It is 1952, seven years after the devastation of World War II. Audrey Hepburn spent the last years of the second World War in the Netherlands, hoping she would survive the bombings from the Allied and the famine the Dutch endured as a result of Operation Market Garden. But the war is over and the budding actress was engaged for the first time to James Hanson. At the time of the engagement, Audrey Hepburn was in Italy filming the movie Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck – her first starring role. She was so excited about the wedding that she had her wedding dress fitted and made by the renowned Fontana sisters in the middle of filming the movie.

The Fontana sisters Zoe, Micol and Giovanna were the couturiers to the stars in Italy. After sewing lessons from their mother and inheriting their grandmother’s atalier, they opened their Rome store in 1944 and created glamorous clothes soon favored by the Italian aristocracy. Their most famous garment is probably the cassock dress worn by Ava Gardner, which created quite a controversy because it resembled the robes worn by Roman Catholic priests. The dress that Anita Ekberg wore in the Fellini film, La Dolce Vita, in which she splashed in the fountain, was even more controversial. But this was all to happen in the future. The year is 1952, and 23-year old Audrey Hepburn was looking for a dress to wear to her approaching wedding. For her, Fontana sisters created a simple dress made of ivory silk, with no adornments save for a large bow underneath the bust.

Unfortunately, the wedding was not to be. At the last minute, Audrey Hepburn decided her career was more important and realized that this would mean spending too much time apart from her husband. By the time she called the wedding off, her dress had already been made, and the sisters did not know what to do with it. With a lot of grace and generosity, Audrey told the Fontana sisters, “I want my dress to be worn by another girl for her wedding, perhaps someone who couldn’t ever afford a dress like mine, the most beautiful, poor Italian girl you can find.”

The dress ended up going to Amabile Altobella, a poverty-stricken girl who was engaged to marry a farm worker called Adelino Solda. Many years later, she would say, “I have had a happy marriage, so the dress brought me luck.” Indeed, Amabile and Adelino stayed married for decades, and went on to have three daughters and five grandchildren. Audrey Hepburn, on the other hand, married twice – first to the American actor Mel Ferrer, then to an Italian Doctor Andrea Dotti. She had a son with each husband, but both marriages ended in divorce. From the 1980s until her death, Audrey Hepburn lived with the actor Robert Wolders.

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A contribution from Annalyn Jusay-Zoglmann:

How do you find your ideal wedding gown, with less than three months to prepare for your wedding? I was the harried bride and desperate to find my perfect gown, but knew that I didn’t have the time for several fittings with a designer. The paperwork alone was taking so much of our time! Like any excited bride, I canvassed shops and emailed a few noted designers, only to be told that they had their schedules full. I worked on a budget given me by my groom as well.

At first, I wanted a Filipiniana motif and toyed with the idea of wearing a terno, or something like it. Then I said I also like a strapless gown… every bride seems to be wearing that style these days. My perfect wedding gown came to me as I was walking through Glorietta one day and chanced upon the Edgar Allan Boutique. Mr. Allan is one of the noted Filipino designers and his boutique is a showcase of his formal and semi-formal ready-to-wear pieces. Luckily for me, there was one wedding gown in the racks and it was being sold at a discount (they were transferring to another spot in Glorietta and was trying to dispose of old pieces).

I put on the wedding gown and was surprised to find that it fit me well, with only a minor alteration required. The style was an acquired taste since it was kinda unique and wasn’t strapless, like I wanted. It was a semi-off shoulder creation made of duchess satin that was accented by elegant beadwork on the side and the edge of the train, and an oversized bow at the back. The style of the skirt was A-line and the design consisted of pleats that gathered to the side. To cut a long story short, I had all the confidence walking down the aisle on our wedding day wearing my beautiful gown. My husband refused to see me on the day of the wedding, and I swear that when he saw me in church wearing it, he fell in love with me more. My family and friends also liked my gown very much.

My advice to brides is not to sweat it looking for their wedding day dress. In my case, I prayed, and am glad my wish was granted. It will turn out beautifully, in God’s own time.

Let me tell you about my second wedding dress. Why the second? Because I have also introduced the first wedding dress which I wore in Germany; and nope, this is not a change of wardrobe for the same wedding date

Raq’s first wedding dress

This is another wedding, with the same man; only we celebrated with my family and friends in the Philippines. The wedding reception was well-planned — I did the coordination from 8,000 miles away through a former boss who at that time was the general manager of the condotel where we were billeted, Fraser Place in Makati. The buffet were carefully selected, the function room lovingly decorated, the service was simply awesome; and of course, the altar for the wedding ceremony was prepared; but not fully prepared.

