I'm Getting Married! Well... sort of

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 I am delighted to announce that I will be getting married! Do you hear that? Thats the sound of wedding bells and taffeta; the click of heels and the rustle of gowns.

I’m actually not getting married. I’m already married, and so far the groom is panning out pretty well, so I don’t foresee myself making any changes anytime soon, but I was invited to play the part of the bride in a 1908 mock wedding! The Stevens-Crawford Heritage House was built in 1908, and is hosting a mock wedding as an opportunity for the public to see what a wedding hosted in a private home would have looked like. They reached out to our local Portland Edwardian society, for help casting the parts, and being the youngest, I was asked to play the bride.

Of course, I’ve been doing piles of research since then, both on fashion and etiquette to ensure that I don’t make any missteps. This is also technically a living history event, so the ones playing the parts in the wedding are expected to stay in character throughout the event. So I have so many decisions to make with the wedding only a month away!

Here are some of the gowns that I’ve been looking at. I’ve already made most of the skirt, so that’s more or less set in stone at this point.

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Wedding gowns from this era all share a couple of key features. While today we see wedding dresses and evening gowns as being a part of the same category more or less, at the turn of the century they were considered day wear and the silhouettes followed accordingly. All wedding dresses I've seen are either high necked with long sleeves or designed to be worn with a guimpe to achieve the same effect, which can later be removed to give a more evening wear effect. It was typical for brides of the period to rework their wedding gown into a ball gown so that it could be worn for the following season, rather than just for a single day. 

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A key feature in this period for wedding fashion that differs form earlier eras lies in the materials used. While up until perhaps 1905, it would have been quite appropriate for a bride to walk down the aisle in a stiff frock of heavy silk, the gowns of 1908 are decidedly dainty, and the most pleasing effect lays in the drapery of chiffon or charmeuse. If a bride is married in church then the gown must have a train but for house weddings the length of the train is a matter of preference, but of course the veil (made of tulle) should match the length of the train.  source

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Because of the drapey nature of the silhouette in this era, I've chosen silk charmeuse for the gown, which I'm already regretting. Unfortunately, I found out slightly too late that bright whites were not yet available in 1908, and that ivories were more inline with the color processes that were available at the time. I believe I have narrowed down my choice to this bodice: 

Wish me luck!