Wedding Dresses

The Wedding Dress: 300 Years of Bridal Fashions - Edwina Ehrman
(pages 41-83)

After Queen Victoria was married, it became traditional to wear a white wedding dress, veil and a wreath made of orange blossom. It gradually became the choice for a young woman marrying for the first time and the wearing of the wreath and veil symbolised her as a bride. In the 1840's a bouquet became popular and the key elements of this tradition remained subject to fashionable change. Upper class weddings had been reported in newspapers since the 18th century but these weddings became more detailed and often in the Victorian period. Although they were entitled to marry in private, many chose to marry in public. Wealthy middle class brides wore honiton lace wedding veils which pattern included pea pods which are symbols of fruitfulness and happiness. Lace and Tulle veils attached to the back of the head remained fashionable, in the late 1850s some brides chose to were these veils drawn down over their face and upper body. Silks, satins and muslin were the most common materials used to make a wedding dress. It was traditional for the groom and father of upper class bride to give her jewellery on her wedding day. From the late 1860s tiaras and pins worn with the veil were also popular.

1848. Embroidered with oak
 leaves and acorns as a symbol
 of loves strength. 

Each flower had a different meaning when placed at different parts of the body such as in the hair, cleavage or over the heart. It was popular during the Victorian era for the bride to spell out a word through her choice of flowers. For example lilies, orange blossom, violets and euphorbia which spells out love.
Information from: http://www.weddingguideuk.com/choose-your-wedding-flowers/

I find this idea so lovely as it is a hidden meaning for someone special (I am even going to do this at my own wedding!). I want to take this idea and make a bouquet for Miss Havisham as she loved Compeyson dearly. I have chosen to spell the word "Adore" and I have got; anemone's, dills, orchids, roses and eryngium's. As this was traditional in the Victorian era many people might have guessed but today this is a hidden meaning that no one will really pick up on unless they know about it.

1857. The bride would have worn detachable
wrist-length muslin under-sleeves for her wedding.

Making my own Wedding Dress

I went to my local charity shop and found a satin material top and a lace jacket, I bought them with the intention of creating a wedding dress. As we are just shooting the face and shoulders I am only going to make the top half of the wedding dress. Below are the sleeves before, I didn't really like them as I feel they didn't look very delicate so I cut off the material down the the lace and it look much more dainty. 

The colour is an off-white/cream colour but I didn't feel it look aged enough so I experimented with tea to stain it a different colour. I soaked a tea bag in hot water and dipped the fabric in the bowl to stain it. I then washed it through with washing powder to get rid of the smell for my model to wear.  

The jacket also came with a collar so I cut that off to make it look more like a bolero. 

Here I tested the off-cut of the jacket to see if the tea staining would work well. I am happy with how it turned out as it looks more dirty and "yellow" like Dickens describes in the book.

1850s. Lace bride veil. 

I chose a piece of netting in a fabric shop to make the veil and I really like the pattern on it and the way the edge is scolloped. The veil looks quite similar to the image on the left, from the wedding dress book I read. After doing the test of tea staining and liking the way it turned out, I will be staining all fabrics with tea to give it the old withered effect.