30 vintage-style wedding dresses to turn your day into a drool-fest

Comments on 30 vintage-style wedding dresses to turn your day into a drool-fest

1. Vintage is my fav, very cute (ps- no random bonus dress? 😉

   • OMG! I should totally add one!

     • AWESOME.

2. All of those dresses are stunning! Oddly enough the top dress is the same dress i have for my bridesmaids only in black 🙂

3. I’m gonna suggest THIS for the random bonus dress, cos we know how OBBs love peacocks!

   Also I thought that while some of those dresses may be available in plus size, maybe it’d be good to flag up something vintage on Modcloth specifically designed in plus size! VINTAGE FOR ALL. This runs to 4X and I can see some curvy gals really rocking that tea dress style.

   • DONE! Random bonus dress added. 😉

4. #1 and #7 just kill me. So gorgeous.

5. That first dress was my top favorite when I was searching for a dress. No size for me = no purchase. Doesn’t mean I don’t still love it though! These dresses are too cute for words!

6. Funny – I was just poking around on there yesterday, toying with the idea of not wearing a white dress (plus I wanna be able to wear it again). Drooling over #1!

7. I ordered the Baklava Beauty dress from Modcloth for my wedding!

8. The Aisle Be There dress in Lily is my dress! (The top dress) I’m sewing a turquoise crinoline to go underneath and wearing it with a turquoise ribbon around my waist. I love it, I was SO impressed by the fabric quality and general high quality considering how inexpensive it was. Also it has POCKETS, which I tell pretty much anyone that asks about my wedding because I am so excited.

   • I LOVE POCKETS!

   • Yes, I’m adding a sash as well! I felt like the waist is a little high? But the dress is STUNNING. I wanted a crinoline, but couldn’t find one in a dark red. How hard is the one you’re making?

     • Yeah the waist seems a little high for me as well, hence the sash. I’m not sure how hard the one I’m making is, but my best friend’s mom says it’s pretty easy with a sewing machine. It’s certainly going to be WAY cheaper than the ones I found online and I’m getting the color I want. I should also note that the woman helping me make it is the daughter of a seamstress, so take her saying it’ll be easy with a grain of salt haha…

       • Oh good, I haven’t suddenly developed a freakishly long torso. (I’m short, nothing has ever fit me properly, ever.)

         I’m very jealous of your crinoline capabilities. Crinoline envy right here.

     • Making a crinoline petticoat is easy but it does take a lot of time. I’m a costume technician for a living and it takes me about 2 days working full time to make one. That’s why they are so expensive to buy, the materials are super cheap, but the time is not.

       • Yeah, this is definitely the thing to evaluate with all DIY. DIY can be cheaper in many cases, but it can be very costly in time. I’m hand making all my bouquets but it took me a season and a half of Buffy just to make my bridal bouquet. But right now I have a surplus of time and I can afford to just sit around making fabric flowers or crinolines. I know they’ve talked about it on OBB a billion times so just evaluate, because if you can find the color you want online it might save you a lot of time and stress to just buy it.

9. I love all the vinatge looks too! Just one question… if these are recommended to wear at a wedding isnt it a faux pas to wear white? Isnt the bride the only one supposed to be wearing white?

   • Isnt the bride the only one supposed to be wearing white?

     Nope: http://offbeatwed.com/2012/01/bridesmaids-in-white-dresses 🙂

   • I’m going to be a pink-clad bride, so I don’t care if my guests wear white or not.

10. I actually ordered the Love You Ivory Day dress (fourth one up not counting Random Bonus Dress) to wear to my rehearsal and the dinner afterwards! It’s very cute and very flattering. I love it!

11. I just pinned the first dress!

12. These are ABSOLUTELY beautiful!!! ALMOST makes me wish we weren’t going with a sock hop theme!!!!

13. I LOVE all of these! And I know we have SO many skilled OBBs who can sew up a storm! Or their friends and family! I *accidentally* ordered 16 patterns off these websites the other day (Vogue, Butterick, McCall & Kwiksew are linked, theres a button up the top to flick between) 12 dresses, 1 skirt and 2 sets of PJs… There are SO many amazing dresses on there, and this line up reminded me of quite a few:
    Number 1/8-esque… http://butterick.mccall.com/b5882-products-44960.php?page_id=371
    Number 2-ish….
    http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m6646-products-29588.php?page_id=109
    (I ordered this pattern the other day 😀 )
    Reminiscent of number 5 http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m6505-products-16287.php?page_id=109

14. My bridesmaids are wearing #1 in green (my dudes are wearing purple accents) and I bought the ivory one as a party/reception dress, they’re gorgeous, nice quality and the price is so right, but beware the sizing is funky – I typically wear an 18/20, I had to order a 3x (I’m typically 1X rarely 2x) and it still fit me very small (I’m having it shortened a bit and let out), my sister wears a 6-8 (depending) she ordered a large and she has to have it taken out as well (and she still has quite a bit of room in the bust) – the waist measurement is actually your measurement from right beneath the bust to your waist – they are really awesome about exchanges (within 14 days), but beware, they run out of all sizes on this dress and you may have to wait a while before it is back in, so order early and plan for alterations! All in all though, I love this dress!

