June Means Wedding Dresses and a Wedding Gift for You ~ Jean C. Gordon

Queen Victoria 's Wedding Gown
Photo Credit: The Royal Collection Trust

I had originally thought about doing this month's blog about the history of wedding gowns. Then, we got the exciting news that our granddaughter and her fiancé  had set their wedding date for this August. And my blog thoughts turned more toward wedding dresses "through the ages" in the Chelikowsky, Gordon, and Stacy families.

But before I get into that, I do have a few historical facts about wedding dresses. 

• For many centuries, a bride's wedding gown was simply her best dress or a dress handmade by her or her mother for the wedding which would become her best dress and be worn for Sunday church or other social occasions.
• Most wedding dresses weren't white because it would be difficult to keep a repeatedly worn dress bright white.
• For a while, blue, not white, was seen as the color of "purity."
• Mary Queen of Scots (one of my favorite historical figures) wore a white dress when she married her first husband Francis, the Dauphin of France, in 1559--despite white being the color of mourning for French monarchs.
• But white gowns didn't gain popularity until Queen Victoria wore one for her 1840 wedding to Prince Albert. She designed the dress herself and used only British-made materials to show support for domestic commerce.
• By the end of the 19th-century, white had become the color of choice for the wealthy but would not become a trend among the middle class until World War II (1939-45) ended.
• By this time, department stores gowns, began replacing handmade gowns, either by a seamstress or a family member. But not for all as you'll see.

Our Family Bridal Show

My mom was a post-World War II bride and may have shopped with her two sisters, who were bridesmaids, at a department store bridal shop for her all-white dress and veil.

I made my wedding dress. I don't know how well you can see it, but the undress is a separate dress of white cotton with sprigs of blue flowers. As a college-student bride with a college-student husband, I wore the underdress for other occasions. I bought my veil at a bridal shop while I was with a friend who was getting married a couple months before us. I added the lace trim that's on the sleeves of the dress to the bottom of the veil.

I also made my daughter's velvet medieval-style dress. Note the gold trim on the sleeves and neckline? I't's repeated a couple inches above the hem. I took the lace off the edge of my veil and added matching gold trim for her wedding. And, yes, the guys wore kilts.

Now my granddaughter has asked me to make her dress. The pattern envelope picture is in the photo with her and her fiancé. The background is the slightly pink, fine linen the dress will be made of. I'm also going to use a swath of her step grandmother's dress that was hand beaded by her other to emphasize the high waist. The beads pearl-like with an almost golden color. So we're going to leave the gold trim on my old veil and add the crown of fresh flowers my granddaughter wants.

Did you wear--or is your dream wedding attire--a traditional gown or something else?

A Wedding Gift for You ~ Free for a Limited Time

Three Jeans bring you three enchanting small town romances filled to the brim with heart and laughter, sauciness and sweetness, first loves, second chances, reunions and family galore…ready or not, here comes love!

THE COWBOY’S SWEET ELOPEMENT / Jean Oram

Can she convince him the only thing in need of rescue is her heart?

April MacFarlane wishes her best friend, veterinarian, Brant Wylder would see her as more than another rescue. Someone he might choose for his own happily ever after.

Brant knows April’s life is a mess, and figures the last thing she needs is her BFF hitting on her. After all, he just extracted her from a loveless marriage, gave her a job, as well as a home for her and her four-year-old son. Plus, she’s got to be freaking out over the sudden return of her first love, the man everyone believes came to win her back…There’s no way April’s ready for love.

But when Brant and April find themselves on the doorstep to the local chapel on New Year’s Eve, ready to say “I do” for reasons of practicality, will this cowboy find a way to move out of the friend zone and into the husband zone?

Find out in The Cowboy’s Sweet Elopement, a friends to lovers sweet romance which can be read alone or within The Cowboys of Sweetheart Creek, Texas series.

JUST SAY NO TO MATCHMAKING / Jean C. Gordon

Your grandmother is swindling money from my grandfather.

Octogenarian Ellie Alexander is in love. And the only thing sweeter would be if Libby, her unmarried, unattached granddaughter, could find the same happiness. Maybe with a little help from Ellie and her beau Blake Parker …

Libby Schuyler has avoided any serious dating since her break-up with college-sweetheart Jack Parker. Out of nowhere, Jack shows up claiming Ellie is swindling his grandfather, Blake, through a travel agency partnership they’ve formed. Libby and Jack team up to protect their grandparents and get to the bottom of Ellie and Blake’s business and romantic relationship. While Libby and Jack fight their reignited attraction, Ellie and Blake conspire to bring the two together.

Which generation will win? Or will they both? Find out in this sweet, small-town, second chance romance.

TEXAS DREAMS / Jean Brashear

Two Weddings and a Reunion!

Take two reluctant brides and two frustrated grooms, mix with both clans of Gallaghers and season with a Navy SEAL or three, a movie star, a Hollywood Barbie and a country music giant—and you get a recipe for family mayhem, laughter and a tear or two in this heartwarming reunion of The Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs and Morning Star that’s all about family and all about love.

Watch as Sweetgrass Springs matriarch Ruby Gallagher and her granddaughter Scarlett, aided and abetted by the irrepressible Maddie Rose Gallagher, try to pull off surprise wedding plans for each other in the worst-kept secret in Texas’ most beloved small town.

Pat of the Gallaghers of Sweetgrass Springs 15-book small town romance series.

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Release Date June 16

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