120-Year-Old Wedding Dress takes Something Old A Step Further
Something old. Something new. Something borrowed. Something blue. A sixpence in your shoe.
Most of us are familiar with the saying and know that the purpose is for good luck as you head down the aisle into your new life. It comes from an old English rhyme, dating back to the 1800’s.
“Something old represents continuity; something new offers optimism for the future; something borrowed symbolizes borrowed happiness; something blue stands for purity, love, and fidelity; and a sixpence in your shoe is a wish for good fortune and prosperity, although this remains largely a British custom,” The Knot explains.
There are tons of cute ways to fulfill this tradition all over the internet, including wearing blue shoes under your gown and borrowing your sister’s veil. We recently had a bride who took the concept of “something old” to a whole new level.
Our bride, Abby Kingston, got married in a 120-year-old wedding dress!
Abby’s family has been passing down this wedding gown since 1895, when her great, great grandmother first wore it down the aisle. Abby’s story was so unique that ABC’s Good Morning America did a feature on her and called on NST Pictures for wedding video footage to use in their segment.
Although Abby’s mother wore it on her wedding day 38 years ago, the dress had not been properly cleaned for some time and needed to be completely restored. The family hired designer Deborah LoPresti to get the dress back to wearable condition. When Abby opened it out of the box and tried it on, the dress was a deep beige color. They had the dress carefully cleaned and Deborah got to work, fusing the old fabric over a newly constructed skeleton to reinforce all of the delicate seams. They were able to keep the original Belgian lace, keeping the Victorian look of the gown. The project took over 200 hours!
Due to the fragility of the dress, Abby only wore it for a short period on her wedding day at the The Lake House Inn in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. She put it on to sign the marriage license, so legally, she did get married in the dress even though she didn’t wear it throughout the ceremony. She also wore it during cocktail hour and her photo session, as you can see in the Good Morning America footage that was provided by Pennsylvania wedding videographer NST Pictures.
Abby was the 11th bride in her family to wear the dress. Thanks to the proper cleaning and restoration, this dress will be in Abby’s family as their go-to “something old” for 100 more years. Talk about honoring a wedding tradition!
Are you looking to capture your wedding traditions for years to come? Consider hiring a wedding videographer. Start here.