Having so far attired the bride, her wreath and veil must have consideration next. Authorities are divided upon the origin of the use of orange-blossom. Some think it was introduced by the Crusaders, who obtained it from the Saracens, among whom it was the favourite bridal flower, and regarded as an omen of prosperity, owing to the fact that in the East the orange-tree bears ripe fruit and blossoms simultaneously. The flower, being white, was also regarded as the symbol of innocence and chastity.

The other legend hails from Spain, and is as follows: A certain Spanish maiden, the daughter of one of the gardeners at the Royal Palace, was unable to marry because she could not furnish a sufficient dowry, and her fiance was too poor for them to start in life without some financial assistance.

Now, the French Ambassador once visited the Spanish monarch, and very greatly desired to possess a cutting from his famous orange-tree, so the maiden promised to obtain one for him if he would also help her to obtain her heart's desire. Nothing loth, the visitor paid her a handsome sum for the coveted cutting, and on her wedding day she wore a chaplet of the blossoms to whose agency she owed her happiness. What the owner of the tree said about the transaction, or if he ever knew of it, history does not relate. But most probably the orange-blossom has become so fashionable, and was adopted by French modistes, on account of its beauty, and very likely in ignorance of its meaning.

In Anglo-saxon times the bridal wreath was often made of corn or wheat-ears (a custom really belonging to the Greeks), in token of prosperity. These sometimes were church property, and used for every wedding, and the bridegroom was crowned with one also. This custom still prevails in Greece, where an interchange of chaplets is made during the ceremony. Not every country, by any means, adopts the orange-blossom; certainly not in the cases of the peasants' weddings, for in Bavaria and Silesia the bride wears a chaplet of pearls, glass, or gold wire; in Italy and France and the French cantons of Switzerland, white roses. In Norway, Sweden, and Servia, the bridal crown is composed of silver, while the German bride would be amazed if in her circlet of red and white roses, myrtle leaves were not entwined.