something old, something borrowed

Last night I convinced my mom to take out her old wedding dress for me to try on. We both knew it was not something i might consider wearing, but it was still a sentimental moment for us.

You see, my great-grandmother made the dress for my grandmother, who got married in 1954. My mom wore it for her wedding 29 years later.

But this is what I saw when we took it out of the box.

Yuck!

It looks so yellow. It's lacy and long sleeved and has sparkles (my one vice when it comes to wedding dresses!)

But my mom is pretty laidback when it comes to wedding things and did not mind the dress at all. Wish I had the picture of my grandparents to show you the dress for it's orginal wearer. Here is the dress circa 1983--see how cute they are?!

and.....here is me in it in 2008!

Not so my style, but so much better than i thought.

The bedroom lighting made the dress look much worse than it looks on. I am thinking of doing a pre-wedding shoot with this dress just to create an album for my mom and grandmother. I can't believe how well it is doing for being 54 years old!

Fast-forward to vintage dress #2. Another dress, another story.

My dad's older sister, my Aunt Dee, died of luekemia when I was in high school. She had a son, my cousin, who I have always been close with and I spent a lot of time over at their housegrowing up. When I got into junior high and got very crafty, she would have me over and we would cross stitch, knit and quilt together.

She made BEAUTIFUL quilts (I'll have to post one on another day) and I'm so sad that I won't be getting my dream wedding ring quilt from her for my wedding. I asked her for it when I was 11 years old.

Isn't it cute? I just love the homey feel it has. But I don't think one not made by my aunt would be the same.

My uncle remarried a couple of years later and cleaned out a bunch of old stuff from their house. He knew how close Aunt Dee and I had been, so he asked me if I wanted to have her wedding dress (he has a daughter, but she is much too big to wear the dress and is already married) So I took it, having no idea if I would ever like it or fit into it, and promptly forgot I had it. We found it when I searched for my mom's dress in the basement and I decided to try it on too!

Here it is, in the box, unopened since 1978.

And here it is on me! Yikes, check out those sleeves! Believe it or not, I like the neckline. (my mom thinks it's terribly ugly) It's so vintage and fun, but it is too big everywhere and it's again, not me. (I'm not sure anything vintage is)

But I had a blast trying on these dresses!

Did you try on any vintage dresses, or wear your mom's dress for a photo shoot? How did you honor your mom or grandmother (or aunt!) with using/wearing their vintage wedding things?