Some of my wedding dresses

Here’s another true story written by my mother, Dorothy Howard Adler.

Today I packed it away. Simple, elegant, beautiful. Perhaps my favorite. I thought of some of my other wedding dresses. One was light tan. It probably had a fancier name but it really was tan. The neck line had a collar at the sides and back. The front was straight across with tubular, grosgrain ribbon bows at each corner. The sleeves were three-quarter length with cuffs. They also boasted red ribbon bows. It was beautiful but I didn’t wear it to the wedding.

Instead I wore a red satin blouse and dark blue wool skirt flecked with white. The matching jacket was three-quarter length so I wore it only when going outside. To this day I am not exactly sure what caused the mix-up. By the way, I was maid of honor. (1936)

The next time I was maid of honor, I wore my going away dress. You children have seen it upstairs in a box. It was dusty rose silk crêpe. Quite nice. With it I wore a navy blue straw hat. The top was squished in and a large pink rose decorated it. Veils were “in” so the hat had a veil. It was quite nice, too. A bit expensive, but remember, it was doing double duty. Shoes were navy blue. (1941)

The bride and groom came for me. They brought a Japanese iris corsage. The three of us went to the minister’s house where the knot was tied. I noticed the bride was in pale blue and wore an orchid. Taking a few mental notes, I decided I looked better than she did and my corsage was much prettier. The footnote said I hope your future father would, too.

Another wedding dress I liked very much was purchased for a cousin’s wedding (Dad’s cousin). Weather promised to be hot. The dress I liked was a navy blue sheer. The front of the waist was tucked horizontally and the skirt was quite full. Those were the days!

The neck line was plain so a variety of jewelry could be worn. A navy taffeta enhanced the color of the dress. Oh, yes, I enjoyed wearing that dress. It served me well on many dressy occasions.

By the time Paul got married, I needed a new dress. I went to my favorite dress shop in Bluffton with money to burn. Well, at least the price of a reasonably priced dress. And there it was. My size. A pleasing shade of light green. A good style, accordion pleated skirt. Lace blouse underlined with same material as the skirt. Would you believe it was on a sale rack? Right. Any dress $4.00. As a bonus it was washable, no ironing. You can bet it saw a lot of wear. (June 11, 1984)

But today my very favorite wedding dress was washed, packed into a box and given away. It was also from Bluffton and I got it for a reception. In the beginning it was long. Long dresses were being worn a lot, but I cut it off after deciding I’d wear it more that way.

Simple, elegant. Understated may be the word. A silky fabric in a lovely, lovely blue with design in pink. Very lady-like design, not too obtrusive. It went to Jerry’s wedding plus several others.

But today its wedding career is probably over. I hope someone else enjoys wearing that dress is much as I did. Once when we were going someplace special, a big (and I do mean BIG) orchid added an extra special touch.

Sure doesn’t go with the story but the orchid made me chuckle as it reminded me of the fate of one orchid Dad got me. Ask me sometime.