Compare Your Wedding Dress With That Of The Royals

[AGBF]

In the Royal Wedding thread a poster commented that royal brides had to be covered up, not showing cleavage, bare shoulders, or too much upper arm. The photo below shows Lady Diana Spencer; Katherine Middleton; and Meghan Markle at their weddings. I was married in the United states in 1977. As I posted in the Royal Wedding thread, at that point some people had started to marry less conventionally (on beaches, on so forth). When I was growing up in the 1950's and early 1960's, however, brides never dressed to show bare shoulders or cleavage. A bride dressed modestly. In this thread I invite you to post a photo of yourself to show how covered up you were when you got married. Letting us know the year; the country; and the venue (e.g. a church or a private beach or garden) in which you got married would also be interesting. You can disguise your face if you desire anonymity.

I will start. I had a church wedding in 1977 in the United States. The planning for it was very rushed (done in one month) so my veil was the wrong one; my hair wasn't professionally done; my dress wasn't correctly altered, and so forth. In the second photo one can see my Juliet cap had slipped back on my head. I am not delighted with all the details of what I ended up wearing or how I had my hair. (I am afraid my ensemble will be picked apart the way Meghan Markle's was and I had no assistance getting ready), but this is the general style I chose and also what I considered modern and acceptable in that era. The dress I wore in 1977 follows the general guidelines of what royal brides still wear; it is what was once universally considered to be tasteful for a church wedding.

Please share!

Deb/AGBF

From left to right
The late Diana, Princess of Wales; The Duchess of Cambridge; The Duchess of Sussex:


AGBF married in The United States at a church ceremony in 1977:

 

[OoohShiny]

In the Royal Wedding thread a poster commented that royal brides had to be covered up, not showing cleavage, bare shoulders, or too much upper arm.

Is this too much?

 

[Ally T]

@OoohShiny Why on Earth do you have a copy of my wedding picture??!!

 

[missy]

Is this too much?

Lol well there’s no competing with that dress.

 

[Ally T]

We were married in 2007 with a Civil Ceremony (no religion) at a Stately Home across the fields from where we still live. It's so local that we had to head away from home to a fancy hotel for the wedding night! My dress was bespoke, as were both of my sister's, at my father's insistence. Sadly he only got to walk my eldest sister down the aisle before he died. My brother had to give away me & my little sister respectively. But the dress was always going to be 'his thing for his girls'. It was antique satin in very pale ivory gold with a million tiny buttons down the back & along the 4 foot train to the end. No veil, just a handmade wire crown with crystals to match the ones on my dress, which exploded from the centre of the bust like a firework - one of dad's favourite things. I love my dress & we had the best day ever. It weird to look back on the pictures, especially as I'm considerably less heavy these days!

 

[luv2sparkle]

We were married in our home church in 1980.
My dress was $240-the same price as my original engagement ring-but the man-he is priceless.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Me with my Mom, 2008 NY JOP wedding performed lakeside. I wore cap sleeves since I had to wear a bra and needed something to cover the straps. The dress had some cleavage showing but the sheer panel covered that up somewhat. I wasn't really concerned with showing "too much" skin, just being comfortable. It was June and pretty warm. I also don't think women have to dictate themselves to any type of dress code ever, not even for a wedding. If a particular church or similar religious institute has a dress code then it's her choice to participate or not, but I don't hold that standard to anyone for any reason.

 

[Ally T]

@Asscherhalo_lover I adore the lace work on your dress, especially the cap sleeves. It's so romantic!

 

[Matata]

1st wedding was in a church. I threw out the pictures when I got divorced. Second wedding was a civil ceremony in Rome at Campidoglio wedding hall (stock photo).
The dress was $640, had a shawl, crystals & embroidered flowers, fabric color was light champagne. Nothing in my hair and I can't remember what the bouquet looked like.

 

[luv2sparkle]

@Matata, such a cute pic. I remember seeing that before. I love that your DH wore tennis shoes with his tux.

We got married in July and I was dying in that dress. It was like 102. But...when I get nervous, I break out in red blotches all over my chest, so I wasn’t going to chance that. The other day, I was watching a show about the royal wedding and it showed a clip of Meghan Markle giving a speech at the UN and guess what? She had blotches all over her chest and they got worse as she spoke. I had to take a picture and send it to my daughter, because she gets it too. I wonder if Meghan wore the high necked dress for the same reason?

