Yay or Nay? Princess Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte

No dress-downers in this group!  Last week Lovisa Ulrika's wedding gown earned her a Yay although many people plead to the queen to add some jewelery.  The truth of the matter is, in other versions of the painting she wears a glitzy choker, sadly that version was of a yucky quality which is why I didn't feature it.  Speaking of which, what is it with yucky qualities and wedding gowns?  This week's selection is another wedding gown and you'll have to excuse the poor quality of image.

Alexander Roslin paints Princess Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte (1774) in her wedding gown. OH WAIT this gown STILL EXISTS (click the link to help make your judgement)! Yay or Nay?

[Royal Armory]

Tart Weddings: Mary and Thomas Robinson

Many of our tarts have commonalities in their marriages.  The first being they were usually miserable, the second being they were extremely young when the nuptials took place.  Such was the case with Mary Darby who would be most well-known as 'Perdita' to London society.

St Martin-in-the-Fields, more
crowded than at Mary's wedding

Mary had humble beginnings which began in Bristol.  In her teenage years she caught the attention of David Garrick who saw her star potential and sought to make her a great actress.  However her mother had different ideas and viewed Garrick as an eager agent filling a girl's head with visions of fancy.  She instead encouraged Mary to take the hand of Thomas Robinson an illegitimate son and accounting clerk.  Mary turned down her blooming acting career to become wife at the tender age of fifteen.

An example of a
Quaker gown

On 12 April 1773 at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields the Robinson marriage took place.  Although Mary's account written years later is shadowed with inaccuracies due to her bitter feelings toward her husband we can, however,  always depends on Mary to give us great deets on what she was wearing.  Mary walked up the aisle in habit of a Quaker despite not being a Quaker herself.  She felt the somber attire was appropriate for a child-bride in order to represent her purity.  But that attire was quickly shed after the ceremony.  For the modest reception (more of a breakfast) Mary changed into a muslin gown with a chip hat and satin slippers.  Let the party begin!

Yay or Nay? Lovisa Ulrika

The maternity-wear of Natalia Alexeievna set many people's sentimental hearts a-flutter.  The tartly and short-lived princess earned herself a Yay for the effort.  Well, I don't know about you but I can't help but be buzzing about a certain wedding this week.  You should all know how very difficult it is to find an era-appropriate portrait of a woman in her wedding gown!

Antoine Pesne's followers recreate the artist's 1744 painting of Lovisa Ulrika in what is thought to be her ivory wedding gown.  Yay or Nay?

Happy Birthday/Aniversary Georgie!

It's Georgiana's birthday today! I hope everyone is celebrating accordingly. For the past two years I've merely announced the 7 June holiday but lately I've been thinking about how I've neglected to mention 7 June also being her wedding anniversary. It's about time I discussed that festive occasion.

Now, the wedding between Lady Georgiana and the Duke of Devonshire was not supposed to be on the bride's seventeenth birthday, it was supposed to be two days afterward. However, like the high-profile celebrity weddings of today, there was much buzz about the Duke getting married. Georgiana was not even a celebrity yet, but the anticipation of her marriage to the most eligible (and rich) bachelor in England probably gave her a boost into celebrity-dom. To avoid the crowds, the wedding had to be earlier so no one would know. The Spencers spared no expense and Georgiana's trousseau was fit for a queen. No less than 65 shoes were included and I am confident that they were all fabulous.

The shoes Georgiana walked down the aisle with were silver slippers. Her dress was white and gold and she accessorized with pearl drops in her hair. Despite being dressed to the nines in full splendor, the wedding only had five attendees due to it being a "secret" rush marriage. The wedding scene in The Duchess may have been filmed in the chapel of Chatsworth but it was in the Spencers' Wimbledon Park parish church that the wedding actually took place. The couple remained at Wimbledon Park for ten days after the wedding (there's nothing as romantic as staying with your in laws) and then were presented to the court.

Now one can only wonder if Georgiana got twice the amount of presents on this day.

Wedding Blues

I've been overdosed on weddings lately due to my friend, Katie's, recent engagement. Lauren and I threw an engagement party over the weekend for her which went really well. In between, we've been watching awful wedding shows (since we're bridesmaids who have no clue about this sort of thing) and gossiping throughout. Since a wedding is a perfect excuse to get an 18th century gown made, I'd like to propose to her that she post some of her top wedding dress suggestions. Seeing as I probably will never marry it's likely I'll just get one of these gowns made so I can prance around my apartment listening to string quartets. And yes this site is full of James St James references since he is straight out of the 18th century. My selections are as follows:

First of all, I need to advertise this amazing site for wedding dresses, It's a feast for the eyeballs.

Reynolds first portrait of her most divine Grace

Reynolds of the Countess of Harrington, 1775

Gainsborough, Mary, Lady Bate-Dudley, 1787

Vigee-Lebrun, Portrait of Madame Grand, 1783

Fragonard, The Progress of Love: Reverie, 1790-1791