ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID, NEVER A BRIDE

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The phrase entered the common parlance not through a musical tune, but through print advertisements run by Listerine brand mouthwash beginning in 1925 that were titled “Often a bridesmaid but never a bride” and featured a sad-faced yet fetching young woman.

The text touting the use of Listerine to combat bad breath began “Edna’s case was a really pathetic one. Like every woman, her primary ambition was to marry. Most of the girls of her set were married — or about to be. Yet no one possessed more grace or charm or loveliness than she. And as her birthdays crept towards that tragic thirty-mark, marriage seemed farther from her life than ever. She was often a bridesmaid but never a bride.”

Source: Snopes.com