I think either one of the dresses is lovely, but the store-bought dress is more flattering to your figure. The ruching at the waist of that one adds some interest to that gown, so I think that if you used your grandmothers gown you would need to add something for the same effect. What about a sash just under the bodice? Or a big bouquet of flowers? I think either gown would be more flattering with a sweetheart neckline. To me the sleeves on your grandmother’s dress aren’t horrible, but a little editing wouldn’t hurt.
If it were me, I would do anything possible to wear my grandmother’s dress in at least one part of the festivities. When you look back on it, I think it will mean a lot to you.
How heavy is the material in Grandma’s dress? Modern dresses, as you noted, have layers and layers of fabric, stiffener, boning, lining, more lining, etc. I think my gown could have turned a knife. If Grandmother’s dress is a single layer, or a layer and a lining, you might find that it’d sit more smoothly with a full-length slip. I always wear a slip with my dresses and skirts, even the black wool one that was professionally tailored to fit me. Yay for fabric not catching on those lumpy bits around my hips!
I guess it depends what you want. The new dress is pretty, flattering, and conventional. Grandma’s dress is unique and memorable, although some people won’t think it’s as pretty. If you know someone who’s good with a camera, you might ask them to take a few photos in Grandma’s dress (or both dresses) to see how it comes out. (Good photographers are worth their weight in gold. Skimp on everything else, but hire the best photographer you can afford!)
I love the tiara you linked to! I wouldn’t pay for the real pearls and 14k gold wire, but goodness it is pretty.
I disagree completely. Both definitely look nice on you, Zsofia, but I think grandma’s dress is more flattering.
[ul]
[li]Though it has a higher neckline, the slinky material and underbust gathering visually “lift and separate” the girls. The store dress’ neckline and stiffer fabric give a mono-boob appearance.[/li][li]While the store dress has boning that gives a more sharply-defined waist curve, you look slimmer in grandma’s dress (if that’s a concern for you. If not, toss this out! :D).[/li][LIST]
[li]The store dress forces the waist reduction at a spot that’s lower on your body than your actual waist is (I’m talking natural waist here, not the waistline you wear jeans/skirts at. Modern clothing is designed with a drop waist in mind).[/li][li]The bias-cut fabric on grandma’s dress makes the dress hug your natural (higher) waist and then flow out down to your hips. I think your torso as a whole looks much slimmer in this dress (which is funny, since the store dress has the ruching and gathering at the waist specifically for that reason).[/li][li]The higher natural waist may look dumpy when wearing pants, but when wearing a dress, it creates a longer, leaner silhouette.[/li][/ul]
[li]The long sleeves are not unflattering (style preferences may differ, of course, but that’s a different issue). The lower sleeves are nicely fitted and the poofs visually balance with your hips, enhancing your natural hourglass shape.[/li][li]The bias-cut means that damn, that skirt is going to flow deliciously when it’s all ironed and you make your entrance.[/li][/LIST]
And though I dig the sleeves, I would agree that I wouldn’t want them restored to SuperPoof[sup]TM[/sup] territory; it’d look a bit ridiculous and out of proportion/style with the rest of the dress (judging by today’s aesthetics). I’d just have them freshened up so they’re not crumpled and limp.
The only tweak to the shapewear that I’d do is to try the dress on with the shorts-type for your legs (instead of top-only or one with a leotard/underwear cut bottom). That will help smooth out your hip curves when viewed from the front. I have this exact same issue (especially if I’m wearing hipster or bikini cut undies) and I love my legged shapewear.
Also, I know many people don’t care about this kind of thing, but the store dress is one that hundreds (or thousands) of other brides will wear. It looks nice, but in a really generic, bland way. Grandma’s dress is unique, flattering and has panache that most other brides would give their eyeteeth for.
ETA - and, sniff, of COURSE I don’t care which dress I look slimmer in! Nor do I care whether my nose has grown enough to be noticeable in the wedding photos.
ETAA - Grandma’s dress is one layer silk. Modern dress is a LOT more material.
Like I said, I understand! :: looks down at hips ::. And that was me putting on my really nitpicky glasses. I only noticed it because I was intentionally scrutinizing each photo for analysis. You still look amazing in it.
Agreed 100%. I think the older dress looks amazing on you, for pretty much exactly the reasons zweisamkeit outlined. You may also want to think about the heaviness of the newer dress - after a night of hugging and dancing, I was drenched with sweat in my modern, satiny, poufy dress. It may not be as much of an issue in October, but it’s just another thing to consider.
And on the tiara, if you’re looking for something vintage-y but less expensive, this shop has some cute stuff (full disclosure: I know the owner but don’t get a cut or anything, I just think it’s cute).
Grandma’s dress. The fabric is perfect for your coloring and plus let’s face it – you’re gonna wear this dress once, then it’s gonna go in a closet forever. We already know Grandma’s dress can stand the test of time. The sleeves are perfectly fine but the neckline needs some work, but it looks totally doable. Plus it’s just more October-y than the other one.
