Shiromuku and Uchikake

At Japanese weddings, brides will often wear three or more dresses throughout the ceremony and subsequent celebrations with a traditional kimono, white and colour dress combination being popular.

A Shiromuku is a white Kimono worn in traditional Japanese wedding ceremonies. 

Two choices of headgear exist. One, the watabōshi, is a white hood; the other, called the tsunokakushi, serves to hide the bride's 'horns of jealousy.' It also symbolizes the bride's intention to become a gentle and obedient wife.

White is used, because in Japan it symbolizes death—in this case, the bride becomes dead to her family. The bride will eventually remove her white kimono to reveal another colored one—usually red—to symbolize her rebirth into her husband's family.

Uchikake is a highly formal kimono worn only by a bride or at a stage performance. The Uchikake is often heavily brocaded and is supposed to be worn outside the actual kimono and obi (sash), as a sort of coat. One therefore never ties the obi around the uchikake. It is supposed to trail along the floor, this is also why it is heavily padded along the hem. The uchikake of the bridal costume is either white or very colorful often with red as the base color.