Wedding Dress Blues!

WHY, oh why, fellow vintage lovers, were 1950's and 60's people so small?

As you might have known from a post a couple months ago, I'm still shooting for a November wedding, but gosh, am I dragging my feet on planning. The best I can do lately is to ebay and etsy fantasy shop for dresses, but they are ALL. TOO. SMALL. Oh my goodness, was there no one with a waist circumference bigger than two hands cupped together in the post-war, pre-Nixon era?

I'm not plus-sized, but for a six foot tall gal, my human skeleton is just going to be larger than you reet petites out there... I think I would have to have a rib removed, Victorian corseteers style, to have the 22''-25'' waists a lot of these dresses boast. AND you need an inch or so wiggle room so that you can perform optional tasks, such as walking, eating, or breathing while IN the dress. While I've squeezed myself into modern dress size 5's and 6's (with a free hip measurements... I'm about a modern 12 in fitted-skirt dresses), I would feel very anxious indeed to buy a dress in the $150-$200 range, which I'm *certain* was originally designed for someone four to ten inches shorter than me, on the thin hope that it will fit perfectly.

I thought I'd show you a few of the gems and jewels I've been looking at, for an idea of the heartache and pining involved in searching for "THE dress" outside of David's Bridal (I haven't been, but the prices scare me) and outside of the size 0 to 6. In the end, I hope to poll you, the audience, in search of alternative options. Keeping in mind, of course, that I've probably procrastinated far too long slash am way too cheap to have a dress made for me. Hopeless. I'm a hopeless case!

Gorgeous! Look at the unusual lace banding! This dress is actually a 30'' waist, which is a mite too large, but the problem with that is that the ensuing bustline is 40''. Ay yi yi. I think about how a 5'2'' person in the 1960's, with the measurements 40-30-36, would be a pretty pneumatic lady, which I, admittedly, am not. Bazooms, and the lack thereof, keeps me from properly fitting into these types of dresses, and I think trying to alter them would just make me look a little like I was wearing someone else's clothes. Which, admittedly, is something I do just about every day... but do you ever get something, try it on (or even worse, buy it and take it home only to) then realize whoever was meant to wear it was about the EXACT OPPOSITE of your own size and style? Maybe way taller, maybe way shorter, maybe thinner, maybe super busty, maybe hipless, but at any rate, somehow your polar opposite? I've had this experience after buying things size-unseen (heaped up with $1 finds at estate sales), and boy is it disappointing. I just don't know if I could take that big of a bite on items that are for the most part un-returnable.

Also, definitely looking for that late 50's, full skirt and nipped waist look, but GEE were people's waist NIPPED at the time!

I've been going nuts over these "with bolero" wedding ensembles, or the kind that have a little suit-ish top and then a 50's prom dress under-dress. What a neat idea, above, to put a cotton candy styled dress with a more structured, boxy jacket. You could go from wedding to reception in a few snaps. Below, the same idea with a pretty little lace shrug. I have trouble with the sleeves being long enough, but I'm still holding out for my dream dress with over-generous sleeve allowances. It's possible, by gum, it's possible!

What do you guys think is reasonable for a 50's or 60's wedding dress? I think I'm spoiled by the estate sales to expect price tags between $30 and $100, but $100 seems to be on the lowest of the low end. I've seen some dresses that are "as-is", "for pattern study only" that start at $80. I should've been scrutinizing those darn dresses when I saw them months ago at the sales! As it goes, now that I'm looking I don't see them nearly as much as I was seeing them. Le sigh.

Below, dig the kind of "surprise" pattern in the subtle brocade of the dress, which has an Asian motif to it (close up for a better look, click away!). I have a dress a lot like this, but in color (beige with pale blue and light pink figures) and with a slimmer collar, but I want the white one. Isn't it totally wedding-ready? I terribly, all-the-way love the line on this one.

Below, for that Joanne Whalley in the Scarlett miniseries look... but seriously, how handmade this one looks at the same time as looking totally trashy/sexy romance novel. And I'm so very not above the princess look or 1800's look. But again, to get into this one, I would need some stays. I think this is a 22'' waist. Maybe a rib-ectomy is not so expensive. But seriously! Where do people go for cut-rate alterations? Is it really as expensive and time consuming as people say to do alterations? I'm a mean cross-stitcher, but my talents at sewing are limited to repairwork (unstitched hems, etc). Something this major is beyond my abilities at present.

Another idea, seeing as I'm going semi-traditional but not Emily Post letter perfect, would be to have a pastel or pretty colored lace prom dress, opening up my options from shades of white and off-white. This, with some sort of a contrasting, ruffled shirt on Babu (he already has a Danny Zuko pink one I scored at the Goodwill in east Nashville... you never know what you'll find when you keep digging!), would give everything a nice pop of color that might be different without being too far from the norm. I really want it to have a Donna Reed quality to the whole thing, I can't help myself.

There's pale pink, for the hint of color...

Or, if we're going whole hog, why not robin's egg blue? (I almost bought this dress... it's a 26'' waist... so close. I just think if I want to move around in it at all, it would have to at least be a 27'' or a 28''...)

I saw the prettiest dress on Mary Deluxe at her Deluxeville blog, which was about the color of the dress below. She looked GREAT on her wedding day! Not to mention she found it online at a Goodwill auction site. Jealous bones. :) Isn't that salmon pink just a dream of a color?

Last but not least, in the same vein, an apple-green number. Imagine this was a lot of white crinoline underneath and Matthew in a yellow ruffled tuxedo shirt. YES.

Anyway, just some ideas on wedding finery. I have enough costume jewlery to make Gloria Swanson blush, but no dress! I've been working on this for weeks with no conclusive leads. If you have any super pro wedding tips, please send them my way? Congrats to all you newlyweds and soon-to-be-weds out there in the vintage blogosphere right now, by the way. We seem to be legion! I hope I can shake loose a few recommendations from all those clever minds out there. Keep me in the know!

Postscript:

I think it would be very appropriate to have a bridal-veiled bellydancer at my wedding with projections of the 5th Dimension being played across her gyrating form while "Wedding Bell Blues" is being played... right? Could we at least play this video at the reception?

Til next time.