She held up Queen Victoria as a role model of feminity, morality and intellect, and "Godey's" hired Lydia Sigourney to report on the royal activities in London. The tradition of a white wedding is commonly credited to Queen Victoria's choice to wear a white wedding dress at her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840. With American women following styles or dress set by the young Queen, less than a decade after her wedding "Godey’s" incorrectly claimed that a white wedding gown had been a long standing tradition representing female virginity, writing: “Custom has decided, from the earliest ages, that white is the most fitting hue, whatever may be the material. It is an emblem of the purity and innocence of girlhood, and the unsullied heart she now yields to the chosen one.” However, custom previous to Victoria's wedding ceremony had been to wear colorful gowns.