    • oops, sorry, mine is slightly different and from unique-vintage.com called “happily ever after” very similar in person to the above picture
      http://www.unique-vintage.com/emerald-green-satin-happily-ever-after-pleated-swing-dress-p-20264.html

15. The cream halter dress right before the bonus dress is what I’ll wear to my wedding and brunch reception (University of Marilyn dress.) I added a lot of beading around the waist, and I love the way it looks. The pleats in the skirt give it great movement. I ordered a few dresses from Modcloth when I was deciding but this was mine and my fiance’s favorite. I’ll be wearing the “Speckled Someone,” also from Modcloth, to our after-party on a boat.

16. I really like the ModCloth designs, but a lot of the short dresses are too short for me. I don’t feel comfortable in a dress that is a couple of inches above my knees. It’s too bad because the designs are beautiful. I am going to look more closely at some of the longer-looking dresses that were featured in this article. I especially love the color of the green dress (“With Only a Wink Dress in Peridot”).

    • I have that “With Only a Wink” one in white (under the name “Alika”, but definitely the same dress). It hits me a little below the knee. I’m 5’8″, so unless you’re taller, that one should be fine as far as length. It’s also cute with a crinoline!

      P.S. Bettie Page uses vintage sizing, so I ended up in a 4x, while I normally wear an 18 in US sizes

      • I’m 5’7″ so this is helpful. Thank you!

        • Glad to be able to help!

17. I also wanted to mention that the photo on the main offbeatwed.com page for this article is missing. It just shows a broken graphic icon.

18. my favorite part of modcloth is seeing how these dresses look on real, varied bodies in the style gallery and the reviews. I do wish more of the dresses came in larger sizes, but their selection is nothing to sneeze at. I bought my bridesmaid dress for a friend’s upcoming wedding through them (the refine mint dress in peppermint red) and I’m so excited to add my own, haha!

19. The first dress is going to be my “after-party” dress! I actually already own a version in a print, that I bought at the Trashy Diva brick and mortar store last time we were in NOLA. (Figured it was appropriate since that’s where we’re getting married.) It does run smallish in the waist (which works for me, fortunately) so I would order up and just get it taken in at the bust. Can’t recommend the brand highly enough though, I love their stuff.

20. Ha! I tried on at least 4 of these dresses a few months ago! (The first one pictured was my winner.)

    Some stuff from my recent experience (and links to my other dresses since they fit the theme!)
    – ModCloth sells dresses from other designers. That first dress is actually a Trashy Diva Honey dress and they had more sizes and colors than ModCloth did when I was looking. So I saw it first on ModCloth, but ended up buying it direct from Trashy Diva. If you find something you love on ModCloth, read the comments and see if it’s available somewhere else!
    – The sizing really varies! I ordered anywhere from a L to a 2X and had varying luck. But I’m quite curvy and I found the Alika and the Honey dress to be the most flattering to my shape.
    – I LOVED the Alika dress (the one with the neat netting along the shoulders), but found the ivory shimmery fabric to be a little itchy. Definitely my 2nd choice though!

    Other dresses I tried:
    – http://www.unique-vintage.com/ivory-scoop-neck-bridal-sateen-belted-swing-dress-p-21317.html (Dress was cute, but felt oddly cheap considering the price. Zipper was huge and sticky too. This felt more like a cheap costume dress than a fashion piece.)
    – http://www.unique-vintage.com/queen-heartz-1950s-style-ivory-cotton-sateen-scallop-brenda-swing-dress-p-16657.html
    – http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/wrapped-in-joy-dress-in-black-plus-size (This was sized bigger than I anticipated and the fabric was quite canvas-y. But I LOVED the dress.)
    – http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/love-you-ivory-day-dress (Something about this was just not flattering on me. If you like the look, I think the Honey dress does it better.)

    I have to say, I was SO lucky. I had no issues with ordering these and returning them. I’ve ordered from pinupgirlclothing.com before and had HORRIBLE experiences with their customer service. So it was lovely to have everything go so smoothly with what I already expected to be a stressful experience! Everyone I dealt with was lovely!

    Now… find me some cute vintage-y shoes! Or suggest a necklace for that gorgeous neckline I have to work with!

21. #18 is my wedding dress! Except in white, and the name is different, but it’s still from Bettie Page! Wheeee!

    • Tonight on So You Think You Can Dance Mackenzie was wearing a shortened version of #18 in her group number! Yay!

      • SHHH! Spoilers! It hasn’t aired here on the West Coast yet!!

        • Sure, but they don’t cut anyone until the end of the show, so the fact that she was in a group number isn’t really a spoiler.

          • Oh sorry: I was just kidding around. Guess it didn’t translate. 😉

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