The first dress is pretty but it’s … eh. A garden variety wedding dress. Not unique and probably 5,000 other brides are going to march down the aisle in it this year. In 20 years you’ll look at yourself in the picture and go “OMG was that SERIOUSLY the style back then?” and cringe.
I like the store dress - I think it’s very flattering and pretty. I’m not sure about the vintage dress - I don’t like the neckline or the sleeves, and I’m not sure what you’d do to fix those things.
I don’t hate the idea of wearing two dresses in one day, especially since you’ve basically got both of them already.
I like Grandma’s dress, too. I *love *the antique ivory color. It goes great with your hair color. I like the neck and the gathering in the fabric at the bust. I think the dress is flattering on you. The other dress is flattering on you, too, but it looks like a hundred other dresses. Grandma’s is unique and beautiful. The sleeves are fine; they suit the dress - nothing wrong with them at all.
Maybe it’s just the photos, but I think the photo of the new dress makes you look wider than the photo of you in the grandma dress - I think Grandma’s is more slimming.
When my mother and my oldest sister sewed my sister’s wedding dress, they dyed the fabric with tea to get it that same antique ivory color.
I say, whichever dress you feel happiest in, you should wear. Either one looks great on you.
I think Grandma’s dress flatters your figure more. The bodice of the modern dress is a weird length for your body and as someone said above it forces a waist too low. I would at least get Grandma’s dress cleaned before making the decsion though, what if the stains don’t come out of the fabric is too weak to alter. Your figure is beautiful as it is in the old dress. I think your waist looks smaller in the older dress.
Okay, the $500 dress ($180 turns into $500–really?) is nice, but it looks like five million other wedding dresses.
Your grandma’s dress is great, it’s distinctive, it’s lovely. I even like the sleeves. I loved it. You would not look like every other bride. There are people who can deal with sweat stains. I don’t think they had antiperspirants in the '30s.
I did not love the tiara thing, but it could work with a veil, but the thing is, with that dress you WILL have to hand-make the veil, because anything you buy will not work with the vintage dress. Yeah, I could be dead wrong about this.
I thought you looked great in both dresses, but better in Grandma’s.
I opened the first link and thought, ‘lovely dress, I bet grandma’s dress is simply not going to compare.’ Then I opened the second link. Wow. You look amazing in that dress. It gives you an elegance that I don’t see with the first dress. It suits your face and hair.
My only question is whether your wedding party is going to be wearing modern stuff? Because I think if you are going to wear a dress like that, the rest of the wedding party should ‘match’ the style.
Personally, I also love the vintage dress, including the sleeves. It looks amazing on you! A thought: if you prefer to “modernize” its look a bit, have you tried it on with some sort of crinoline/poufy underskirt type thing? I wonder whether that might give it more of the look you’re after? (And if so, it’s very likely you can recoup some or all of your money on the dress you purchased. Which I agree, looks nice, but that’s kind of damning with faint praise…)
I like both dresses. That being said, I don’t think I need to make many comments on the modern dress other than I agree, it is like pretty much every other wedding dress currently [other than those horrible fashionista catwalk garbage ones that nobody in their right mind would wear] Unlike some of the other commenters here, I like the neckline and wouldn’t change it. It is part of the period charm. The sleeves don’t fit properly, they should be smooth and not have the wrinkles that they currently have. You do need to wear either a slip or some other foundation garment. Not all pf the foundation garments of that time were corsets, they had the equivalent garment that looks much like todays one piece bathing suit that was to smooth the body, not compress it like a corset called a corslette. Here is an interesting blog entry on the changes in foundation garments. The figure profile that they were trying for was a more relaxed, long waisted look, if you actually look at a lot of the old photoplay/hollywood magazines of the time you can get an idea of what they were trying for. This 1937 advert is a rough idea of the corslette - as you see it is not exactly making her into an hourglass figure. This advert shows a very boyish figure, actually.
If you do go with changing into your Grandmothers dress for the reception, see if you can change into more vintage looking shoes also, I like them =) I looked at the lovely headpiece, and I think it might be fairly easy to reproduce a lot less expensively than that one. [Hell, as a wedding present I took a 2 tier oval veil and pearled it all the way around the perimeter and pearled 3 appliques for the dress so I am accustomed to doing insane craft items at little or no notice. And I used real seed pearls. But then again at one time I used to buy seed pearls by the ounce rather than by the 16 inch string ]
I like the neckline. I made my dress and veil- let’s see if I can find a picture- http://aerinlissar.blogspot.com/ It was silk chiffon, basically a gathered rectangle. Most modern veils are polyester and stiff. Chiffon is drapey and goes better with the flowing fabric of the vintage gown.
Cripes, my expression in our wedding photos. Aagh.
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