Vintage Wedding Dresses Prepare for Their Big Day

For years, the garments lay in boxes, kept in acid-free paper in the museum’s storeroom and visible only to a select few.

Now the vintage wedding dresses, most from between 1870s to the 1930s, are preparing for their big day as the Petaluma Historical Museum unveils its latest exhibit.

“I Do!” opens this Sunday and is a collection of 20 wedding dresses that have been donated to the museum by Petaluma families. They are lacey, crocheted affairs, big on flounce and exquisite details like tatting, pearl buttons and lots of handwork, said Teresa Fröschl, a volunteer in the museum textile department who is curating the show.

“Each one is like a work of art,” Fröschl said. “And it shows how many women of the time earned their living.”

The exhibit will also feature veils, gloves, shoes and the dainty “unmentionables” that made up the brides’ trousseaus, as well as fashions for the groom, ring-bearer and flower girl. These will be accompanied by vintage photographs and news accounts of many of the weddings, including of Petaluma’s leading families like the McNears and the Denmans.

The show was helped by a $4,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Sonoma County that allowed the museum to purchase materials to build slender frames for the dresses and stands. (Apparently, even the mannequins of today were too large for these dainty waistlines.)

The exhibit runs through September with a grand opening celebration this Sunday, July 15 at 1pm. Champagne and cake will be served. $5 for general admission/$3 for seniors. The museum is located at 20 Fourth St.

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