The Perfect Dress Finally Meets the Perfect Guy
By Never teh Bride
Sadie over at Jezebel recently shared the fact that the wedding gown she’ll be wearing when she marries her current beau is the wedding gown she planned to wear when engaged to a former beau. No, Sadie isn’t some kind of uber budget bride. It’s just that the wedding gown she already had was so… perfect. The idea of the perfect wedding gown is definitely a cliché, but in Sadie’s case, it isn’t far from the truth.
It was the dress I’d had in mind long before I’d met my first boyfriend; he’d never seen it; and, most of all, it had been made for me. It was, and remains, the only custom garment I’ve ever owned, and there seemed an unspeakable luxury to stepping into a dress I’d envisioned and having it fit perfectly. I’d long peered into the windows of the dressmaker’s small shop in lower Manhattan, and it was with great excitement that I’d first breached the doorway and explained what I wanted: Swiss Dot; sweetheart neck; full, ballerina-length skirt. I was quickly persuaded to adopt a pale pink underskirt and a dainty tulle halter that sounds slightly ugly but is, I assure you, truly lovely. Without the crinoline, the dress would simply be a pretty, retro party-frock; with, it reminded me of the wedding gown from Funny Face.
I don’t think *I* could wear the same wedding dress I’d planned to wear to marry some other guy, but I’m not about to jump all over someone who would. Especially if they’ve been dreaming of a particular dress for ages upon ages. After all, why let a less-than-perfect (wo)man ruin the perfect dress? If Sadie is cool with it and her fiancé is cool with it, who am I to tsk-tsk their decision? On the other hand, I would caution against letting the future in-laws know the origins of the wedding dress, depending on their general dispositions.
What do you think? Is this tacky? Resourceful? Overly sentimental? Not sentimental enough?
Note: If you like the dress above, check out Lynns Rags, the Etsy shop of its creatrix!
January 7th, 2009 at 9:09 am
The dress isn’t about who you’re meeting down front – it’s about finding something that makes YOU look perfect. And if you already have it in the back of the closet, why not wear it?
January 8th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Carol: Right on! I know that this notion will not be popular with everyone, but I can definitely get behind it. Interestingly enough, I actually have a dress that I occasionally wish I had worn instead of my wedding gown. I don’t have anywhere to wear it now (well, being pregnant, I can’t wear it anyway) but it would have made such a lovely wedding dress.
January 8th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
If the dress wasn’t widely known and you don’t inform on yourself, I say go ahead and wear it. It’s a dress, not the relationship to the ex. And while I didn’t have it made before Mr. Twistie and I set the date, when I dreamed of men before him, I dreamed of a gown very similar to the one I walked down the aisle in. If the gown you bought then is the gown you’re dreaming of now, save some coin and rock that fabulous look.
The only thing that would be tacky is if you told your guy: ‘darling, I got this gown to wear when I was going to marry my toad-faced, weasel-hearted ex, but it’s so divine I simply must wear it for our wedding.’
Don’t advertise when you got it, and all should be well.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I want Sadie’s dress! It sounds gorgeous.
And I don’t think it’s a big deal to wear a wedding dress that was originally planned for a different wedding, as long as the original wedding never happened and few people have seen the dress. The dress is made for the bride, not for the groom