Oh, the priest arrived on time. The fact is, my husband is a Protestant and I am a Catholic. If we were in Germany, we would have the blessing of both church, there would be no problem. But in the Philippines; it is not that simple. So instead of the proper wedding ceremony, I took the priest aside and whispered the situation to him. He said that there would be no problem; he would just bless our union.

And what was I wearing during that time? Since I proudly wore a Philippine-made dress when I got married in Germany; I’ve already decided to pick another Philippine-made dress for the blessing in the Philippines.

Like my first wedding dress, I also had what I would jokingly call a weight-problem — I was already four months pregnant with my second child when we flew to Manila. It was not easy to find a dress and a custom-made one would take a long time to finish.

I then decided to grab a close friend for a girl’s day out and look for the right dress. We drove to Rockwell in Makati and combed the boutiques. I ended up in Sari-sari store just because I found a beige dress made of indigenous material; and it was a little elastic, too — it fitted me just right. But wait, the dress is with spaghetti strap. I don’t want to catch a cold during the reception, so after the girl’s day out — I dragged my husband to Rustan’s in Makati where we found ourselves in the Filipiniana section.

Again, I seek the creations of Dita Sandico-Ong. And I gravitated to the poncho-style shawl; again made of indigenous materials and covered with pretty beige-colored beads.

The perfect ensemble for another perfect wedding day — a Sari-sari dress and a Dita Sandico-Ong shawl. All proudly Philippine-made.

My wedding gown was half-inspired by Kate Winslet’s sinking-ship attire. If anyone remembers, she had on this wonderful, floaty gown with a belt (much like an obi belt).

And I wanted two looks, a more demure one for the ceremony and a sexier one for the reception. I was big on flaunting my cleavage that time (I still am) but didn’t want to look inappropriate at the Church.

My couturier was a little conservative and was more worried about my sweetheart neckline. I actually wanted a more plunging one because I was going to be covered by the lace anyway. She put her foot down and I didn’t push the issue lest I come across as something other than tasteful on my wedding day.

As luck would have it though, I would forget to remove the lace part (it was Chantilly lace, I believe, embellished with swarovski crystals) at the reception. So I ended up walking around and ruining the edges. The hemline (?) is also forever stained by I don’t know what kind of dirt.

But it was a lovely gown. All my friends said that it was sooo ME And to think i’ve never been kikay.

I had planned on having the lace converted to a baptismal gown (especially since it was what made the gown expensive) for my kids but my difficult pregnancy and CS delivery robbed me of all creative energy. But maybe I can still do it for a future daughter

And i’ll just have a different ‘coat’ for my wedding renewal… in some eight years time.

We’d love for you to share your wedding planning experiences with us. Our Wedding Day Memories category contains stories of how women made their fairy-tale weddings come true despite being on a limited budget, or what they did to find the perfect wedding gown. Even those who are single can contribute to the section by telling us all about your Dream Bridal Gown.

If you would like your story to be featured in our blog, send a digital photo of your wedding gown and story to noemidado@gmail.com

Last November 25, 2007 marked the first year of my marriage to Marc, my best friend and boyfriend since college. Up to now, I still can’t get over the fact that it’s been a year already. It seems only like yesterday when I saw my dad’s jaw nearly fall to the ground in shock after my sister and I casually told him that Marc and I were planning to get married.

Since both of us already had our own income, Marc and I shouldered majority of the wedding costs. Although this gave my dad the perfect excuse whenever annoying relatives tried to intervene with the plans, it also posed a problem: a financial problem.

I had to make the most of our tight budget. I knew that hiring a popular designer would set me back big time, so I just did what I usually do in times like these—I researched and improvised. I grew up with a mom who believed that practically everything you’ll need can be found real cheap at Divisoria, and in this case, she was right.

I searched the Web for the gown design I liked best, printed it out, and had a couturier in Ilaya Street at Divisoria come up with a similar design based on the modifications I wanted. I could have saved more if I opted for a ready-to-wear (RTW) gown, but I wanted a design that would fit me—I paid a tad bit more than the RTWs, but my total gown expense was still way, way cheaper than a designer gown.

The design I chose was a bit conservative (well, considering the latest trends these days, my choice was quite demure), and fit my theme, modern Filipiniana. It had cutwork accents, bell sleeves and tail, reminiscent of traditional Filipiniana but still had the modernity of simplicity. I didn’t want it too gaudy, but I didn’t want it too plain either.

