Amazing Wedding Dresses from Around the World

Have you ever wondered what brides around the world wear on their wedding days? As you can imagine, many of their wedding dresses aren't anything like what's considered "traditional" in the United States: a long, white gown. In order to spotlight some of these amazing designs, we rounded up a number of stunning photos showcasing bridal attire from different cultures and countries. The resulting collection is equal parts fascinating and breathtaking.

Stateside, we're quite familiar with floral lace and airy tulle, but other bridal fabrics reign supreme across the globe. These include everything from woven Fijian masi to patterned Ghanaian kente. Popular materials aren't the only things that differ depending on where you're from, either. Americans typically wear neutral shades like ivory or champagne. Meanwhile, many other nations—from Bulgaria to Cambodia—incorporate bright colors into their wedding outfits. These differences—and others—make international bridal attire beautifully diverse. That's exactly why we're so excited to show you an array of examples. We've included nuptial ensembles from Africa, Asia, and beyond—some of which were worn in their native countries, and some of which were worn at weddings right here in the U.S. In turn, some are fully traditional, while others are modern but culture-inspired.

First up is this Indian bride's Manish Malhotra gown, which featured vibrant hues and intricate embellishments. Though she lives in California, she always knew she'd honor her heritage on the big day. "Growing up, I had seen traditional Indian weddings and had always envisioned myself in an outfit like that," she shared with us.

Chinese Wedding Dress

Many Chinese couples include a tea ceremony in their wedding festivities. This bride wore an intricate Yefta Gunawan dress and a stunning Rinaldy Yunardi headpiece for the event. Both pieces were done in red—the traditional bridal color.

Ghanaian Wedding Dress

Pistis designed this glowing bride's kente (a patterned fabric made in Ghana) wedding dress.

Fijian Wedding Dress

This Fijian bride looked beautiful in a traditional masi wedding dress. "Masi is made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree," explains the photographer, Gitte of Kama Catch Me. According to her, it's "highly valuable" and used for special celebrations.

Korean Wedding Dress

For this Korean ceremony, the bride stepped out in an elaborate The Hanbok hanbok—a traditional, formal form of attire.

South African Wedding Dress

Tamara Chérie created this South African bride's custom dress, who included a shweshwe pattern as part of the modern-meets-traditional design. Shweshwe is a type of printed fabric popular in the country.

Cambodian Wedding Dress

This pink-and-gold ensemble was just one of many traditional outfits the Cambodian bride wore on her big day.

Japanese Wedding Dress

To honor her culture, this bride donned a kimono, a traditional robe-like garment. Hers was made by The Kimono House using vintage fabric.

Malaysian Wedding Dress

"This dress was inspired by the contemporary Malaysian kebaya design," shares the photographer, Qay of Weddings by Qay. (Kabayas are garments worn in Malaysia and the surrounding region.) The bride's pretty white outfit (by Hatta Dolmat) also had some Western influence.

Bolivian Wedding Dress

Bolivian wedding attire is gorgeous and colorful, as this traditionally-dressed bride went to show.

Indian Wedding Dress

Indian brides often wear lehengas, a traditional type of dress with impressive embroidery. This bride got hers from Binari Art.

Chinese Wedding Dress

Both the bride and groom wore traditional qun kwa outfits for their Chinese tea ceremony. Their two-piece outfits featured dragons and phoenixes—symbols of a harmonious marriage.

Fijian Wedding

Traditional woven Fijian fabric made up this bride's color wedding outfit.

Eritrean Wedding Dress

Colorful embroidery (tilfi) adorned this Eritrean bride's handmade wedding dress.

Thai Wedding Dress

Vivaris Wedding Studio designed the traditional dress for this bride's celebration in Thailand.

Bulgarian Wedding Dress

Here's another stunning version of Bulgarian wedding attire. The bride's outfit featured lots of bright red.

Ghanaian Wedding Dress

This stylish bride opted for color. Her dress was made from kente cloth.

Japanese Wedding Dress

This bride nodded to her heritage by wearing a custom Miss Tashina wedding dress with Japanese touches. "When we went to Okinawa, Japan, where my mom and her family are from, I bought a bunch of traditional printed fabric called bingata in the classic Okinawan royal colors with the idea of incorporating it into the wedding dress," she told us. "But then I also wanted to have a slightly classic silhouette and to incorporate white."

Korean Wedding Dress

When Joana Pak married The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun, she wore an embellished Korean hanbok by Kim MeHee.

Cambodian Wedding Dress

This Cambodian bride also wore multiple traditional outfits—one being a yellow-and-gold number from Fina Salon Boutique.

Eritrean Wedding Dress

For her big day, this bride stunned in her habesha kemis, a formal type of Eritrean dress. Her entire look was absolutely breathtaking.

Chinese Wedding Dress

For this Chinese tea ceremony, the chic couple wore traditional phoenix-and-dragon qua sets, too.

Indian Wedding Dress

We can't get enough of gorgeous lehengas, like this bride's WellGroomed Designs one.