Rich and I got married in 1977 when I was 20 years old and he was 21. I know that's pretty darn young and I definitely would not have wanted my daughter to marry that young. But those were different days and I was never encourage to pursue a career or go out and live on my own so when I fell in love with Rich marriage was encouraged and welcomed. If I'm being honest too, my mother was so afraid that I would get pregnant before being married that I swear I could hear a big sigh of relief coming from her when the priest pronounced us man and wife!
In retrospect we could have saved ourselves a lot of grief by just maturing a few more years before we got married and had a family!
That is all water under the bridge now. We've been married almost 44 years and have raised two wonderful children so it's all worked out well in the end.
This post is actually about my wedding dress.
I first saw a picture of it in a bridal magazine. I ripped it out and took it to a local bridal shop and they ordered it for me. If I recall right it cost $150.00.
It was a beautiful dress.
When Shauna and Brad got married I cut a piece out of it to make something for Shauna to put inside her dress. The dress was pretty yellowed by then!
I threw the veil away when we moved from Canton to here a few years ago.
Here's what the dress looks like now.
This picture makes it look a lot lighter than it actually is. In my quest to simplify and get rid of unnecessary stuff I decided this dress had to go. Shauna doesn't want it and once I cut a piece out of it it wasn't donatable anymore.
Before I throw it away though, I took all of the pearls and buttons off of it.
Thankfully there was only 14 buttons; 6 on each sleeve and two in the back for the bustle. They were hard to get off!
There was however hundreds of pearls and it took me a few hours with a seam ripper to remove them all.
So right now the dress is laying on the floor in my office/craft room. Although I want to get rid of it, I hesitate to throw it in the garbage where it will sit in a landfill for many years! I may peruse Pinterest to see if there are any interesting ideas!
I put the buttons in my button jar and I think I will string a necklace or something with the pearls.
Oh yes, remember Peignoir sets? I had one of them sitting in the same bag as the dress.
My mom and grandmother bought it for me for my wedding shower. Like the dress, I only wore it once! I cut the embroidery and lace parts and the buttons off of it and that's going in the garbage too.
Next post I will tell you about my mom's wedding dress. I have it and it looks almost as beautiful as it did they day her and my dad got married!
Until then stay safe and well my friends!
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You may be able to donate your wedding dress: https://www.emilias-wings.org/angel-gowns/
ReplyDeleteAh! What a wonderful, if poignant, post. Your dress was absolutely gorgeous and you were stunning wearing it. And there's nothing wrong with covering up. It is obvious that you're attached to the dress, since you've gone to the trouble to recycle some of it, and are reluctant to put it in the trash. I don't blame you! I'm not sure if it's still a "thing" but some years back, there was a trend -- probably started by a photographer -- to "trash the dress" after the wedding. Brides put on their dresses and acted like car mechanics, soiling their dress with grease, or wallowed in paints or jumped in water to destroy it, while the photographer took pictures. One young bride actually died when she got all the way into a river in her dress, and the water weighed the dress down and she was carried away and drowned. All of which I find appalling. I think we should treasure our wedding dresses. I wrote a post about it featuring the pictures I took of my dress. I hope you don't mind if I post a link, but if you do, just remove it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jennyweber.com/june-12/2012/6/5/treasure-the-dress-trash-the-stupidity.html
My dress also had a jewel neckline and long sleeves. It was all of white cotton lace and it was by Jacques Heim, from Paris. It was fitted all the way to the waist where there was a matching lace peplum, and deep droopy ruffle at the end of each sleeve. It was breathtaking, almost a cosmic white. No pearls or sequins; it really was rather plain.
My entire ensemble cost around $500 and that was in 1979. I worked to pay every penny of it myself and yes, my dress went into its garment bag where it is at this moment, in an upstairs closet. It's incredibly small, unlike me now. In addition to the post I did in 2012 about it, in 2019 for our 40th anniversary, I brought the dress to my son's house where we were having a party with our children, and displayed it along with about fifty family pictures. It was fun.
