Vintage Weddings Part 2: The Way We Want

On Tuesday I revealed my obsession with truly vintage weddings (as in, literally taking place in the past) and explored a bit about vintage styles of the times. Today, we're going to go over some really basic ways to start on the road to a vintage aesthetic for your 21st century wedding. It's too bad I can't advise time travel, but that technology just isn't perfected quite yet.

Let's start at the top with hair:

For the sake of convenience, let's stick to the 1920's to give us a unified look for this article. And when we're talking 1920's there's no more quintessential a hairstyle than the Marcel (or Finger) Wave. This era-defining style was created by (shocker of shockers) a gentlemen by the name of Francois Marcel and popularized in the 1920's with the help of superstar Josephine Baker. The finger wave is accomplished with heated curlers and pulling those curls off down the side. The internet is overflowing with beautiful vintage brides wearing the style (see sidebar), but in today's retro-chic style circles it's making a come back too (I included a picture of the lovely Carey Mulligan sporting the look to the side; she's the one not in black-and-white!)

With your Marcel Wave in place, let's talk a bit about your veil:

If you look at an image of high society in the 1920's, the chances are very good that you'll see a woman in a cloche hat. The cloche was the accessory of the era, and, as we explored in Part 1, the bridal styles of the time reflected the fashions of the time. To that end, the popular cloche was co-opted into the wedding world as a veil. In the modern wedding fashion world, you'll see veils of this style referred to more-often-than-not as a 'Juliet Cap'. Check out the images to the side.

That takes care of the entirety of your head. But what about a dress:

You're going to be disappointed to hear this, but the world of wedding dresses is just too big to give guidance about specific brands. My suggestion is to bring along some great vintage wedding photos to a bridal boutique you love and get them to help guide you to what you want!

Let's take a brief aside into vintage menswear:

I'll let you in on a little secret: formal menswear has not changed very much since 1920. You'll notice gentlemen are still wearing ties, jackets, pants, vests and fedoras. This is a bit of a conundrum, since a partner in a modern tuxedo or suit is going to stand out against a vintage-themed dress and hair. The solution? Vintage textiles. Back in the 20's they didn't have the same materials with which to produce clothing. There were few stretchy fabrics and of course, few to no synthetic materials. Look for tweed or cotton for the best vintage feel, and make sure the lapels are wider than a modern tailor would normally allow. Also, a bow tie is never a wrong choice. Ever.

To cap everything off, let's not forget the wedding miscellany:

Weddings include decorations, centerpieces, cakes, favours, invitations and a whole slew of other things just begging to be vintage-ized. It's not as hard as you might think! I give you two simple words: Art Deco. Those amongst the readership who aren't familiar with Art Deco style would do well to prepare to fall in love with it. For a definition, I give you the experts at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (by way of Wikipedia): 

"Deco emphasizes geometric forms: spheres, polygons, rectangles, trapezoids, zigzags, chevrons, and sunburst motifs. Elements are often arranged in symmetrical patterns. Modern materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, Bakelite, chrome, and plastics are frequently used. Stained glass, inlays, and lacquer are also common. Colors tend to be vivid and high-contrast."

While the most famous examples of Art Deco are the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, it's quite easy to find modern day wedding goodies in the distinctive look. Look for sharp, geometric edges, gold, silver and metallic shades for cakes and decorations, and as far as invites and printed things are concerned, take inspiration from old newspapers and dancehall fliers.

Make sure to top off the celebration with some really great era-appropriate cocktails like a Manhattan, Sidecar or Gin Fizz. Who doesn't love classic crafted drinking?

Assemble all of those elements together, and you're well on the way to your very own time machine of sorts. Who knew vintage could be so simple?

(I've absolutely got to give a huge shootout to this cute website: Chic Vintage Brides, it has fueled my vintage obsession something fierce, and I got a lot of information from them! Thanks, site-runners!)