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Sunday, May 13, 2012

Famous and Fabulous: Five Iconic Wedding Dresses


Kate Middleton...

Do you remember Princess Diana's wedding dress? How about the most recent royal bride, Kate Middleton? Or the fictional fashionista Carrie Bradshaw's 'Big' wedding day outfit?

High-profile weddings are characterized by high-profile dresses.

These gowns take months to design and come with quite the price tag, but there's no denying that the end result is something priceless.

Here are some of the most famous and iconic wedding dresses:


Two billion people reportedly turned on their tubes to catch the royal wedding last April and the most buzzed about topic leading up to the big day was Kate Middleton's wedding attire.

The trendsetting gown that she wore on her walk down the aisle was designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen and made from French Chantilly lace, English Cluny lace and ivory and white satin gazar.

The dress was made to resemble an opening flower and design details included individual hand-cut flowers decorating the bodice and train. Fun fact: Kate's train was a mere nine feet compared to Princess Di's 25-footer.

"It has been the experience of a lifetime to work with Catherine Middleton to create her wedding dress, and I have enjoyed every moment of it," Sarah Burton said in a statement.

"It was such an incredible honour to be asked, and I am so proud of what we and the Alexander McQueen team have created. I am delighted that the dress represents the best of British craftsmanship."


Kristen Stewart as Bella in "Twilight: Breaking Dawn"


Bella Swan's marriage to Edward Cullen was one of the most highly-anticipated weddings in teen fiction, and the Carolina Herrera creation worn by her movie counterpart was pretty anticipated as well.

Valued at $35,000, the custom-made dress took four months to create and was paired with jewel-encrusted Manolo Blahnik heels.

Herrera talked about Kristen Stewart's reaction to the design an interview with Town & Country:

"We did three fittings. When she initially put on the dress and looked over her shoulder into the mirror, she was very moved. In that moment she was not an actress or a character in a film but instead a bride, and a happy one at that.

The designer not only worked with the actress for a perfect fit, but with Twilight author Stephenie Meyer to create the perfect style for Bella.

The dress is simple in the front, with a gorgeous oval-shaped low back and lace embellishments.

"It’s very romantic, and when all the details come together, it creates a vision specific to Bella’s style and personality," said Herrera.

Grace Kelly...


She might not have been born into royalty, but Grace Kelly's very public marriage to Prince Rainier III of Monoco was not without an incredibly crafted wedding gown fit for a princess.

The long sleeved dress was designed by Helen Rose, famous for designing costumes for MGM, and featured a high rounded collar and fitted waist.

With antique lace from Brussels embroidered with pearls, the construction of Grace Kelly's extravagant dress took six weeks and 36 seamstresses!

Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City 


Another highly anticipated fictional marriage: Carrie Bradshaw's marriage to Mr. Big. And although our favorite fashionista didn't quite manage to make it down the aisle in her Vivienne Westwood wedding dress, it sure caught our hearts.

The champagne colored dress featured a full skirt and asymmetric hem, as well as a unique sweetheart neckline.

Although the cocktail version of Carrie's Vivienne Westwood dress sold out online immediately for $9,875, fans can still buy the floor length version directly from Vivienne herself for a mere $15,700.

"Our wedding dress always captures the essence of the collection to its most extreme and is the highlight piece," a spokesperson for Vivienne Westwood told Vogue. "In the film, Carrie was sent many choices, however, the dress designed by Vivienne Westwood obviously stood out amongst others and became her choice for her wedding."

Princess Diana... 



In 1981, Princess Diana married Prince Charles in an historic ceremony, wearing an ivory silk dress designed by Elizabeth Emmanuel.

Elizabeth said of Diana to Piers Morgan, "She never seemed to be under pressure. She was always very relaxed and I was the one who was getting stressed out."

Despite the 80s puff sleeves, her wedding gown was beautifully crafted and with antique lace and a whopping 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins!

While Princess Di's dress is currently on tour, the replica gown (made in case of any snafus) was just sold at an auction for approximately $130,000.