At my wedding, friends and relatives kept asking me who designed my dress and how much it cost me. I can still recall the surprised reactions I got—they couldn’t believe that it was cheap, and that I didn’t hire a designer to make it. Looks can definitely be deceiving

I’m proud of my gown. It didn’t cost me much, but it brought to life the wedding gown I dreamt of having and had only thought possible for my Barbie dolls.

We’d love for you to share your wedding planning experiences with us. Our Wedding Day Memories category contains stories of how women made their fairy-tale weddings come true despite being on a limited budget, or what they did to find the perfect wedding gown. Even those who are single can contribute to the section by telling us all about your Dream Bridal Gown.

If you would like your story to be featured in our blog, send a digital photo of your wedding gown and story to noemidado@gmail.com

I never got engaged, right, but I got married on 23 January 1980 to my boyfriend of 3 years. I was in a hurry at that time–blame it on who turned up to be son Angelo 5 months later. I was very young then, 21 going 22. All I knew was that my soon-to-be husband’s family took care of all of the preparations. All I needed was to appear for an appointment with a couturier who would design my gown–I didn’t even have to say yes to his design. And the next thing aside from sending my share of invitations to my parents was to appear in church for the wedding. I got married on 23 January 1980 at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center United Nations Avenue. Reception was at the Century Park Sheraton Hotel in Malate.

When I got my gown and fitted it, it suddenly dawned on me that I was getting married. My exquisite wedding gown, designed by Bobby Yalung (who was then Sharon Cuneta’s couturier) was symbolic of “my security”, since at that time, I had no other thing in mind but get married, to give a name to my baby in my growing tummy. I was not sure if I was a radiant bride at that time, as I was having morning sickness (lol).

Fast forward to 2008, 28 years after my wedding with 4 sons and 3 daughters as produce. Daughter Monica coaxed me to wear my wedding gown, which incidentally was well preserved even after having been borrowed by my kids’ friends for plays and pictorials. We looked at it in detail–similar to the dresses of the elves in the movie, Lord of the Rings. She asked if I was not embarrassed when I wore it because it showed how well endowed I was, with only intricately designed flowers covering my front on top of sheer transparent tulle. The sleeves were long, but cut or open, such that my thin arms were bare. I am not very familiar with the names of the materials used, but I am sure it is made of the best lace,

Now, 28 years after that very day, I don my wedding gown with more confidence, with more radiance, as can be seen from the photos taken on my 28th wedding anniversary. Oh yes, in answer to the question of many, the zipper closed, except for a few inches from the top.

We’d love for you to share your wedding planning experiences with us. Our Wedding Day Memories category contains stories of how women made their fairy-tale weddings come true despite being on a limited budget, or what they did to find the perfect wedding gown. Even those who are single can contribute to the section by telling us all about your Dream Bridal Gown.

If you would like your story to be featured in our blog, send a digital photo of your wedding gown and story to noemidado@gmail.com

I officially got engaged on June 8, 2001 but it wasn’t until August 2002 that my fiancé and I started planning our wedding in earnest. Blame it on the little critter in my formerly flat belly.

A dozen phone calls to churches and hotels later, the date was set. November 9, 2002 was the day. We had exactly 3 months to plan everything out.

First thing on the agenda was the traje de boda.

It was bad enough that I didn’t want to wear a gown. My best buddy, who has forever been designing me out-of-this-world creations since college, was insisting that I wear an out-of-this-world confection of silk, lace, crystals, and instead of a veil I was supposed to don a fedora. I was actually considering it but my common sense got the better of me. Add to this that my fiancé was this close to strangling my best friend for even suggesting the idea. To make matters worse, my friend insisted that he would pay for my gown if I would wear his design. To make the long story short, it never happened.

Honestly, I had no illusions of wearing the pristine white gown with kilometric train and a wispy veil. Nope, not for me. Well, that’s what I thought. After consulting with several designers, I was a mess. I actually wanted to be that princess bride who had everyone in tears as I sashayed down the church aisle in a gown made of duchesse satin in ecru, beaded in pearls and swarovski crystals. And I had spoken with 3 designers who each sketched me a proposal and I liked them all.

After much deliberation I settled with the designer who promised to make me look “not so big” on the big day. By then I would be well on my way to my 2nd trimester so that would pose a bit of a challenge.

