The winner of our draw for a wedding dress is...

Congratulations to Stephanie Dotto, the winner of our draw for a wedding dress up to a $2,000 value. Entrants were collected at Marions Nous and Salon de la Mariée in January. Stephanie was surprised and thrilled to bits to hear the good news. After a short exchange I realized I remembered her and her mother stopping by the booth: she reminded me of our discussion about the inner structure of our gowns. She was concerned that if she opted for a strapless dress that she would be adjusting it all day. I explained that I had a background in Architecture and that our dresses are constructed accordingly! We all had a good chuckle. Congrats Stephanie! Looking forward to helping you. ... and yes, you'll see what I mean about that strapless dress not budging!

Montreal Historic Wedding Photos

I've been doing a genealogy project on and off for a few years, and was lucky enough to uncover some amazing photos in the process.  It's incredible how the more things change the more they stay the same.

My Grandmother in Montreal, 1941.  What a gorgeous slim A-line gown with almost no embellishment.  My "Nana" was always ahead of the fashion curve her whole life.  Her wedding dress was no exception!

My Great-Grandmother in Kennebunkport, 1916.  This was a particularly amazing find.  There is a similar photo that I have seen before (and turned into a painting) which was taken in the same session.  The difference is that in the other one she is holding her huge bouquet closer to her body so that almost the whole front of the dress is hidden.  My theory is that she found the dress a little revealing and circulated the more modest picture.  It was 1916 after all!

My Great-Great-Grandmother in Montreal, 1872.  Photo by William Notman courtesy of the McCord Museum.  Another amazing find.  I had the inspiration to check the McCord website and wow - I came across this incredibly well-preserved archive of William Notman's work.  He was a world-famous photographer when the art was in it's infancy.  The gown is a silk taffeta ballgown with an inner metal hoop crinoline.  Wow!  It looks so similar in many ways to a modern-day wedding dress, but to put this in perspective, this was a gown fit for a princess at the time.  Elaborate wedding dresses were just not within the reach of most people.  Although I am no expert on historical bridal fashion, it seems really interesting to me that the sleeves are not the huge "poofy" variety that were popular in the late 1800s.  Oh, then a century later in the early 1980s!