothes. It also contains jewelry and accessories she can use not just on the wedding day but also for the honeymoon or during the marriage.
How Do You Use Trousseau?
The trousseau is what the bride can bring when moving to the new home with her husband after marriage. From a sentimental point of view, it’s also a way to collect and organize the items you’ll wear on your wedding day and honeymoon.
Therefore, you can ensure that everything is kept safe when you want to one day reminisce about the wedding day preparations and post-wedding events. If you don’t have a checklist yet, you also read what a bride needs on her wedding day as some may be added in the bridal trousseau.
Do you need a wedding trousseau? The choice is up to you as it’s a tradition that can be enjoyable, but it’s also a way to keep every bridal outfit and accessories safely and neatly.
Conclusion
And that’s it! You just learned what is a wedding trousseau, which is essentially a collection of bridal clothes and accessories.
She can bring this chest or luggage to their new home after marriage, and it’s a way to organize all the clothes and jewelry she will use before, during, and after the wedding. So if you value sentimentality, then prepare your wedding trousseau checklist now.