<p>I’m married almost 30 years now, and I was trying to remember how much I paid for my dress. It was either 100, or maybe 500 marked down to 250. No way it was over 500. </p>
<p>I’m going to start a new thread on what us parents did for our weddings, especially those married over 20 years. I’m sure there are some elaborate ones out there, but it would be great to give the kids out there a perspective on how things have changed or stayed the same.</p>
<p>Thirty-five years ago, when I was getting married, my cousin offered me her dress. Her father was in the fashion industry, and her dress had cost $10,000 in 1969. I tried it on, and it fit perfectly, just needed cleaning. I decided to wait until the very end to get it cleaned, and a friend at work told me about a cleaner in Brooklyn that specialized in such items. I dragged the dress to work in a suitcase from the Bronx, and after work we went to Brooklyn. The owner said he needed to check the fabric, and when he did, the fabric dissolved right beforw my eyes. I cried on the subway (dress in suitcase) all the way home, a 90 minute ride. This was two weeks before the wedding. When I got home, my mother and I had to go out to find a dress. We went to a local store (Mme. Baldwina on Fordham Road–bless those people) and I had to take whatever they had. No time to order. My dress cost $180.</p>
<p>My dress cost either $300 or $350, in 1978. I still have it.</p>
<p>And Yes, I can still fit into it! :)</p>
<p>My mother got a job at a bridal store when I got engaged, she bought my killer designer dress for a serious discount, smart lady. I still have it, though not sure any one would wear it with the high neck, long sleeves, etc!</p>
<p>Remember the episode where the Mormon bride was trying to find a long-sleeved dress? She was required to wear sleeves for her temple wedding. Even Kleinfelds, with rack after rack of dresses, had very few options for her.</p>
<p>Even in the Big Bliss episodes, I am surprised at the number of strapless dresses. As a plus size woman, I would never wear a strapless, or even sleeveless, dress. I do hope more designers will make sleeved dresses, now that they realize even big girls get married nowadays.</p>
<p>I’m sure I can still fit into my bridal gown, though I haven’t looked at it (still in the box) in 35 years.</p>
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<p>I should start looking, since my D got engaged 2 weeks ago.</p>
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<p>I’m hoping that the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress will start a new, more covered-up trend. Maybe I’m old-fashioned but I don’t think a wedding should be the place to display the wares, so to speak. I especially don’t like Pnina’s dresses; they’re more suited for the street corner than the altar, IMO.</p>
<p>For me, the most valuable thing about this show is that I now know how the mother of the bride should NOT behave.</p>
<p>I agree, LasMa. I was so shocked at the first dress they showed with the corset laced up the back like a pirate Halloween costume.
It is fascinating to watch the family dynamics. I’ve also thought that it’s nice when brides include the mother of the groom.</p>
<p>cbreeze – Mazel tov! Keep us up to date on her wedding shopping – maybe a little linkie when she picks a dress?</p>
<p>LasMa – I now have a list of <em>what not to do</em> when wedding shopping…fortunately, my D is only 17. But still…no carping, no snarking, no grimacing, no yelling, no whining. Show up, say ‘you’re just beautiful’ 20 times and write the damn check. </p>
<p>My vote for worst-dressed bride goes to…Grandma in Pink Pinina! I’m so glad Vera covered the lady’s ‘butterfly’…esp. as she was walking down the aisle with a kid who looked about 13. Second runner up is Boob-Bow Bride…you remember the vow-renewal lady with all the ‘enhancements’ who put on the huge gold Pnina the consultants brought out from the vault. The bows were supposed to be on the shoulders but that’s not where they wound up.</p>
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<p>Exactly! I remember one show where the bride wanted to break tradition by not wearing the dress worn by the last 7 family brides or something. The promos made Mom look like Disapproving Southern Matriarch, but she was actually quite wonderful. She swallowed hard and accepted her daughter’s decision, and then open-mindedly considered each new dress as it suited the daughter’s taste and personality, not her own. “In the end, I have to back Susan,” she said, and I remember thinking that’s precisely the attitude I must remember to have when our time comes.</p>
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<p>So true! And I hope the strapless trend will DIE soon! I guess strapless design might make it easier to slip the dress on a plus sized bride (no sleeves to worry about), but such dresses do look good on anyone who does not have a perfect figure!</p>
<p>While I’m a big fan of the show (watching women try on Pnina’s stripper fairy get-ups is worth every minute of my time), I’d be wary of taking any life lessons from it. It is produced entertainment, not reality in any sense of the word, and basically a giant advertisement for Kleinfeld’s and Pnina Tornai. Brides-to-be APPLY to be on the show, the huge entourages that accompany them are organized by the producers (what normal people go bridal shopping with 8 or 10 friends and relatives, including future in-laws?), the people who want to do this are by their very nature exhibitionists and drama queens (and kings), and many hours of shopping are edited into a few minutes of television, with a careful eye toward creating heroes, villains and damsels in distress. I shopped for my wedding gown with only my mother. She offered her opinion, I picked my dress, and it all concluded with no drama, tears, or outrageous behavior. I imagine that’s the case in 95% of wedding dress purchases, but it wouldn’t make good TV.</p>
<p>I, too, await the disappearance of the strapless dress. Even the most toned celebrities wearing strapless often have that strip of flesh bulging between the top of the dress and the armpit–it’s just a very difficult style to wear. And I haven’t been to one wedding with a strapless-dressed bride where the poor thing wasn’t awkwardly tugging up her bodice every few minutes. As for the “big bliss” brides in strapless–a horror show in every case.</p>
<p>Of course, I meant to say “do NOT look good…” That’s what happens when I start typing before my morning caffeine gets a chance to enter the system (but I did catch the error DH made in his post helping someone with an orgo problem on the forum he moderates). :)</p>
<p>^^^We know what you meant! Speaking of the royal wedding, I thought Kate’s sister’s dress would have made a nice wedding dress.</p>
<p>I agree. And it is now being copied by several companies to be sold as a wedding dress (I posted some info on the Royal Wedding thread).</p>
<p>Im sorry but I dont understand why someone would want to have their wedding dress be a copy of a dress that 2 billion+ people have already seen. And not just any dress . but an expensive custom dress worn by a young woman with a drop-dead-gorgeous body.</p>
<p>Yes, let’s lose the strapless thing. I was at a wedding a couple of weeks ago, where the dress (and its beadwork/bling) were rubbing against the back fat of the bride and creating red marks, with blisters sure to come. I know that a strapless dress needs to be tight, but shouldn’t cause that to happen.
It doesn’t make for good pictures!</p>
<p>The pictures are my beef with strapless. In so many photos, like the ones sent to newspapers, the bride might as well not be wearing <em>anything</em> since all you see (with luck) is collar bones, cleavage and shoulders. Maybe a tiny strip of the gown sneaks in. Add in the constant ‘up-tug’ and it’s just not pretty. </p>
<p>A strapless dress really needs tailoring…and fashion tape!</p>
<p>IMO, even Chelsea Clinton’s strapless gown was a couple of inches too low. If Clinton and Vera Wang can’t get it perfect, what hope is there for everyone else. </p>
<p>Nicole Ritchie’s wedding gown, while somewhat over the top, had long sleeves and I thought Ivanka Trump’s gown was gorgeous.</p>