Wedding dress exhibition

Old, New, Mostly Borrowed & One Blue, Doddington Hall’s exhibition of wedding dresses opens on 1 August. The centre peice will be the wedding dress of Princess Mary, the Queens aunt. She married Henry Lascelles, the 6th Earl of Harewood in 1922. They lived at Harewood House in Leeds, from which Doddington has borrowed the dress.

The exhibition’s curator, Fiona Baker, describes the dress as having a “a quasi medieval look” but “is strikingly simple with its tubular shape and short skirt”.

“The dress offers a fascinating glimpse of 1920s high society and Royal life, and we feel extremely privileged to be able to include it in our exhibition”, says Baker.

This is one of just sixty dresses at on display. Doddington Hall in is Lincoln and  the exhibition includes several unusual, local dresses. There is a dress made from Lincolnshire Longwool by a shepherdess, a black wedding dress and even a one made for dogs!

One dress has a touch of tradgedy about it. It was worn in 1820 by the illegitimate daughter of George IV, who was just 12 years old when she married. The tiny dress is edged with ribbon and net lace with leg o’mutton sleeves.

Some of the other dresses have been borrowed from other stately homes around Lincolnshire. There is a 1960s Hardy Amies dress, a 1986 Droopy & Brown ‘Princess Diana-Inspired’ dress and a wedding dress given to Lady Ursula d’Abo of Belvoir Castle, one of the Queen’s most beautiful Maids of Honour at her Coronation, by the Maharani of Jaipur in 1946/7.

If you are looking for inspiration for your wedding or just an fascinating day out, the exhibition is open until 8 September on Wednesdays and Sundays and the bank holiday Monday between 1 pm and 5 pm.

Entrance to the exhibition is included in the price of visiting Dodding Hall. Anyone turning up on 15 August wearing a wedding dress will get into the Hall free and that includes men!