My Vintage Wedding Dress

As soon as Jake proposed, naturally, I started looking for a dress. I tore through countless bridal magazines and performed hundreds of internet searches. Sadly, I just wasn’t impressed with the selection. There were lots of beautiful dresses but none that I had imagined wearing at a southern farm wedding in my parents' barn. With a small budget and high standards, I knew it was going to be a challenge to find a dress.

I had one requirement for wedding dress shopping: I would not step foot into a stuffy bridal boutique…the kind where they serve bubbly water and artificial opinions. Fortunately, I soon realized the texture and style I had in mind echoed of another age and I knew I wouldn’t find it regular bridal shop (whew!)

I deemed my dream dress to be of vintage origins and set out to find it, however long it would take. Were vintage dresses more money? I didn’t have a clue. My mom and I decided to go to some antique stores to scout out our playing field. After stumbling upon one-too-many long-sleeved, polyester, 1970’s dresses, I started to realize how hard it would be. But hope wasn’t lost until all resources had been exhausted...we hadn’t actually been to any clothing-specific vintage shops yet.

One Saturday morning, my mom and younger sister, Rachael, made a trip here to Richmond to begin our vintage clothing shop conquest. With only two places in mind, we agreed we needed backup.  We sat in the car before our search began and prayed that God would help us find the perfect dress he had already chosen for me (I highly recommend this practice). 

Bygones Vintage Clothing in Richmond, VA

The first shop on our list, Bygones, was just charming. Heading over to the first thing I saw, I started fumbling through some 1950’s party dresses attempting to look unsuspicious as not to attract any special attention. My plan went awry almost as quickly as it had begun when Rachael called out for all to hear, “Hannah, the wedding dresses are back here!!!”

In the tiny dressing room with a curtain for a door, unreasonable amounts of shuffling, and squawking took place in order to get into a dress and out the “door." I soon realized why brides preferred those uppity shops. 

As soon as it was buttoned, I knew this was the dress. It needed some work, but it was just what I had envisioned…intricate cascading lace, a full skirt, and a 1950’s waistline.

 

I tried on two other dresses and decided that they didn’t compare to the first. I wiggled back into the dress with billowing lace. By this point, employees and customers had gathered round to see which dress I would choose. Feeling a bit pressured to produce some Saturday afternoon entertainment for these people, I announced that this was the dress. My mom stuffed me and the dress back into the fitting room and out I popped minutes later, ready to make my purchase.

As I signed the check, I thanked God for providing such a perfect dress with such a lovely price. The dress ended up being a whopping $375! You can’t beat that kind of deal for all that lace. The woman at the checkout recommended a seamstress who specialized in vintage dresses. When we got in the car, we called the seamstress who told us she was free right then. We scurried on over and had the most charming meeting. She was confident that she would be able to fix up the dress to my liking.

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10

Tips for finding a vintage wedding dress:

 1) Pray 

• The Lord loves to give good gifts to his children! (Matthew 7:11)

 2) Locate vintage clothing stores in your state

• Do a google search for stores

• Ask vintage clothing shop owners where other stores are located

• Call before going to a shop to find out their hours, wedding dress inventory, etc.

  3) Shop online

• Beware that it can be hard to tell the quality of the clothing from a picture 

•  BARGAIN! There aren't a ton of people looking for vintage wedding dresses so sometimes vendors are in a hurry to sell, even at a lower price than listed.

• Etsy.com 

• Ebay.com

• Pinterest.com

4) Be aware that most 1950's waistlines are pretty tiny...like 24 inches tiny. And the boob area is usually pointy (not a fan).

5) Find a seamstress that you can trust. Make sure she specializes in vintage clothing. Most vintage needs a good, long soak to remove stains and dust. You really don't want to give the dry cleaner an opportunity to kill a 60-year-old dress.

6) Ask your grandma, great grandma, your fiance's grandma, and your friend's grandma if you can rummage through their attic for their wedding dress (try and find a picture first so you know what you're getting yourself into!).

 

7)  Other places to keep your eye out (Call ahead to ask about their selection):

• Estate Sales

• Antique Malls

• Thrift stores