Bridal Chorus Bridal Chorus The "Bridal Chorus" () from the 1850 opera "Lohengrin" by German composer Richard Wagner – who also wrote the libretto – is a march played for the bride's entrance at many formal weddings throughout the Western world. In English-speaking countries it is generally known as "Here Comes the Bride" or "Wedding March", though "wedding march" refers to any piece in march tempo accompanying the entrance or exit of the bride, notably Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March". The piece was made popular when it was used as the processional at the wedding of Victoria the Princess Royal to Prince Frederick
Bridal shower ("trousseau") custom. A related custom practised in medieval England was the Bride Ale: in Langland's "Piers Plowman" (§ B.II.45) there is a reference to a "bruydale." This was a feast held before the wedding day, at which the bride made beer and sold it to the guests at a high price. In the United States, bridal showers started in urban areas in the 1890s mainly among the upper middle classes. By the 1930s, bridal showers had spread to rural America. The earliest use of this sense of the word in print may be in the Grand Rapids "Michigan Evening Press"