As if the stars had been playing with me, the gown was to be made of duchesse satin in ecru and beaded with pearls and swarovski crystals. Funny that the designer had this down pat when I didn’t even tell him anything yet. The cut was empire-waist to sufficiently cover the slowly growing middle. It would have a moderately long train. For my veil, I asked for a simple sheath that would cover me almost entirely. This would be held up by a small tiara.

On the day of my first measurement, my designer made slight allowances for my growing belly. On my first fitting, which was about a month after, my designer was pleasantly surprised that I actually had not grown an inch. For my final fitting, I had grown only slightly which made my designer very happy and relieved. There were no adjustments to be made because the allowances given were sufficient enough.

When I finally wore my finished gown I really felt like that princess I imagined being.

And true enough, when I walked down the church aisle in the arm of my Father, there was a nary a dry eye among our guests. Truth be told, even my fiancé was in tears.

Me, I had the biggest smile on my face and I was wearing the gown of my dreams.

We’d love for you to share your wedding planning experiences with us. Our Wedding Day Memories category contains stories of how women made their fairy-tale weddings come true despite being on a limited budget, or what they did to find the perfect wedding gown. Even those who are single can contribute to the section by telling us all about your Dream Bridal Gown.

If you would like your story to be featured in our blog, send a digital photo of your wedding gown and story to noemidado@gmail.com

I was already four months pregnant when I got married. We cannot marry so fast because of the billions of paperworks needed in Germany — I have collected two thick folders holding all the papers necessary to marry. And not to mention those documents translated from English into German.

For everything to move faster, I decided to fly back home to closely monitor the paper works and also because, I wanted to say goodbye to my family and friends in the Philippines and in Bangkok. I know getting married is a big step, and my choice husband would bring me too far away from all the people and places that used to mean home to me. I simply wanted to have the chance to walk one more time to my old world so that I could easily welcome the new one.

Plus, I have always wanted to get married in a nice Philippine-made wedding gown. I already know what I wanted, a babydoll dress, so short to be sexy but fit enough to complement my growing stomach. Actually, being pregnant made me feel so sexy that I am ready to experiment with my wedding dress. But I wanted it to be made of indigenouos ethnic materials such as pina or jusi.

Piña fabric is hand woven from pineapple leaves and has a natural ivory color (although it can be dyed). On the other hand, when banana fibers is mixed with silk, the fabric is called jusi.

And marrying in a far away foreign land made me want to show off what I am. I wanted to represent the Philippine woman. Especially since most of our guests, including my future husband, doesnt even know the Philippines!

It was luck that a very good friend, who also arrived from the US, got to meet with me to help me choose my wedding gown. Since he’s a great dresser, I trust his judgement. We met at Rustan’s Shangrila and went through their boutique and immediately found what I wanted in Filipinian section.

I got to try on two jusi dresses from Dita Sandico Ong, both baby doll dresses; it was a real fun and funny experience because my friend, who’s gay — acted like he’s my mom; complete with sentimental gestures, fake tears and loads of ooohs and aaahhhhs. He made all the sales ladies laugh as he insisted on wanting fit some Filipiniana gowns, too! Well, of course, he only tried on the wonderful shawls; he simply cant resist and he’s making me and the people around us laugh, so it’s a welcome side show. I really had fun and would not have shopping for my wedding dress any other way.

Although I know that the Dita Sandico Ong babydoll dress is the right one; we nevertheless searched Patis Tesoro’s boutique for any possible wedding gown ‘candidates’; they have some pretty terno’s but you see, I have already fallen in love with the first dress and there’s no more changing my mind.

My wedding dress is then a sleeveless babydoll from Dita Sandico Ong made of jusi. It is fitted on the bust and accented by small fine translucent beads around the bust areas. It has a flowing skirt silhouette that introduces some welcome butterfly kisses to my bulging stomache. The shawl is also made of mixed ethic materials with fine beads, too.

I wore my dress with a light colored stockings and a light colored pair of shoes. I also asked my husband to buy a beige or light colored suit despite the fact that almost all formal wedding here has the groom in dark suits. Of course he fitted them, as I tried on my wedding dress. I guess I never really thought about that old superstition that if you tried on your wedding gown, it would not push through because from then on, the preparation went without a hitch.

And oh, we also asked the guest to come in light colored attires. I wanted the wedding to have happy colors and not the dull dark ones.

I was real proud of my wedding dress. I was real proud that I got to introduce my heritage by the simple act of choosing a Philippine-made wedding gown. That made me more a happy bride, feeling like my family’s there with me.

