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Family wedding photos

Published by The Dreamstress

Here are some random family wedding photos from Mr D’s maternal side.  Sadly, we don’t even know exactly who some of the brides and grooms are, or when the wedding was.

This is probably the oldest.  They are a rather sad looking group aren’t they?  And we aren’t even sure it is a wedding photo – only the small bouquet carried by the seated woman and the posy in the standing woman’s belt hint at that.  The photo does reveal one dirty little family secret though.  See those trees in the background.  Yep.  Eucalyptus.  Some of Mr D’s ancestors came from Australia.  *wink*

A wedding group, ca. 1895

This photo is much more ‘bridal’, but the bride looks just as unhappy!  Poor thing!  Don’t you just love her huge sleeves though?  And the little boy lying awkwardly at the front of the group?

Wedding group, ca. 1895

I think that the man in the light suit is the same man as in the first photo (those ears rather give it away!) and the boy sitting in front of him may be the same boy as above, a few years older.  Is the bride the same as the standing woman?  It’s possible.

Moving into the 20th century,  I think this is the wedding of Mr D’s great-great aunt, and that is his great-grandfather (the brides brother) on the far left.  I might be wrong though.

Wedding group, 1920s

I’m madly in love with the brides dress and shoes.  The crossover bodice with the tassled bow at the hip.  The stunning brocade satin.  And those tiny, tiny feet! And aren’t the flower girls bubble sleeves and collar so quaint and cunning?

Wedding group, 1920s, detail of bride and flowergirl

And what wouldn’t you give for the bridesmaids picture hat?  Or just the chair she is sitting on!  And it looks like those are orchids in her bouquet.  Posh wedding that!

Wedding group, early 1920s, detail of bridemaid

In the next decade we get some more posh bouquets (though the brides calla lilies look rather sparse and awkward compared to the bridesmaids selection!) and some attractively asymmetrical hemlines.  Also some really sticky-outy ears.

Wedding party, early 1930s

And finally, later in the 1930s we get some rather slinky wedding dresses, and a groom that looks uncomfortably like Frankenstein.  I’m glad Mr D didn’t get those genes!

Wedding group, 1930s

Polly’s wedding dress

Published by The Dreamstress

Among all my other projects, I’ve been working on Polly’s wedding dress, but I couldn’t blog about it because it needed to be a secret until her wedding.

Now that Polly’s all happily married to Mr Polly, and had the loveliest wedding (with swing dancing!) I can show you her gorgeous dress.  Yay!

Polly’s dress was such a fun commission to work on.

I love non-traditional brides, and Polly had such a charming, individual, perfectly her vision for her entire wedding.  Polly is a seamstress in her own right, and loves vintage textiles. The invitations included pattern pieces (cute!), and she made her bouquet and the bridesmaids bouquets out of tea dyed silk flowers, vintage buttons, and old doilies and pieces of antique lace, including some from her mothers wedding dress.  Awwwww….

Lucky for Polly, one of her best friends and bridesmaids was noted Wellington hat designer Amy Jansen-Leen, and Amy did Polly’s hair and headpiece, and collaborated with Polly and I on the dress design.

Polly and Amy's drawing of the design.

Polly picked the most gorgeous fabrics for her dress, all in shades of pale golds and butterscotch: a dupion silk, illusion tulle, a gold lace, and a fabulous beaded silk crepe chiffon.

The fabrics were all a dream to work with, and Polly was a dream to work with, and so open to all my suggestions about the dress.

I got to have fun and add little ‘seamstress’ touches like appliqueing lace motifs onto the sleeves…

And making a false bolero trimmed with self-fabric piping…

And working the extra beads and pearls from the skirt into the lace overlay on the bodice.

When my part of the dress was finished Amy took the scraps and made gorgeous flower pins to go at the top of the slit in the skirt, and to go in Polly’s hair.

And Polly looked fabulous on her wedding day.  But you’ll just have to take my word for that! 😉

Rate Kate’s dress

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week’s wedding dress divided you into three groups.  Those of you who were madly in love, those of you who thought it was just a little blah, and finally, those of you who thought it looked like an ice skating costume.  Luckily for the dress, the majority of you were in group 1, and it rated a 7.5 out of 10.

This week, instead of the usual ‘rate the dress’ let’s look at the entries for the ‘design a dress for Kate‘ contest.  She may not wear what we decide, but hopefully she won’t wear an ice skating costume!

Below are the three entries (click on the images for a larger view).

Entry A:

Entry B:

Entry C:

Now that you have seen all the gorgeousness on offer, you can vote on your favourites.

But wait!  This is a vote with a difference.  I asked Mr Dreamy to contribute to the blog and he suggested that for a fairer voting system we use a single transferable vote system (Mr D knows the names of every voting system ever created off the top of his head).

What does that mean?  It means that you rate the three dresses in order from your favourite (the one you most think Kate should wear), to your least favourite.  Your favourite gets 3 points, your second choice 2, and your 3rd choice 1 point.

So get rating!  (and stop flagellating yourself for not submitting your own entry in time!)

Ratings close 12 Noon NZST on Friday 29th.