Wedding Veil
How?

First, let's lower the veil. In today's weddings, the veil is carefully lowered just before she enters the chapel. Lowering the veil is a tiny ceremony in itself and must be done delicately. From this moment, the bride's vision is slightly obscured. For many brides this causes no problem at all, but for some, it can cause slight emotional stress or excitement. Worth practising in the days running up to the wedding if possible. The attendant lowering the veil must make sure that it doesn't catch on the tiara or spoil the hair-style. If it's a medium length or long veil, the attendant makes sure it covers the bouquet without damaging any petals. Sometimes the attendant is a hotel staff member, a bridesmaid, or perhaps the bride's mother who is performing her last duty for her child.

The veil then stays lowered until near or at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony, when it is lifted by the groom as his first action as a new husband. The bride usually does not assist in lifting the veil, since the act is to symbolize the man assisting the woman. The veil lifting should not be seen as male dominance and female subservience, but rather one assisting and the other accepting that assistance.

The veil should be lifted slowly. The groom should give ample time for people to take a few photographs at this point of the wedding ceremony (Japanese: Shatta chansu - 'shutter chance'). The following procedure works for the most popular Medium Long length of veil:

• First, the pastor will invite the groom to lift the veil.
• On this cue, the couple face each other and the groom takes a small step forward if necessary, so that the distance between the groom's shoulders and the bride's shoulders are about the length of the groom's outstretched arms. If her skirt is full, he may need to slide one foot under her dress to get sufficiently close.
• The groom then positions his hands at the front bottom edge of the veil, shoulder-width apart with palms forward and fingers pointing upwards. He places his thumbs under the veil ready to lift.
• Slowly lifting the veil straight upwards should take about three seconds. As he lifts the veil, she may need lower her height by slowly bending her knees. With his arms straight up in the Banzai! position, the veil should now be vertical with no sagging.
• It helps photographers if the groom holds the veil in that position for a couple of seconds.
• Then the groom slowly lowers the veil behind the bride's head, gently pulling straight any folds, starting at the back and working around the sides.
• The groom then places his hands on her shoulders, ready to hold her for the Wedding Kiss.

The groom should not try to open the veil like a pair of net curtains. Practise!