Beautiful Royal Wedding Gowns and More

Visions In Lace

Love the Juliet Cap on this vintage bride's veil. Public Domain Image

How about some wedding gown splendor today?  I love to look at wedding gowns and even have a Pinterest board dedicated to beautiful weddings. I also will occasionally pick up a Bridal Magazine just so I can look at all the pretty pictures over and over again. It fascinates me how wedding gown style changes over the years. The beautiful fabrics for gowns and veils are a delight for the eyes! And, of course, I was glued to the television two weeks ago for the Royal Wedding of Harry and Meghan. And that wedding gown did not disappoint. She was radiantly beautiful! So with all of my interest in pretty wedding gowns,  I did a little research looking for Public Domain Images of Royal Wedding gowns as well as other vintage wedding gowns and I thought I would share some of those pics with you today. I'm putting my tiara on so I can get into a Royal mood to write this! Not every bride you'll see today is Royal, but many are!

Image from Public Domain

I have to begin by showing Princess Diana's beautiful gown.  Remember the ruffles and puffy sleeves of wedding gowns in the 1980's? I never get tired of looking at Diana's wedding photos. I was a bride in the 80's and wanted to feel like a princess in my gown, as well!

My lacy wedding gown. debbiethisandthat.blogspot.com

Had I chosen my own gown, I might have gone in for those puffy sleeves myself! But, we were economizing and so I wore my older sister's wedding gown which she kindly offered to me.  I loved the feel of the lace against my skin and the way the skirt "swished" when I walked. The train was really long and lacy, as was the dress. I love my wedding gown and get it out from storage every once in awhile to look at it. Too bad I can't zip it up anymore. It must have "shrunk" in the storage container! (😉) I wasn't a Royal Bride, but I sure felt like one! I chose not to wear a veil. Silk flowers were just coming into vogue for weddings, so I wore a silk flower wreath with ribbons streaming down my back for a headpiece. My bouquet and all the other attendant's  flowers were also silk. When I saw Meghan's loooong veil a couple weeks ago I was jealous. How I would have loved to have a cathedral veil streaming down the aisle behind me! Gorgeous! Reminded me of when I was a little girl and would play bride. I would put a sheet over my head, wear my mother's high heels and march up and down the hallway. I must have been a sight!

Public Domain Image

This is the wedding photo of Queen Elizabeth's parents. The gowns of that era were more loose fitting and the veils appeared to wrap over the head. I wonder how they stayed on? Perhaps the part of the veil that fitted over the head was more of a cap. Anyone know? I'm also always amazed in these old photos how young women always appear to look older. Perhaps, it was the hairstyles worn at the time. I feel the same looking at photos of women in my mother's generation. Fifty year old women of today do not look like fifty year old women used to look IMO! 

Public Domain Image

Here we have Queen Elizabeth (then Princess Elizabeth) and Prince Philip. They make a handsome couple, don't they? I can't believe that Prince Philip is about to have his 97th birthday! He was determined to walk into the church on his own for Harry and Meghan's wedding and he did so, even after having hip surgery very recently. I wonder if Meghan had Queen Elizabeth's veil in mind as she was designing hers? 

Wasn't Princess Grace a lovely bride? Her gown was more streamlined than Princess Diana's for sure.  I think Duchess Kate might have used a few ideas from Princess Grace's gown when she designed her wedding gown. There are some similarities, don't you think? 

What do you think?  The tops of Kate and Grace's gowns are similar but not totally the same. I also have to admit that I am biased against the strapless wedding gowns most brides go for today. I think having sleeves and a full top looks much more princess like.  Guess I'm not on trend when it comes to wedding gowns!

They did make a lovely couple on their wedding day!

I do notice that bouquet size seems to be much smaller with today's Royal Brides. Diana's bouquet was huge! The vintage bride in the above picture also has a large flower arrangement to carry. Does anyone remember the time when brides used to carry just one rose? Also, carrying long stems was popular for awhile. Many brides also chose to carry a Bible, sometimes with small flowers arranged on top. As I've already mentioned, silk flowers for weddings was popular when I married in the 80's. That was nice because you could keep your bouquet forever. I still have mine. Today, using real flowers is all the rage. Styles certainly come and go with bouquet size and type. 

And, it's certainly rare to see a bride with long white gloves at today's weddings! This vintage bride looks elegant with long gloves and that beautiful lacy dress! I love that bouquet, also. 

Do you enjoy looking at wedding gowns? Which gown is your favorite in today's post? Do you have a favorite bouquet? Hope you'll take time to leave a comment! And, remember, to sign up to follow me by email so you never miss a post!

Until Next Time,
Debbie

*Royal and Vintage wedding photos are from Public Domain sources.