I will not be the one to get rid of it; someone else will have to take care of that after I'm gone. Nothing would thrill me more than if one of my granddaughters would wear it, but I don't think that's going to happen. The nearest one in age to marriage is only twelve, and I can't think that my taste in 1979 would be her taste a decade or more from now. But God is good and He is faithful, and after a lot of water under the bridge, as you say, we are left with wonderful (if some bittersweet) memories and the beloved children and cherished grandchildren. I wouldn't change a thing. xoxo
I really enjoyed this post! I married 9 years after you and my dress is somewhat similar, with long sleeves and a high neckline. I designed it using a few different patterns and a seamstress made it for me. I think I paid a total of $150 for mine including the material. The cost to have it professionally cleaned and stored in a box was at least $75 which I could not afford at the time. I did my best and it’s not in bad shape, but my daughter had no interest in it and she’s bigger than me anyway. I did try it on on our 30th anniversary and it still fit perfectly!
ReplyDeleteWell, it sure did suffer some wear. Even if you had taken better care of it, who would have ever used it again? I think this was a wonderful idea. Just save the pearls and buttons and maybe take a few fabric cuttings. It is a beautiful dress!
ReplyDeleteWow...beautiful gown. The history is so very bitter-sweet. (I donated my dress years ago) I'm glad I did, but sentiments & memories will never fade away.
ReplyDeleteI still have my wedding dress too. Of course that husband has been history for over 20 years now...lol I'm kind of curious about what kind of shape that dress is in
ReplyDeleteThat was a beautiful wedding dress. Didn't take care of mine either and ended up throwing it away years ago. I too was married at 20 in 1972.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought I was a baby when I got married at 23! I love this post and how much you shared. I too was never told or encouraged to go to college....it was work and marriage. Your dress was lovely and I'm really surprised it held up so well without being 'preserved'.
ReplyDeleteSo sweet that you could cut off the buttons and pearls. Oh and that nightgown. How traditional it was, even for that time. No?
I think I was given thongs and teddy's when we married in 1985. Sadly, none of them fit me. :)
Your dress was beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI was also 20 when I got married in 1981, my hubby was 22. We thought we knew it all!
I still have my dress - it's packed in a box and I haven't looked at it forever. And I would never fit in it now!
I've heard there are people you can donate wedding dresses to that will make gowns for babies who pass before birth. I think that's so sweet, but I don't know how you find those people!
Beautiful. I love all the lace and the pearls. I think a necklace would be lovely.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post with good memories. I know nothing about wedding dresses lol. :D
ReplyDeleteJust gorgeous. And I'm so glad you have been happy together all this time.
ReplyDeleteIt was a beautiful dress and your were certainly beautiful in the dress. I enjoyed this post and can't wait to hear about your mother's wedding dress.
ReplyDeleteAwwwwwwww.... what a beautiful dress, Jeanette! I'm glad you salvaged the parts of it that you did. My dress was supposedly "treated" at the dry cleaners, before they boxed it up. It still has the plastic around the box the dress is in. I have never opened it. My oldest daughter wanted her own dress although mine would have fit her like a glove. ::shrug:: My youngest daughter says she would like to wear it so we'll see. I'm 5'9" tall and she's 5'1" tall... *haha*... so some alterations will have to be done, for sure. Thank you for this beautiful story & even more beautiful pictures. You made a gorgeous bride!! ~Andrea xoxo
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! My wedding dress got left behind, we had stored some things in a storage unit and the guy who owned the storage unit bellied up and whoever bought it (the company) did whatever with our things. It was a horrible time and we eventually won a court case...never mind...just so sad to think about it/our things...
ReplyDeleteI couldn't wear my mothers dress (I was too "busty") and I paid nearly $1,600 for mine, my folks refused to help out...it was all lace --I'll have to post a photo sometime. smiles
Thank you for sharing and for the smiles.
Your dress is absolutely beautiful. I got married in a $13 dress from Hills department store, 1984. It was lacy and pretty, and I added a piece of wide pink velvet ribbon to the waist, tied in the back, but, why on earth did I do that? I also had a two dollar wide brimmed hat. The marriage has lasted, the dress...I gave it to my girls long ago, to play dress up in, along with my prom dress. I think it's great that you saved the goodies from the dress!
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