A Bride Who Wore Her Grandmother’s 1949 Vintage Wedding Dress

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In this final feature for today, Bobby and Lizzie celebrate their relaxed, rustic vintage inspired garden party wedding, that took place on Saturday 6th July 2013.  The couple got married at St.Peters Church in Snailwell and went on to celebrate with a reception in the paddock at Lizzie’s parents house.

There’s something rather lovely about this particular wedding – Lizzie wears a vintage gown from 1949 – the very same dress her Grandmother wore on her wedding day…

“Our day was inspired by lots of things; Bobby has a passion for wild-fowling and we love to take the dog for long walks around the countryside, which is where our rustic, relaxed style came from. We wanted to transform the paddock into a pretty summer garden with lots of unstructured flowers and bring some of the woodland into the marquee.

My dress was from 1949 so we also wanted to incorporate some of our vintage finds and family stock of trinkets from the past.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

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“Bobby and I first met when we were about fifteen years old but it wasn’t until another 4 years later that I decided he was alright! Eight years later we have a renovated house and a dog called Rebel. My love of collecting things from the past means I spend lots of time trawling antique, junk and charity shops.

On one particular trip to the Waterside Antique shop in Ely, Cambridgeshire I spotted a gorgeous Victorian ring  with a peridot jewel surrounded by seed pearls.”

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“I showed it to Bobby who thought it was ok but we weren’t there to buy jewellery! Unbeknown to me Bobby went back to the shop and presented me with ‘the ring’ a few weeks later! We were engaged in May 2012 and knew we wanted to be married the following summer so booked the Church within a couple of weeks and started the planning!”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

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“I found my veil on a pre loved website and it is by Richard Design.  Although it was ivory, it was still too pale for my dress so very daringly my Mum and I took the plunge and tea died it! Luckily it turned out perfectly and was a few shades darker so looked much softer against my dress.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“My dress was my Grandma’s and she was married in December 1949. We believe the material for the dress was bought with ration coupons and a local dressmaker in Yorkshire, where they lived, made it for her along with the bridesmaid’s dresses.

I tried it on years ago and it fitted me perfectly, from then on I always said I’d love to wear it if I ever got married. I love the simple, elegant style of the dress and the material which is a champagne colour and has a floral pattern running through it.

I didn’t want to make too many changes to the dress so I just had the sleeves taken off and the back lowered into a sweetheart to match the front.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“A local dressmaker did the alterations for me and I found some beautiful beaded vintage lace on Etsy which she very cleverly made into a fitted long waistcoat that I could wear over my Grandma’s dress, but could be easily taken off.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“She made covered buttons using the fabric
from the sleeves so I could simply slip the waistcoat over my dress,
button the front and it would became a whole dress in itself.

As there
was some lace left over I stitched some pieces onto the shoulders of the
dress so that when I took the waistcoat off the lace was still
incorporated.”

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“The bridesmaid’s shoes were from Next
and were the second thing I bought for the wedding, the first was their
dresses. I customised the shoes with coloured organza flowers so that
they each bridesmaid had a chosen colour, blue, purple and pink.

I saw the bridesmaid’s dresses in a magazine about a month after
we had got engaged and instantly fell in love with them. They were from ASOS
and luckily I got them straight away as they sold out within a few
weeks of being online. I loved the relaxed style of the dresses and I
wanted something that would be comfortable but also elegant.  They had a
1920’s
feel with the lace panels, tie waist and mid length. We didn’t have a
particular colour to theme the day and I knew the flowers were going to
be a bright mixture so decided these neutral dresses were perfect.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

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I started off wanting lots of flowers in my hair but was then
offered a beautiful hair crown to borrow. It was perfect as the gold
tones, pearls and floral design suited my dress better than anything I
had seen and was a similar shape to the wax flower crown my Grandma
wore. I also had floral hair vine from Kals Return Jewellery which twisted over the back of my hair.

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“We had two lovely local ladies doing our flowers. They only do a
few weddings a year as it’s a hobby for them, but they are a great
team. I was really relaxed as they did the flowers for my sister’s
wedding so I knew I could leave it with them and they would look
fantastic.

