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It's Wedding Season

It's that time of year when on any given Saturday, you know someone who is getting married.  At least when you're my age, you do.  As I approach my second anniversary in a few months, I think about how much I enjoyed planning my own wedding, and what a wonderful day it was.
Inspired by Sweet Tooth Sweet Life and the story of how her wedding dress came to be, I thought I'd share the story of my dress.  I am a sentimentalist, and I care about tradition.  Our wedding was held in the chapel at my boarding school, which is arguably one of the most beautiful and spiritual buildings I have ever been in. We repeated the vows that have been spoken millions of times.  And I wore my mother's wedding dress.
No stranger to dressing up in vintage wedding gowns, I remember trying on my great-great aunt's dress, my grandmother's, and the year my sister and I were brides for Halloween.
My parents were married in 1976, and my mother's dress was designed by Priscilla's of Boston.  It was elegant, classy, and I think she looked lovely.  It was not, however, the style I was imagining for my mid-July wedding in 2009.
When we unpacked it from the box we found it was in very good condition, no damage, and just needed to be dry cleaned.  Anyone who has ever dry cleaned a wedding dress knows that it costs an unbelievable amount of money, but that's beside the point.  Best of all, it fit me perfectly.  While I loved the lines and many of the details, I was not interested in sleeves or a high neck.  We took the dress to a seamstress for her opinion.  Some minor alterations to shorten the zipper and create armholes, a few hours spent snipping lace with tiny nail scissors, and I had a whole new dress.  
I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, and it meant so much to me to get married wearing the same dress my mother wore 33 years beforehand.  Inside the dress there are two monogrammed ribbons, one with my initials and wedding date, and one with my mother's.  I hope someday another generation will love the dress as much as I do.  

Lastly, because you might be hungry and wondering where my food comments are today, our wedding cake was lemon with raspberry and blueberry compote between the layers.  It was awesome.  


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Comments

  1. KGDApril 2, 2011 at 4:05 PM

    That is so awesome you were able to wear your Mom's dress - it looked beautiful on you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnnApril 4, 2011 at 4:40 PM

    @KGD - Thanks, Kelly!

    ReplyDelete

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