Community Corner

Weddings on the Brain

Brighton Area Historical Society Vintage Wedding Dress Exhibit is timely during royal wedding fervor.

I am only two degrees of separation away from Friday's fairy-tale bride Catherine Middleton. A few years ago, my husband and I met royal wedding hat designer Philip Treacy when he attended the opening of his exhibit "When Philip Met Isabella" at Cranbrook Academy of Arts.

I love fashion and celebrity, and since I'm practically BFFs with Kate, of course I've been caught up in the excitement of Friday's royal wedding between her and Prince William.

Brighton, MI, is a long way from Brighton, U.K. (which is still an hour and a half from Westminster Abbey in London, where the wedding took place), but in the spirit of weddings, we can get a scaled-down bridal fashion fix at the Vintage Wedding Dress Display.

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The modest exhibit traces brides of Brighton back through their gowns, from a brown pinstriped wedding dress worn by Margaret Zeiss, grandmother of Eleanor V. Hornung, in the 1850s, to the lacy gown worn by Vicki Heotaky when she married current historical society president Jim Vichich in June 1978.

There's also a nightdress from the wedding trousseau of Shirley Kinsey, made by her mother from parachute silk brought back from South America by her father, Lt. Col. William M. Grady, in 1950.

Find out what's happening in Brightonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The exhibit, which takes up just one wall of the , also includes wedding etiquette pamphlets, planners, cake toppers and cards encased on display.

One of the standout pieces is an undated receipt for a "bridal gown and slip" that cost $35. I can't imagine when a wedding dress cost $35, but in today's royal wedding, I bet it wouldn't even buy a feather off a Philip Treacy cap.

The Brighton Area Historical Society Vintage Wedding Dress Exhibit is open 5-8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and noon-8 p.m. Saturday andΒ  Sunday through May 8.


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