A bridal hijab and a wedding veil are two different garments that do two different jobs. The hijab covers the hair, neck and chest and is worn all day; the veil is a sheer length of tulle or chiffon pinned over the head for the ceremony and the photographs, and it covers nothing on its own. A Muslim bride who wears hijab can wear the hijab alone, the veil over the hijab, or a hijab styled to look like a veil, and all three are common. What she cannot do is swap one for the other, which is the confusion behind most of the questions we get. This guide explains the difference, whether a Muslim bride has to wear a hijab, how brides wear the two together, what to look for in each, and which of our gowns include them so the whites match.
What is the difference between a veil and a hijab?
A hijab is an opaque scarf that covers the hair, ears, neck and usually the chest, the covering the Qur'an refers to when it asks believing women to draw their khimar over their chests (Surah An-Nur 24:31). It is worn by many Muslim women every day and by a bride in a bridal fabric on her wedding day. A veil is a sheer, decorative layer worn over the head at a wedding, Western in origin, that frames the face and the back of the gown and is lifted or removed after the ceremony. The hijab is coverage; the veil is ornament. A bride in hijab who adds a veil is layering ornament over coverage. A bride who is not a hijabi and wears only a veil is not covered, because the veil is transparent. The overlap that causes confusion is visual: a bridal hijab in white chiffon, draped long and pinned at the crown, can look like a veil in photographs, and a long lace-edged veil pinned over a white hijab can look like part of it. Our guide to hijab wedding styles shows eight ways of wearing the hijab itself; this guide is about the choice between the two and how they work together.
Do Muslim brides have to wear a hijab?
A bride who wears hijab in daily life wears it on her wedding day; a bride who does not, does not, and the wedding does not change that either way. There is no rule that a Muslim bride must cover for the ceremony if she does not otherwise, and no rule that a hijabi bride may uncover because it is her wedding. In a women-only reception, which many families hold, a hijabi bride may remove the hijab in the hall and put it on for the mixed portions and the photographs with male relatives; that is a practical arrangement rather than a religious one and varies by family. What this means for the dress is that a hijabi bride needs a gown built for the hijab (a closed high collar, sleeves to the wrist, a closed back), and a non-hijabi Muslim bride who wants a modest gown needs the same coverage in the gown but can choose any neckline the hijab would otherwise have covered.
How do Muslim brides wear the veil with a hijab?
Three ways, in order of how common they are.
Hijab alone, styled bridally
The hijab in the gown's white, wrapped close and pinned at the crown or draped long down the back, with a headpiece, a beaded band or nothing at all. This is the nikkah look for most brides and the whole-day look for many: clean, covered, and it photographs the collar and the beading of the gown without competition. It works best when the hijab is the exact white of the gown, which is why the ones we include are made to match the gown.
Veil over the hijab
A sheer veil pinned over a fitted white hijab, so the hijab does the covering and the veil does the framing. This is the walima and the photograph look: the veil adds length, movement and the back-of-the-gown picture that a hijab alone does not give. The veil should be pinned to the hijab, not the hair, at the crown or just behind it; a cathedral or chapel length reads best over a gown with a train, a fingertip length over a gown without. A lace or beaded edge on the veil should echo the gown, not add a new pattern.
Hijab styled as a veil
A long, light hijab in chiffon or tulle-backed fabric, wrapped once close to the face and then left to fall long down the back like a veil. One garment, the coverage of a hijab and the line of a veil, and the choice of brides who want the veil silhouette without a second layer to pin. It needs a longer hijab than usual, at least two metres, and a fabric with enough weight to fall rather than float.
What should a bridal hijab be made of?
The same fabric as the gown, or as close to it as the gown allows. Chiffon is the most common bridal hijab fabric: it drapes, it pins cleanly and it is light enough to wrap twice. Satin matches a satin gown but is slippery and shows every pin, so it is usually worn in a simpler wrap with an under-cap. Lace and tulle are used as an overlay on an opaque base rather than alone. Jersey and modal, the everyday hijab fabrics, look like everyday hijabs in photographs and are best avoided for the wedding itself, though they are practical for the henna night. Whatever the fabric, the colour has to be exact. White comes in a dozen shades from blue-white to ivory to cream, and a hijab one shade off reads as a different white in every photograph. That matching problem is the single best reason to buy the hijab with the gown.
What should a wedding veil be, for a hijabi bride?
Lighter and simpler than a Western bridal veil, because it is sitting over a hijab rather than over hair. Single-tier rather than two-tier, since there is no blusher to lift over the face. Tulle or soft chiffon, with a plain cut edge or a narrow lace edge; a heavily beaded veil over a beaded gown and a beaded hijab is too much. Length matched to the gown: a sweep or chapel veil for a gown with a train, elbow or fingertip for one without. And a comb that will hold in fabric, not hair, or a set of pins, because the veil is anchored to the hijab. Ours are made in the gown's white and pin to the hijab at the crown.
Which is better for a nikkah, and which for a walima?
For the nikkah, the hijab alone. The ceremony is seated, the room is small, the photographs are close, and the veil adds nothing but a layer to manage while signing. For the walima, the veil over the hijab or the hijab styled long: the room is large, the photographs are from a distance and from behind, and the veil gives the entrance and the back-of-the-gown pictures their line. Brides who wear one gown to both events usually add the veil between them. Our guides to what to wear to your nikkah and the walima dress cover the gowns for each.
Which gowns include the hijab and the veil?
Most of ours include the matching hijab, and most of the white gowns include the veil too, made to match the gown so there is nothing to match afterwards. The white gowns with both the hijab and the veil in the box are the Khadija ($850), Fatima ($900), Betul ($990), Beyza ($1,000), Aysha, Maryam and Ayah ($1,600), Sarah, Husna and Almas ($1,750), Amina and Shamaal ($1,900), Nadia and Noor ($2,000), Zehra, Eman and Habiba ($2,100) and Aleena ($2,800). The coloured gowns, where a veil is rarely worn, include the matching hijab: the Bushra in dusty blue, the Amsah in dusty rose, the Zaina, Hafsa and Gul in red, the Izza and Sana in green, the Neha and Aniya in gold, the Zaynab in pink, and the Safa, Amal and Asma in blue and navy. Three lighter gowns, the Rana, Dua and Beyda, are listed without a hijab or veil. Every product page says what is in the box.
How do you keep the hijab and veil in place all day?
An under-cap in a grip fabric under the hijab, so the hijab has something to hold. Straight pins through the hijab into the under-cap at the crown and at each side of the jaw, not safety pins, which show. The veil pinned to the hijab at the crown with two or three pins crossed, or a comb sewn onto a small piece of the hijab fabric so it can grip the wrap. A test run a week before, in the gown's fabric, wearing it for two hours and turning your head: what slips in the test will slip on the day. And for a long veil, a friend assigned to it for the entrance and the photographs, because a chapel-length veil over a hijab will not stay behind you on its own.
Buying the gown, hijab and veil together
If you buy the three separately you will spend more time matching whites than choosing the dress. Buying them together from the maker of the gown means one white and one delivery, which is how we sell ours: the hijab with most gowns, the veil with most white gowns, sewn to your ten measurements in 8 to 10 weeks with express and rush at checkout, free shipping in the US and shipping to Canada, Australia, the UK, Ireland and 14 countries in Europe (any import duties or VAT are paid by the buyer on delivery). The hijab wedding dresses collection lists what each gown includes, the measuring guide explains the measurements, and the guide to buying a hijab wedding dress online covers what to ask any seller before you pay.