It's Wedding Dress Season!

I like to think that my brides are a unique group of strong, creative, independent women.

Gone are the days when women felt pressured to get married right out of high school. Gone are the days when you had to be married in order to live together, or risk being labeled a floozy (as my dad used to say) or disowned by your family! The social revolutions in the 60's put an end to most of that. Hooray for the 1960’s when a whole generation rebelled against traditional values! Women were given more of a choice in things. In regards to weddings and bridal dress, some still clung to the traditional white gear. However, at the time it was more fashionable to go with less ostentatious styles. Cotton fabrics were more suitable for the mindset of this generation. Brides wore styles like the peasant dress and could've easily gone barefoot and had the ceremony in the woods. In the end, if you didn’t want a long white dress with a veil, it wasn't such an issue any more.

My beautiful mom and her gaggle of bridesmaids. 

My grandmother Mary made all the dresses.

I started making wedding dresses in the early 80's. The women interested in getting a custom dress from me were looking for something different, something more personal to celebrate in. Not only were they looking for something that they had a part in creating, it would have elements of style and color that were reflective of their own personality and sensibilities. In the last couple of years it seems we have returned to weddings with all the trimmings (similar to the 50’s)! With it there comes all kinds of big and small salons, hundreds of dresses off the rack to choose from.. There are also more independant designers like myself, offering one of a kind designs custom-made for the unique bride, or what the press refers to as “the alternative bride”. Luckily, there is a place for everyone to find a dress these days. My favorite statement about a wedding dress is taken from the colonial period, “you just have to have the best dress in the room”.  


These days, the options are endless!

It can be long, short, or have a bunny tail. 

It can have color!

It could be black for all that matters...

Photo by: Patricia Sullivan

Aspects of the wedding dress and it's different styles resurface over and over again in history. Trains and veils go in and out of style in the same way that white does.

                     

 For a long time the white dress, in one fashion or another, has held a firm grip on the bride’s imagination.