 

[MissGotRocks]

Married 41 years ago today in 1977! This was fairly typical of the style back then. I really loved my dress but by today's standards, we look very dated - but then we are - lol!

 

[Ally T]

Happy Anniversary @MissGotRocks ! You're a very handsome couple!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

MGR, happy anniversary! I remember that you, Deb, and I all married around the same time! My veil is very close to yours! I am not home but I’ll try to find pics later! My dress also had the high neck, but I had short sleeves.

 

[MissGotRocks]

Funny footnote - we got married on this date and headed to Florida for our honeymoon. We are leaving today to meet my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in Disneyworld. Life comes full circle!!

 

[Gussie]

Here is the only pic that I will be able to find easily. My portrait that hangs in the closet, lol.
Married in 2001.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My husband’s sister and her daughter both have the anxiety related splotches, and both chose high neck dresses! His sister was early 80’s, so it was still the norm anyway.

 

[Calliecake]

Ceg, I love the picture you posted!!! You look beautiful!

All the Pricescope women were beautiful brides! It so fun to see how much styles have changed over the years.

 

[LJsapphire]

My first wedding was in 2007. 17th Century Country house, wonderful day. Wrong man.
My dress wasn't what I imagined but I fell in love with it when I tried it on. My mum cried in the shop.

 

[yennyfire]

Happy anniversary @MissGotRocks! 41 years is impressive!!

We got married in 2003 at a B & B in the N. Georgia mountains with 35 of our family and closest friends. Not my dream dress, but I was too practical to spend $3k on the dress I loved, so this one, at $500 was “fine”.

 

[Queenie60]

1989. Armenian Orthodox Church in San Francisco. We had our reception at the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill. I was a Princess on that day but now I’m a Queen

Check out the big 80’s hair

 

[Austina]

You all look lovely!

Happy anniversary @MissGotRocks

 

[Gussie]

@MissGotRocks Happy Anniversary!!!!!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I bought my dresss for $80 on Ebay, my girlfriend at the time worked at a bridal shop and was horrified I bought my dress online lol!

We were married in 2006 on St. Patrick's Day at a B&B on the shore in CT with maybe 15 close friends and family. The second picture is us in the beach and was given to us by a friend who attended and edited the picture so it was black and white with only the flowers in color.

 

[Ellen]

Oh Deb, what a great thread! (that rhymed) Thanks for starting this. I hope it really takes off.
It is SO nice to finally put a beautiful face to the beautiful lady I've chatted with all these years! I particularly love your veil.

I love ALL your dresses. It's hard not to....but Luv2sparle and MissGotRocks, I am verrrry partial to yours, just because they remind me of mine. Though of course, if I got married now, I would pick something entirely different. lol

LJsapphire, I LOVE the back of your dress!!!

I have no idea how big these will be, and the color is way off, but I have a new system and can't find the lighting to edit. So ya get what ya get. I love hearing the prices, just for comparison. So I got married in 1982. The dress was 1000.00 and the veil was 500.00. Doesn't that seem insane? The veil was half the price of the dress!! This was the year after Diana got married, and one of moms friends told her my dress was prettier than hers. I was terribly flattered. (but I don't think it was, it was just different) I lurrrrved the back on mine. And it was ivory. I'm about the only person I knew that held to the "you shouldn't wear white if....." rule.
Sorry this post got so messed up, not sure why.....

 

[Ellen]

@MissGotRocks Happy Anniversary!!!!!

What she said!

 

[Bonfire]

1984 baby! The decade of wedding hats I gotta little english look goin’ on.

 

[JPie]

Married 2009 in a local park. I didn't want a traditional long dress, and had a heck of a time finding a short one. I ended up buying this from Etsy. I wore my hair in an up-do, sans veil.

I don't want to share a photo of me wearing it, so here's the model.

 

[canuk-gal]

I deliberately cut our heads off...but it is the dress that takes up the whole picture anyway....lol

 

[Bonfire]

No fair canuk!

 

[canuk-gal]

No fair canuk!

LMAO