Sukie's wedding dress story.

Click on the pictures to go to Nicole Montmarquet Photography. 

Hello from newlywed land!

It's Sukie here!

First of all, I want to thank you all for your prayers and well wishes for our wedding. We are so happy! It was amazing to have so many friends and family together to celebrate us that day, and then to think of all you people praying for us as well...phew!

Nicole Montmarquet photo.

{Details before we get into the dress discussion: The doubled strand of pearls is mine; the single one is my mom's; the earrings are a wedding gift from John. The veil was worn by my father's sister Frances, and then my mom. All of us girls wore it at our First Holy Communion, and now we've all worn it (including Natasha) at our wedding! Bridget's next! The little beaded purse was a gift from my father's mother's best friend and cousin Mary Ellen to Rosie to use at her wedding; it had been a gift from her grandmother to her, and she's in her 80s!. It's becoming a tradition for us to attach it to the bouquet's ribbon and put a little lace hanky, the sixpence, and the lip gloss in there!}

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

Many of you have asked me about my dress. The quest for a modest, beautiful dress that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg is a huge problem. (Why, why, why are all dresses strapless? And why should a polyester slip dress-- without sleeves!--cost a minimum of $1000? It’s such a racket.)

I knew that I didn’t want to go that route, but how to avoid it? 

What are the options?

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

As of Christmas break (I'm a teacher and had little time for shopping!), I had no wedding dress. 

Keep in mind that most conventional dress shops require at least five months lead time, and that my wedding was at the end of May. For a while I had wanted to wear my mother’s dress, and we had tried to figure out how to make it work for me, but it wasn’t going too well, with one thing and another.

We discussed going back out to bridal shops, but my previous trips had been quite disheartening. (And --all of this discussion and potential shopping had to be kept under wraps, since John was also there for Christmas!)

Right before New Year’s, my mom, Deirdre, Bridget, Habou, and I decided to make a quick run to a consignment store we've always found quality clothes at -- M T Pockets, in Sterling Massachusetts (get it -- eMpTy pockets??). Marilyn has everything beautifully displayed, and she always has a few bridal gowns in the back.

Well, allllllll the way in the back, behind another rack of coats, were I think three wedding dresses, two of which were not desirable. The third looked promising...

Mom's poor cellphone photo.

{The “before” pictures of my dress are from my mom’s phone. All other photos are by the lovely Nicole of Nicole Montmarquet Photography. This photographer really understood me! I enjoyed so much having her there during the wedding, and just love the beautiful photos she gave me.} 

According to the tags, it’s an Alfred Angelo dress from 1961. It has beautiful lace overlay, buttons all down the back, and these fabulous buttons in the front as well. This dress was absolutely nothing like what I had in mind as I shopped for my wedding dress. I had thought that maybe I wanted something flowy, no stiff material, ruffles.... But it was so beautiful, and actually much more similar to what I would have described as my ideal dress five years ago. My mother pointed out that with a tall groom in uniform, maybe something more substantial than what I had been thinking about would be in order.

I spent a long time in that tiny dressing room, hemming and hawing. It was completely wrinkled, and the shop is just a little hard to maneuver in for knowing how this dress really looked.

Mom's poor cellphone photo.

Also (you may be able to tell this from the pictures) the dress was far too small for me. As in, I was a few inches from being able to zip it up.

We left it there and went home. I deliberated all evening, filled Rosie in about it in whispers while John was otherwise occupied, deliberated some more.

The next day, after we had all eaten breakfast, my mom said to me, "Don’t you think you need to go buy that dress?" 

Mom's poor cellphone photo.

Yes, yes I did.

We zoomed out, suddenly gripped with anxiety that it wouldn't be there, stopping at the bank so that I could get the cash I needed, and got to the store soon after it opened. I pulled out my dress and gave the owner my $100. 

Yes, my dress cost one hundred dollars.

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

And yes, I bought a dress that was too small for me.

There were other expenses. I had to get it cleaned, which was difficult because of the beautiful lace, and the fact that it had paper interfacing. Luckily for me, the drycleaners down the street from my house in Virginia specializes in costume cleaning--they actually told me they all the costumes for Kennedy Center productions. This calmed my fears about leaving it in their hands. They did a beautiful job, including getting rid of stains that must have been there for 50 years.

Then I had to find just the right seamstress. If you live in Northern Virginia and need a seamstress, let me know. This woman was just wonderful, and her rates are very (surprisingly! delightfully!) reasonable. 

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

First, she had to hem the dress quite a bit. She took off the lace from the bodice, then put in gussets at the sides, using material from the hem (I’m short, and it would seem that the original bride was tall -- as well as having a shortish, tiny waist and a highish bosom, oddly [maybe a corset was involved?] -- so there was a lot of material left!), then put the lace back over it so that you couldn’t tell a thing. 

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

She also put darts in the bodice, and enlarged the shoulders by putting another gusset of stretchy material under the arms (again, she covered it up beautifully with the lace). I have large shoulders for my frame, so this worried me, but I ended up with full range of motion (after convincing her that it was very important since my husband is 16 inches taller than I am--I needed to be able to hug him!).

In the end, this dress that started out stuffed in the corner of a resale shop looked just so beautiful. When I put it on at the last fitting I was thrilled--it was my dress!

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

So, when people ask me about my dress, I almost feel bad about my answer. I just lucked out so much. 

Nicole Montmarquet photo. 

However, I do think that there are certain takeaways here:

1. Look everywhere for your dress. Don’t feel confined to “bridal” shops. Rosie found hers at a bridal consignment shop; Deirdre at Filene's Basement. Natasha's was her grandmother's.

2. Find a good seamstress. A good seamstress can work wonders. Deirdre’s dress (which we will post about soon!) started out several sizes too big for her; mine too small. They both ended up fitting perfectly! This gives a lot more flexibility in buying a dress off the rack, from a consignment store, or wherever you can find it! (If you do buy your dress from a bridal shop, don’t feel that you have to have it altered there. The markups can be significant. Look around and see.)

I am so happy about how my dress search turned out!

Nicole Montmarquet photo.