My Mom's 1982 Wedding Dress

Good morning!

Well, folks, I lived through the madness of an entire weekend of wedding dress shopping, but there's good news! I did manage to find "the one"!!! AAAAH, CUE MASSIVE EXCITEMENT OVER HAVING A DRESS TO WEAR TO MY UPCOMING CEREMONY. I still have to run out to Franklin to pick it up some time this week as it had to be ordered from Ohio, but we've already locked in the promise to buy it when it does make its way south to Williamson County. Commitment! What a wedding's all about, right?

I can't show you photos of the dress because it's still in transit PLUS I am being super superstitious about not letting Matthew see me in my big dress before the big day. Just for fun, though, here's a series of photos of me trying on my mom's wedding dress from year of our Lord 1982. Take a look!

I mentioned to Eartha that my grandma's tv is so big, you can almost picture me getting married to Brian Williams from the nightly news in some of the unedited photos, as he is truly lifesize.

Background to this story: my mom is always right. UGH, HOW IT GRIEVES ME TO ADMIT IT. My ma is honestly, 99.9% of the time, completely correct in most of her advice-giving. She may not know the most politic way to express this rightness, but I find myself, even at this advanced age, to be in constant state of wonder at her mysterious proclamations coming true. Case in point, trying on this dress. The actual act of putting it on was prefaced by weeks, and weeks, AND WEEKS of her going, "Try my dress on TRY MY DRESS ON try my dress on! You'll like it! Really, you should at least try it!". And me trying to politely demur, as I had memories of some of her bridesmaids' blasted out, feathered perms in the eighties' and was extremely leery of  being forced to walk down the aisle in something out of Falcon Crest. 

No, no, no, NO NO NO NO NO. (to the tune of "Nobody but Me")

The box, it bears noting, has an illustration of a blushing, mid-seventies' era bride in all her wedding finery, and a line of brides WITHOUT FACES lining up behind her as far as the eye can see. Ostensibly, these are her future progeny and her progeny's progeny, and on and on...hopefully, they are not some creatures chasing her out of a Silent Hill like nightmare scene. "Your Wedding Dress, for generations to come!" reads the legend  in calligraphy across the bottom of the illustration, in swooping, copperplate hand. What the...ok, that's seriously awesome, but what is going on with that? I wish I'd thought to take a picture. We ignored this ancient curse and opened the box anyway.

I now know that I want a bouquet that drapes like this, and that I can pull of a maxi-dress with neck-to-wrist coverage!

The dress was really in very good condition and very pretty, with a good deal of lace in the front and a modest train in the back. The empire waist of the top portion BUT JUST fit, and in spite of the three or four inch height difference between my mother and I, I think it's a good length, too! I immediately emailed these photos of dress to my friend Kelsey and my sister Sus and my vintage-comrade-in-arms Eartha Kitsch with the hopes that they would allay my fears that I did, in fact, look like I was guesting on a very special episode of The Facts of Life. But they were supportive! I was particularly into the lace at the top of the dress, the seventies' pouf of the sheer sleeves terminating in tight, snapped wrist-closures (I know I'm wrong for that, but I love it), the sweet little train, and the traditional veil. It really came down to, in the end, if I wanted to have a very seventies' influenced, vintage-style dress, or if I wanted to stick to my guns in the tiny-waist, strapless, big ol' round skirt silhouette that my Kennedy era heart cries out for. 

WHAT. A DRESS. PEOPLE. LOOK AT THAT DRESS. source

Luckily, after some starts and stops at David's Bridal, we found a dream of a dress at (OF ALL PLACES) a boutique in the Cool Springs Mall. I want to do a whole post on it some time later this year, but know that it's supremely flattering, a beautiful antique ivory color, silk for days, and makes me look not a little like Deborah Kerr in The King and I (without the sleeves! Dear Lord, what were they thinking with those sleeves?) in the best, childhood dream way possible. SUCCESS. 

One last look at the dress that could have been! I'll have to dig out my folks' wedding pictures some time and show them to you. My mom really was a supremely pretty bride in this same dress. Maybe someday one of her granddaughters will be, too!

I love this goofy little picture! It's secretly making me have a tiny pang I can't wear ALL the wedding dresses!

Did you have any particular inspiration in your head when you chose a wedding gown, all you brides out there? Did you stick to your original image, or did you find yourself falling in love with something completely outside the box? What did your mom's wedding dress look like?

I promise, for you regular readers, to get back to our normal vintage rantings and ramblings tomorrow! I found a few things at the flea market this weekend and some items last week for the house, so it won't be all bride talk all the time, I promise! I'm just so excited about the progress we're making on having this whole thing come together! :)

Have a great Monday, and I'll see you all tomorrow!