Vintage Weddings

Book excerpt: VINTAGE WEDDINGS takes a close look at the key periods, diverse styles, iconoclastic designers, significant ceremonies and cultural influences in wedding fashions. Organised chronologically, this book shows the reader how to recognize the silhouette that will best suit their body shape, identify luxurious fabrics, contrast various styles, and to source appropriate accessories, from gloves and shoes to flowers, veils, jewellery and table decorations. Throughout the book, individual pieces that epitomize the defining characteristic of each designer or decade are analysed in detail. Traditionally the wedding dress is the most expensive garment that a woman will ever buy. Increasingly, however, prospective brides are looking for something other than the customary costly and formulaic gown. This has given rise an increasing demand for vintage wedding gowns; one that both expresses a personal style and also provides a narrative. A vintage wedding dress can provide the theme and style of the entire celebration. A dress of frills and lace, indicative of the Edwardian era, may be the inspiration for a summer picnic with men in blazers and boaters and women wielding parasols, while afternoon tea served in Art Deco china to the sound of a jazz band may provide the perfect background for a floral printed tea-dress from the 1930s. This book is for those interested in collecting a acquiring all aspects of authentic vintage pieces relating to the wedding ceremony, and also for prospective brides who are buying new, but are looking for sources of inspiration.