22 comments:

  1. Very pretty wedding dresses! I especially love Grace Kelly's dress... and I think it's also one of the best-loved design all over the world, as many wedding dresses have been inspired by it, including mine. :-) Embarrassingly, this is the first time I've seen the Twilight and Sex and the City wedding dresses. Lol.

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    1. Haha - perhaps more embarrassing for me, I've never seen Grace Kelly's before - unlike all of the others!

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  2. person wearing a wedding dress, sure looks pretty

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  3. Very appreciate share this blog, nice
    Welcome
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  4. Hi Lynda,

    Lovely gallery of dresses to die for! Makes me very jealous indeed. Mine was an alfresco wedding - a big old hike up a big old hill Texas outdoors - with a bit of an old pagan 'tie the knot' ritual at the top....

    But I got to wear a white dress - a very budget, and non real - wedding dress, off the rack, from a British high-street store called Oasis. It WAS white but it's since been tie-dyed and well - it no longer fits me in any case!

    I'm sure I'll be wanting to renew my vows soon - just for the chance to squeeze myself into something even remotely as beautiful as those above (Carrie Bradshaw's wins for me!)

    My blog: Go Momma: http://xcartwright.blogspot.com/

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  5. Fab Post! Found Your Blog On Bloggers, 5 Amazing Wedding Dresses, Especially Carrie Bradshaw In Vivienne Westwood! Beautiful!

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  6. Oo my.. Price Diana also in the fabolous wedding. She's gorgeous

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  8. just found your blog
    such a great post, those wedding dresses are legends of style already
    want to follow each other?
    have a sunny day
    http://theothersideofwonderland.blogspot.com

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  9. Nice post, I can't believe I have never seen the Vivienne Westwood wedding dress on Carrie. But my fave is Bella Swan and Grace Kelly's wedding dresses.

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  10. When Cariie first wore the dress and Samantha almost cried i felt like i was right there on the photoshoot crying like little kid :P It was breathtaking even on the screen :)

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  11. This is a great roundup of iconic wedding dresses!

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  12. Hi Lynda,

    I found your blog on bloggers.com and just spent a bit of time reading some of your posts. Well written and very informative. I have joined your site as well with google. Such a great blog you have here!

    I am a new blogger myself and I would love for you to check it out. It's about fitness and general health and wellness. You can find it at http://meplusmytrainer.blogspot.com feel free to follow along if you like it as well!

    Have a great weekend,
    Tara

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  13. i love wedding dresses *_* but my favorite of this post is of Kate and Carrie! :3 so cute!!!
    have a nice week end!

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  14. Was nice to read this blog after watching Entertainment Tonight yesterday about famous weddings. I like the inclusion of the fictional weddings, as even those dresses have to hold up to amazing amounts of scrutiny, mainly because those weddings are going to be viewed on DVD for the first time for a long time.

    I've often wondered, is there enough 'not-white wedding dresses' out there to have a blog about the best ones of those. Lisa here has a view that noone who has been married before should get married again in white. With our wedding coming up next year, we wondered how her gorgeous burgundy dress would hold up to other's who didn't wear white.

    --Dan

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  15. I cannot think of one great iconic wedding dress that isnt there... absolutely perfect. I think Princess Di's is my favorite, only because I am a huge fan of hers... HUGE. I had no idea people could buy Carrie's dress, that is so cool! Fantastic post xxx

    emma
    fashionalization

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  16. Beautiful wedding dresses!! Thanks for sharing this to us.

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  17. your posting is very good about Famous and Fabulous: Five Iconic Wedding Dresses

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  18. Great idea for a post --- and I love all the gorgeous dresses!

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  19. From all these five most famous and fabulous wedding dresses, I like the dress of Princess Diana. It is the most historical and always memorable wedding dress of the century.

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  20. Thanks for sharing this information about these wedding dresses. Last month, it was my wedding and bought wedding dress from a reputed store. It was arranged at one of awesome Chicago wedding venues and we had a great time there.

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