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Mrs. Shortcake, Vancouver Age and Occupation: 24, Marketing Manager/Children's Lit Writer Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Master's Student/Personal Trainer Engagement Date: August 7, 2007 Wedding Date: October 2008 Blogging Since: Venue: Ceremony in a historic church, tented lawn reception at a golf and country club About Me: 1950's housewife sent to the future, reborn as crafting-obsessed, jill of all trades. I enjoy decorating, writing, baking sweet things, singing show tunes/dancing in public, wearing pearls, and knitting sweaters for my furbaby, Harvey, to chew upon. I heart pink, and believe that sparkles are the new black.
About Mrs. Shortcake

You Gotta Love A ’50s Bride…

January 22nd, 2008 @ 8:26 am by Mrs. Shortcake

Or at least, I know I do!

I love the frothy tulle, the chantilly and French lace, the little pearl beads…. the whole “bouffant” beauty of 1950’s wedding dresses. To me, a 1950’s dress *IS* a wedding dress… it’s the vision that little girls carry around in their heads of what a bride wears on her big day. I just decided to roll with that vision instead of abandoning it because I had grown up!

I hope the following images help you understand why I am *this* close to being obsessed by vintage wedding fashions!






If you’re similarly inspired, and want a real, second-time’s the charm 1950’s wedding gown, these links will be a great start for your search!

Where to find a true vintage dress:

Ebay
Posh Girl Vintage
Fancy Ephemera
Vintage Wedding
Unique Vintage
Vintageous

Where to get modern reproductions:

Candy Anthony - amazing designer based out of UK - check out his stuff for inspiration!
Dolly Couture
Stephanie James

P.S. My parents are adorable. For Christmas, they got me “Maria Therese” - the retired 1950’s bride from the Silkstone barbie collection (yes, I collect barbies, and you should too :))

Isn’t she gorgeous?

17 Responses to “You Gotta Love A ’50s Bride…”

1.
Tracy says:

I collect Barbie’s also!

My cake toppers were a barbie and ken.

And my parents surprised me with the David’s Bridal Barbie wearing my dress :)

2.
Kate says:

I LOVE 1950’s dresses!! I’m currently looking for a 50’s style for my bridesmaids. My dress is very similar to Tricia Nixon’s on the cover of Life. Love it!

3.
jilian says:

Great post :) I love Barbie too. I’ve always liked her, then on one family vacation we got really tickled by a shirt we saw “I hate Barbie, that bitch has everything” - and now it’s a huge joke with us. So my mom is always buying me Barbie stuff.

My first official wedding was in 1984 (5 years old) and I was a flower girl. I got to wear this beautiful sky blue dress, that I still have!! I still remember my thank-you gift was “My First Barbie”. She was also wearing a beautiful sky blue dress. The skirt was all ruffly and wrapped around her legs a bunch of times! I loved that Barbie!! :) I still have it too!

4.
kpenn says:

Miss Shortcake - we are so much alike! I am pretty much obsessed with the 50’s era as well. I WISH I were a 50’s housewife. I bought the cutest apron that you might enjoy as well. It’s the 50’s Kitchen from Jessie Steele - I LOVE it and I wear it all the time when I’m baking from my vintage Betty Crocker “Cooky Book” (although from the early 60’s it’s close enough for me!)

5.
mrs. fadingflowers says:

oh I love Silkstone Barbies. I love the outfits that they wear. I’m a true Silkstone collector and wish I could get more and more in the future. I’ve been wanting the Maria Therese one so badly. I love vintage stuff and I know where you are coming from.

6.
Bee Icon
Miss Flamingo says:

I think we were bestfriends in another dimensions ;)
Love all your ideas… cant wait to see more.

7.
Maegan says:

I collect Barbies too ~ but only the wedding Barbie’s. They are so beautiful :)

Love your posts so far!

8.
Lali says:

Have you seen the pronovias vintage collection?

It might work well for you if the 50’s are your benchmark!

Besos!

9.
HCB says:

Your post made me think of Betty Warren’s (Kirsten Dunst) wedding in Mona Lisa Smile.

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0304415/MLS-431-DF-3308.jpg.html?path=gallery&path_key=0304415&seq=3

Just a bit more inspiration for you! ;)

10.
missshortcake says:

yay for barbie and 1950’s fans!

kpenn - where did you get your new apron?

flamingo - we can be friends in this dimension too, ya know! Canucks unite!

lali - there aren’t any pronovias dealers out here in winnipeg unfortunately, but thank you for the suggestion!

HCB - I TOTALLY forgot about Mona Lisa Smile - and this is from the girl who wore cardigans, red lipstick, and loafers for a week after seeing the movie for the first time! I’m definitely going to to rewatch it now for the Betty’s wedding scene!

11.
Sheri says:

You might want to include Whirling Turban in your list of modern reproductions. They do gorgeous custom stuff!

http://www.whirlingturban.com/vintage_wedding_dresses.htm

If I hadn’t gone with another historical period, I SO would’ve done the 50’s - so romantic!! =) *sighs at the dreaminess*

12.
kpenn says:

Miss Shortcake - you can get it off http://www.jessiesteele.com
however- I just noticed you are a fellow Canadian (woohoo!), so you might find it a better deal if you can find it on ebay. The shipping to Canada from the Jessie Steele website is very expensive. I got my apron WITH shipping for about $30…

13.
pattyb says:

I LOVE Tricia Nixon’s dress- any ideas for designers with a similar look?

14.
latewinterb2b says:

Hah! I tore apart a planner and put it into a big 3-ring binder, too! That binder has saved me SO many times…

15.
missshortcake says:

oh, I think that post is for Mrs. Corn, latewinterb2b

16.
brendalynn says:

Thanks for the links, Miss Shortcake! The more I look into maybe getting a vintage dress, the more obsessed I become–the top photo with the elbow-length sleeves & cute gloves looks so adorable & so quintessentially wedding-y.

17.
Sarah says:

I love this post!! I LOVE this look - my fiance and I have been taking swing dancing lessons. For the reception I really wanted to change out of my ceremony dress into a funk - funky 50’s style dress so we coudl dance without a huge heavy dress! My sister was goign to try and make one out of a “dress up” dress from when we were little - but my mom gave it away. Anyway - the current plan is to get the Watters 9390 bridesmaid dress in white and have a blue crinoline under it! I’m so excited!! It is tea length and with some crinoline under it I think it could be exactly what I’m going for!! I’d put a link in - but watters doesn’t link straight to the dresses.


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Mrs. Shortcake Mrs. Shortcake, Vancouver Age and Occupation: 24, Marketing Manager/Children's Lit Writer Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Master's Student/Personal Trainer Engagement Date: August 7, 2007 Wedding Date: October 2008 Blogging Since: Venue: Ceremony in a historic church, tented lawn reception at a golf and country club About Me: 1950's housewife sent to the future, reborn as crafting-obsessed, jill of all trades. I enjoy decorating, writing, baking sweet things, singing show tunes/dancing in public, wearing pearls, and knitting sweaters for my furbaby, Harvey, to chew upon. I heart pink, and believe that sparkles are the new black.