We weren’t disappointed either! The flowers were incredible and
it’s something many of our friends and family have commented on since.
My brief was to have natural seasonal flowers that looked as though
they’d just been picked. We had delphiniums, scabius, roses,
cornflowers, gypsophila and many more. Over the year I had collected
quite a mass of coloured glass vases and sundae glasses and the idea was
to fill as many as we could”

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On the morning of the wedding the ladies were brilliant and along
with Mum they managed to put flowers in anything going! We had a huge
old egg pail from my Grandparents which they filled, along with wooden
crates, baskets, pots and the old trade bicycle my Dad had restored for
us. It had been in one of the stables for as long as I can remember and
now it has had a makeover it looks fantastic.

My Dad took out the old
cooperative sign (which he has kept) from the middle of the bicycle and
made a replacement that he chalked our names and wedding date onto. He’s
now hoping to hire it out as it’s too good to be put back in the
stable!”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Rebecca Douglas
was our photographer and we couldn’t recommend her highly enough. I
found her when I was looking through the wedding pull out in Molly Makes
magazine last summer.

Rebecca featured a photographed tutorial on how
she made homemade chalk board speech bubbles for her photo booth. I was
instantly drawn to her creativeness and after viewing her website I got
in touch with her, we skyped and now we are here with lots of wonderful
photos and memories.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Rebecca has a very relaxed style and we talked many
times before the day about all the details coming together and what sort
of things we had been making. During a quiet time in the evening
Rebecca took Bobby and I off for some relaxed shots around the stables
and with our vintage bike.

She made it so much fun and has so many
creative ideas, like the wallet sized polaroid shots and standing on the
stone garden bench! They all turned out brilliantly and she is
excellent at thinking on the spot to create something special and
different for each couple.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“Our hair was done by a friend of my sisters. I didn’t want mine to
be too structured but also didn’t want it to be falling around my face
throughout the day. I loved the plait and the back was done so that I
could easily remove my veil in the evening. My bridesmaid’s had a
waterfall plait with the flowers and pearls throughout and it looked so
pretty.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“The bridesmaid’s had pearls and paper roses in their hair in the colour that coordinated with their shoes.  My
gift to the girls was a silver necklace by Rose and Raven on Etsy.com.
Each necklace was personalised with their initial, a pearl and a jewel
in the colour I had chosen for them.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

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Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

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“My necklace was a simple gold chain with a pearl and I had added a
gold horseshoe charm which was from a pair of my Nan’s earrings that had
broken. Bobby’s Mum had bought the bracelet which I had opened on the
morning of the wedding.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“My gift to my Dad was a pair of personalised wooden and silver cufflinks. One had his initials and the other had my initials as it was my last day as a Millar!”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“My Dad gave me away and we managed to walk down the aisle without
blubbing!  We walked out of Church to The Rolling Stones ‘Shine a Light’
as we wanted something upbeat that suited us and got everyone in the
mood to celebrate. We played Sigur Ros ‘Hoppipolla’ during the signing
of the register. Our Vicar was open to new ideas and encouraged us to be
open with our choices as you only get this day once!

For our wedding car we a chose a classic convertible Beetle from a local car hire company and I’d definitely like one for myself some day!”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

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“My
friend Amber wrote and read a wonderfully creative and funny poem about
Bobby and myself from our childhood to where we are today.  This is the
last verse…”
 

‘With Bobby out walking Rebel
And Lizzie mending a curtain,
You make a lovely couple … of this, I am certain.
The respect you have for one another
Neither of you can hide –
When I see you both together,
It is love personified.
Bobby without Lizzie is like an ice-cream with no Flake,
And tying the knot is the icing on the cake.
Today is the start of your married life,
Together, forever, as man and wife.
May you have a lovely Canadian Honeymoon,
The best that there can be,
And if you meet Michael Bublé,
Bring him back for me.’

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Lizzie’s cousin William read Colossians 3 v 12-17…

‘As
God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and,
if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as
the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe
yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which
indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all
wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do
everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the
Father through him.’

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“There are five Churches in the parish to choose from and St.Peters
is where my sister was married. It is such a pretty Church and one of
two in Cambridgeshire with a round tower. The setting is beautiful, down
a quiet rural lane and surrounded by farm houses and barns. It has a
quaint stream that runs beside it, with plenty of wild grass which was
perfect for some of our shots after the ceremony.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“We went through lots of options for Bobby’s suit, starting off
wanting tweed or something similar but were worried about the heat.
Luckily we didn’t go for this option as we had temperatures over 25
degrees on the day. We went for a simple navy lounge suit and dove grey
waistcoat from Gerald Boughton. All the Groomsmen wore a navy tie and Bobby wore a checked tie from Ted Baker. It was nice for him stand out from the others.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“We hired Bella, a harpist, via Last Minute Musicians
to play during our drinks reception and wedding breakfast. We love
Florence and The Machine and it turned out Bella had played with them
before so we were thrilled when she was available to play for us. A
local band called Cupids Wish played for us in the evening
http://cupidswish.co.uk/ who certainly got everyone dancing! There
wasn’t a space on the dance floor and there sound was faultless. We
really wanted a band as we love live music and the atmosphere it creates
is awesome.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

