To The Aisle

This past Sunday I went to a Victorian tea & luncheon (I'm a party animal, try to stop me) hosted by my local county Historical Association, which I plan on offering my volunteer-y services for in their vintage clothing "department". (There really is no such thing at the moment, but with my offer to make one, there could be.) While the smoked salmon and watercress pinwheel sammiches were a big draw, I was really there for the vintage fashion show. It was a vintage wedding fashion show and I must admit, I've never been one of those chicks to give a rat's ass about big weddings, the overpriced catered food, the jillion cliched flowers (roses and lilies you say? Why that's never been done!) or the fug dress that only the bride thinks is wonderful. I find weddings about as interesting as listening to other people talk about their kids. (In other words, your kids and your wedding day sucks, so please stop talking about them. No one really cares and everyone has stories of own own, equally as boring as yours.) So you could say I was a bit cynical and slightly underwhelmed going into this thing.

Walking into the massive ballroom in the 105-year-old historic inn started the eye-rolling. There were over 200 people there, all women, all women wearing "shabby chic roses" ensembles, all of whom could probably spin ye a yarn about those crazy days of the kaiser and the day the mighty ship you might have heard about called the Titanic went down. In other words, the average age of the women there was about a thousand. Good lord, this will be a long frigging day. Now would be a good time for jebus to smite my ass, I thought. Turns out, a big chunk of the day was really quite cool after all. (Will Kim learn her lesson about being jaded and judgmental? My sources say probably not. But thanks for trying.)

The most interesting part of the fashion show was the older wedding attire, the dresses that were pre-50's, the stuff that you generally just don't ever see in person, outside of seeing pieces like these in movies. The collection was privately owned by a local woman and she knew the back story of every dress she had in the collection. Some of the stories were fascinating, some even made this cold metal heart o'mine even start beating again. (I'll spare you pictures of the 70's and 80's gowns because, eew.) The models are all local high school girls, some of whom are related to the original bride that wore the very dress they're modeling! I love serendipity. I love when I can use the word serendipity in a sentence and it not be entirely wrong.




This 40's wedding suit was bought back in the day at a local dress shop for $40!




40's blue velvet w/lace accents. Story is that the bride who wore this didn't see her husband for 6 years (!), as he was shipped out shortly after their wedding.




40's satin




30's satin w/mutton sleeves




30's pink lace bridesmaid dress. You can't really make it out, but the entire pattern of the lace is of big spiderwebs! Coolest dress ever.




20's drop-waist satin




This was the 20's flower girl dress that was in the actual wedding with the dress above. The little girl was the biggest hit of the day, looking like the spitting image of Shirley Temple! She was seriously the cutest little girl I think I've ever seen.




teens lace wedding gown, worn by the great-granddaughter of the original bride who wore this!




dress from 1902




white cotton from 1901




black wedding dress, worn in the 1870s and again worn in 1909 at her husband's funeral! You gotta respect a woman that comes prepared. And can stay the same size after 40 years of marriage.




"To the Aisle" recorded by the Five Satins in 1957.