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Speaking of Weddings…

I really haven’t been into all the Royal Wedding hype. I have seen nothing — no TV footage, no magazine articles, no blog posts… NOTHING. I googled this morning to find a photo of Kate’s dress so I could write a post about it at All Things Chic, and that was that. But after reading the commentary on that post and around the web today, I admit, I’m curious.

And also? I LOVE WEDDINGS.

So I just looked at the TV listings and sure enough, one of the major networks has their entire evening dedicated to the Royal Wedding. I set my DVR to tape it, and after dinner I plan to hunker down and get lost in all things wedding.

I absolutely love Kate’s choice of dress. Back in the day, 1995 to be exact, I was choosing my own wedding dress. The poofy, froofy dresses of the 80s were a distant memory, and the straight wedding dress style had come and gone. The newest rage was the off-the-shoulder neckline with a full (but not poofy) skirt and a modest train.

Like most brides to be, I tried on probably a hundred dresses, and at least half of them were that off-the-shoulder style. Finally I found one that I was planning to order. I had photos of myself wearing it in the dressing room, I had the bridesmaids’ dresses picked out to go with it, and I had planned my veil and my shoes. The only thing I hadn’t done was place the order.

Then one day, my mom and I were out of town when we just happened to come across a bridal store going out of  business. We went in, and I tried on dresses “just for fun.”

You know where this is going, right??

I ended up falling IN LOVE with a dress. It was designed by a famous brand that I had only ever seen in bridal magazines, and it was unlike anything I’d tried on before. Since the store was going out of business, they were selling off their floor models for a song, which put it right at the top of our price range. The only glitch was, it was 2 or 3 sizes too big, but we were able to have it sized down for me.

What I love most about my dress is that it was timeless. I only wish I could say the same for my bangs…

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Every time I look at that picture, I think, “We were so young!”

And, “Why didn’t someone tell me to grow out my bangs!?”

Oh well. You can’t get it all right.

Here’s an up close of the lace detailing and also the headpiece. It matched the rosettes at the waist of the back of my gown.

Okay, so maybe it was a *little* dated. I’m sure no one has rosettes on the backs of their dresses nowadays, but then, considering that half the bridal gowns at the time had BOWS on the back… I did well, my friends. I did well.

Also? This was my cake.

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I love, love, LOVED our cake. The fondant frosting was amazing. It looked like porcelain, and it tasted divine. I still dream about eating that wedding cake. Maybe for our 20th wedding anniversary, I should order a single layer. Wouldn’t that be fun!?

How about you? I’d love to hear about your wedding dress.

And, are you into the Royal Wedding hype? Or no?

Join The Conversation

31 Responses

  1. You were stunning, but you still are!

    Every time I look at my wedding photos I think, why didn’t anyone tell me about my eyebrows??!!?

    1. LOL! My eyebrows were, um, interesting then too. Of course, now they are TOO thin. I haven’t been able to find a happy medium.

  2. Love the classic look of your dress. I’ve been slightly obsessed with the Royal wedding and woke up at 2am PST to watch. Crazy, no? So worth it!

    Kate’s dress was stunning and I’m hoping it paves the way to better styles than the strapless. It’s time to move on!

    Jessica

  3. YES!!! I love that the whole world celebrated a wedding. So many people don’t believe in marriage anymore and William and Katherine made it look like a good thing. I love it!

  4. Your wedding was BEAUTIFUL! Your dress, the flowers, the music, the food…everything was lovely! I also recall at the time everyone had bangs…so no big deal:-)

    1. Aww thanks. And yeah, I like to say I was a child bride, but I was 23. Still, looking back, that seems young.

  5. LOVE your dress. Hubby and I eloped. I wore a cream pantsuit and we were married by a justice of the peace in his 9-5 business. In other words, we were married in an appliance store. =D

  6. I hadn’t followed any of the wedding hype (we don’t have our TV hooked up) but my sister-in-law posted on my Facebook this morning saying “Kate is wearing your wedding dress!!!” Haha, so aside from a few minor differences, the new Duchess was wearing the same dress I did. It also happened to be my mother’s dress. Timeless and apparently we have good taste. 🙂

  7. We were in the car driving home from Galway so missed it live but watched it last night – loved it, her dress was beautiful and I thought her sister’s dress stunning too.

    I posted pics of my own wedding dress (circa 1992) on my blog May 2010.

    I still have lots of the newspaper supplements from Charles and Diana’s wedding so will definitely buy some today.

    Lovely to have a good news story admidst all the other stuff going on in the world!

  8. You look so young. Not that you look old now (ahem) but I am always amazed at how young people look in their wedding photos. I went timeless (I think) for my wedding too. I got a Vera Wang dress for a steal at a bridal resale store. To this day if I had to get married again I would pick the same dress. And for the record, the same man 🙂

  9. You were beautiful (well, still are, but you know what I mean). I still love my dress. I didn’t try on a hundred but I tried on a lot. I was in that happy place where virtually every dress fit and was flattering, so choosing one was hard. But when I paired the one I chose with the veil and tiara we all cried and knew it was the one. I really loved the simple shape and detailing.

    I watched some coverage of the wedding. It was sweet to see William blush after they kissed. Her dress was absolutely beautiful.

  10. Beautiful dress! Mine was my aunt’s 1996 wedding gown, exactly as you described – off the shoulder, full skirt, long train. It was everything I had dreamed of… even if it was a clear mid-90s choice reminiscent of Belle yellow ball gown in Beauty & the Beast. 😉

    1. I love off-the-shoulder gowns. Did you look at Grace’s post – she linked above. Hers was off the shoulder too. Gorgeous.

  11. Awww….I love looking at people’s wedding pictures! Your dress is timeless. We were married in 2005 and I my gown was similar to Kate’s but without the lace. Mine was just strapless. I still love it. I was so into the royal wedding! I love all the pomp and circumstance!

  12. Who can resist wedding dress talk? Not me! I actually DID buy a dress after trying on only a few. And six months later … I decided I really only loved the dress from the back, not to mention a girl with my size of, um, girls, should not be wearing strapless.

    SO then I commenced trying on a hundred dresses and finally ordered an off-white masterpiece I adored. So glad I made that decision … although definitely a consequence of being engaged for 17 months.

    You can see most of my dress here: https://www.vanderbiltwife.com/2009/08/five-years.html

    1. I love it! That style of sleeve/neckline is my absolute favorite for ANY dress — it’s kind of a tank style? Was it a round neck or a V? I’d love to see a front shot of it.

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