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Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“I really enjoyed creating all the favours and Bobby got
involved by making his sloe gin which we bottled up the gents. For the
ladies I made flower brooches in all different colours and sewed hessian
cushions to hold them. For the place names my sister and I spent many
afternoons making miniature jam jar candles in a variety of colours. I
printed guests names onto brown card discs which I stuck onto the lids
and stamped with a heart. I liked using different fonts which were then
incorporated into the menu, Order of Service and table plans. The tables
were named after ducks and geese. I spray painted wooden flying ducks
with chalk board paint and used a chalk pen to write the birds names
on.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“We had two wedding cakes as we know fruit cake isn’t always the
preferred choice. My Mum made both cakes, one fruit which we simply
covered in white icing, sugar coated petals and some left over lace from
my dress. The other was a delicious three tier sponge layered with cream,
berries and flowers. It was a challenge but well worth it as the result
was stunning and tasty.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“We used tree trunk slices as our centrepiece on
the tables to hold the vases and silver antler candle holders on our top
table. My friend and I spent evenings making tissue paper pom poms
which was so much fun!

Both families helped decorate the marquee in the
morning and we were blown away by the results. The pom poms add colour
and texture to what could be a very plain marquee. Our table plan sat in
my Grandpa’s old suitcase and the gift table was also an inherited
piece. We used a vintage metal hat box for cards and had a typewriter
for messages. The weekend before the wedding we built our very own tipi
from scratch and were thrilled with how it turned out. Using some wooden
batons, jute webbing and lots of fabric from my stock we ended up with
something quite special.

Filled with fairy lights and cushions it went
from being a den for the kids in the day to a chill out (sleeping) area
for us grownups in the eve!”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

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Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

“Our chosen ‘first dance’ was literally last minute! We had a few
choices which we had given the DJ and decided to judge it on our mood.
Mumford and Sons ‘I Will Wait’ is what we went for and not the acoustic
version!

It was very funny as everyone watched us trying to spin around
and dance a jig. We didn’t want a slow song as we wouldn’t be
comfortable trying to swoon around for at least three minutes! It makes me
laugh when I think about it!”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“My
words of wisdom to any future Bride to be would be to enjoy the planning
as much as you can as it’s no fun getting stressed about minor details.
If you miss something out, it’s only you that will know. The guests
don’t know that you planned to do more or make something that you didn’t
get round to doing.

They will have a great time being there and
celebrating with you. Get friends and family involved if you can as you
will have a great time together. They love to help and be part of the
creating team! We used as many local suppliers and companies as we could
and wouldn’t change any of it.”

Grandmas wedding dress // 1940s wedding dress // vintage bride // vintage wedding dress // photography by Rebecca Douglas

Just another beautiful, relaxed and inspiring day on Love My Dress.

You can explore more 1940s bridal style here – in the meanwhile, why not go follow our Facebook page (if you haven’t already), Pinterest boards and Twitter?

Have a very lovely evening everyone, we’ll be seeing you tomorrow.

Annabel

Heart

Photographer – Rebecca Douglas
Venue – The brides parents house
Wedding Dress – The brides Grandmother’s (c.1949)
Veil/Headpiece – Richard Design (pre-loved) + floral hair vine from Kals Return Jewellery
Brides’ shoes – Benjamin Adams
Groom’s Attire – Gerald Boughton + Ted Baker
Bridesmaids – ASOS + shoes from Next
Flowergirls – Monsoon
Flowers – friends
Cake – the bride’s Mum
Transport – classic convertible Beetle
Rings – Heirloom (from the couples families)
Catering – Petal Foods

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

2 thoughts on “A Bride Who Wore Her Grandmother’s 1949 Vintage Wedding Dress

  1. perfectly perfect in every details. this is one of my favorites wedding ever! thank you for sharing this beautiful wedding Annabel. Congrats to the couple, they are gorgeous! xx

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