A young bride from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is brinb back an old tradition. Abigail Kingston, 30, is set to get married in a wedding dress that is 120 years old and it has been previously worn by 10 other brides on her mother’s side of the family.
Mary Lowry Warren, Kingston’s great-great-grandmother, first donned the Victorian-era satin gown in 1895, and was last worn in 1991.
Leigh Valley Live reports that the tradition of passing down the dress took 50 years to start because Lowry’s daughter’s had no interest in wearing the dress.
Lowry’s daughter got married in the roaring ’20s and wanted a flapper-style dress instead of the older style, Kingston said.
It was Lowry’s granddaughter Jane Woodruff who was delighted to wear the dress for her February 20, 1946, wedding to John Kearns.
The next to wear the dress was Virginia Woodruff on her October 13, 1948, wedding to Douglas MacConnell.
Abby said that when she became engaged to her fianc̩, Jason Curtis, she immediately knew she wanted to wear the family heirloom Рbut had to go on quite the journey to track down the dress.
Her mother, Leslie Kingston, found out that the current keeper of the gown was family member Sara ‘Sally’ Seiler Ogden, who wore it in 1960.
She happily shipped it along, but when Abby saw the condition of the dress when she received it ahead of her October 17 nuptials, she wasn’t sure it would be possible for her to wear it.
The sleeves were falling apart, it was riddled with holes, and the once-white satin had turned brown. And the century-old dress didn’t even come close to fitting the tall, slender bride.
Abby, who recently moved from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina with Jason, shared: ‘I thought it’s just not possible. I’m just not going to be able to wear it.’
However, after 200 hours of restoration work by Pennsylvania-based bridal designer Deborah LoPresti, Abby will now be able to wear the dress when she weds Jason next month.
Mary Lowry Warren, Kingston’s great-great-grandmother, first donned the Victorian-era satin gown in 1895, and was last worn in 1991.
Leigh Valley Live reports that the tradition of passing down the dress took 50 years to start because Lowry’s daughter’s had no interest in wearing the dress.
Lowry’s daughter got married in the roaring ’20s and wanted a flapper-style dress instead of the older style, Kingston said.
It was Lowry’s granddaughter Jane Woodruff who was delighted to wear the dress for her February 20, 1946, wedding to John Kearns.
The next to wear the dress was Virginia Woodruff on her October 13, 1948, wedding to Douglas MacConnell.
Abby said that when she became engaged to her fianc̩, Jason Curtis, she immediately knew she wanted to wear the family heirloom Рbut had to go on quite the journey to track down the dress.
Her mother, Leslie Kingston, found out that the current keeper of the gown was family member Sara ‘Sally’ Seiler Ogden, who wore it in 1960.
She happily shipped it along, but when Abby saw the condition of the dress when she received it ahead of her October 17 nuptials, she wasn’t sure it would be possible for her to wear it.
The sleeves were falling apart, it was riddled with holes, and the once-white satin had turned brown. And the century-old dress didn’t even come close to fitting the tall, slender bride.
Abby, who recently moved from New York to Charlotte, North Carolina with Jason, shared: ‘I thought it’s just not possible. I’m just not going to be able to wear it.’
However, after 200 hours of restoration work by Pennsylvania-based bridal designer Deborah LoPresti, Abby will now be able to wear the dress when she weds Jason next month.
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