Back in 1840, Queen Victoria said "I Do" to her German cousin Prince Albert, dressed in a white satin court train bordered with orange blossom.

It was a romantic gesture made to illustrate her status within the ceremony as an adoring wife, rather than Head of State in her crimson velvet robe of state.

It also kick-started a trend for white wedding dresses, especially among High Society brides, when hitherto the preference had always leaned towards coloured gowns in mauve, azure or pale pink.

Ever since then, the style of a wedding dress has acted as a savvy barometer of the rapidly changing world of fashion, in all its of-the-moment brilliance.

For her 1956 wedding to Prince Rainer III of Monaco, Grace Kelly wore a dress that drew together all the elements of Fifties style in one spectacular moment. The "peau de soie and lace masterpiece" consisted of a full skirt with a long-sleeved bodice and a matte red lip as the crucial finishing touch.

Then we had Princess Diana's 1981 ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown designed by the Emanuels - a benchmark for the affluence and abandon of the 80s.

Now the folks over at luxury hotel brand Fairmont have pulled together the evolution of the wedding dress over the past 100 years, with beautiful illustrations to match, in one handy infographic.

The infographic shows clearly how far wedding trends have changed in the past ten decades, with a detailed snapshot of tastes in beauty, fashion, flowers and more for each particular epoch.

We've gone from this in the 1900s...

A century in wedding dresses; from the 20s cloche veil to the 50s full skirt and beyond