Next, am going to talk about my second wedding dress. Oh yeah, we did got married in Manila, too!

We’d love for you to share your wedding planning experiences with us. Our Wedding Day Memories category contains stories of how women made their fairy-tale weddings come true despite being on a limited budget, or what they did to find the perfect wedding gown. Even those who are single can contribute to the section by telling us all about your Dream Bridal Gown.

If you would like your story to be featured in our blog, send a digital photo of your wedding gown and story to noemidado@gmail.com

by Myrna

My wedding gown sits, folded neatly in a box atop my closet. Wrapped within those folds are sweet memories of my young days with my husband, Manolet. We had met here in America, during what was supposed to be my last days of vacation in San Francisco. Young and wild, we both meant to just have a fling, but ended up madly in love. Divine intervention, I suppose?

I returned to the Philippines on January 1985 because my tourist visa was expiring, but filed a working H-1 visa with a structural engineer in Oakland. After months of passionate love letter-writing, Manolet flew to Cebu to attend my sister, Noemi’s wedding, as a secondary sponsor. He then asked my father for my hand in marriage.

My mother-in-law, at first against our marriage, reluctantly accepted our decision once my father and she discussed our plans over the phone. She proceeded to buy the cloth for my wedding gown from her hometown in Quezon along with cloth for my bridesmaids. The cloth was made of jusi and embroidered intricately with delicate flowers and leaves. She jokingly said that some of the embroiderers must have lost their eyesight from hours of sewing the cloth.

My older sister, Lorna, referred me to a designer in Cebu (I don’t remember his name anymore!) who designed a Maria Clara type of gown, shawl and all, and a ten-foot train. He said I should have a tiara just like Hilda Coronel in one of her latest movies, so a tiara was made with a gauzy veil of three layers. The designer had his seamstresses sew sequins and pearls onto the cloth to add glitter to the gown. Several layers of petticoats were sewn underneath the skirt.

My husband and I were wed on a wintry day on February 1, 1986 in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California. There I was, in a Filipina style Maria Clara gown, while Manolet, my husband, wore a tuxedo. Quite a metaphor for a marriage of the Filipino tradition and the American way of life. For life after that wedding has always been a balance of honoring our roots and embracing the American lifestyle.

Only Lorna, my oldest sister, attended the wedding among my immediate family. Unfortunately, my father suffered a stroke a few months before our wedding and could not attend. Our relatives from Phoenix came to represent the Lardizabals.

Still, we were thrilled to finally get married and I recall, after the wedding, how we peeled off my gown and threw it on the floor in the hotel room…

Now, Manolet and I are close to celebrating our 22nd Wedding anniversary, with three teenage sons, and still happily in love. We are truly blessed by God. I see my wedding gown in that box, and I relish the sweet memories it holds.

We’d love for you to share your wedding planning experiences with us. Our Wedding Day Memories category contains stories of how women made their fairy-tale weddings come true despite being on a limited budget, or what they did to find the perfect wedding gown. Even those who are single can contribute to the section by telling us all about your Dream Bridal Gown.

If you would like your story to be featured in our blog, send a digital photo of your wedding gown and story to noemidado@gmail.com

Together with my peach-themed bridal entourage, the total cost for the gowns was only 5,000 pesos.

I’ve always been a practical person. I know that I’d only wear this dress for a day. The most important element in my bridal gown’s design was the bodice and the back portion because those were the most photographed parts. As I browsed through my wedding album, I was right all along. I can barely notice the embroidery on the front gown.

I never fitted my gown. I asked my younger sister who was almost my size to fit it for me. She looked radiant in it just as I imagined myself to be.

As I walked the aisle on May 5, 2005, my husband-to-be was waiting for me by the altar. Standing by me at the altar, he uttered “I love you”. He was overwhelmed with love as he saw me walking down the aisle.

Those are my treasured memories of my wedding day, the day when we vowed to love each other for better or for worse.

Today, we continue to live in that promise “Till death do us part”. My bridal gown is a memento of that promise.

We’d love for you to share your wedding planning experiences with us. Our Wedding Day Memories category contains stories of how women made their fairy-tale weddings come true despite being on a limited budget, or what they did to find the perfect wedding gown. Even those who are single can contribute to the section by telling us all about your Dream Bridal Gown.

If you would like your story to be featured in our blog, send a digital photo of your wedding gown and story to noemidado@gmail.com