ST. ANDREWS, Ont. – From 1840 to present day, every dress in the charitable fashion show has a personal connection to someone local.
The Catholic Women’s League of St. Andrews Parish unveiled new details about their ‘Wedding Dresses: Through the Ages’ fashion show and dessert tea fundraising event, taking place at St. Andrews Church on Saturday (June 4) from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Proceeds will go to the Cornwall Community Hospital Foundation (for the hospital’s addiction and mental health centre) and other area charities.
“You can expect it to be like a wedding,” said organizer Linda Wood.
The event will present over 30 vintage gowns, as well as bridesmaid, mother-of-the-bride, and flowergirl dresses.
Wood said she is overwhelmed at the response from parishioners offering to lend to their treasured mementoes.
A selection of the wedding dresses will be on display in the center aisle of the church and throughout the side aisles for viewing.
Accompanying each gown will be a description, which will also highlight social aspects of the time period, in addition to annecdotes about what might have happened at the wedding.
“So it’s not just a regular fashion show,” Woods added.
St. Andrews’ Mcleod sisters, Madison and Lauren, will be modeling their dresses as pictured above, and dozens of other gowns will be worn by other volunteers during the afternoon event.
“Every dress has a relationship to someone,” said Wood. “You can learn a lot about society through fashion and these wedding dresses really give us a historical look at how people lived around here back then.”
Tickets are $15 – $5 for children – and can purchased at Auntie Em’s Scrapbooking and Beading and Laura’s Flower & Gift Shop, or directly from CWL members.
“We’re hoping that people will purchase ahead of time, simply because the CWL is making the fancy desserts so we want to make sure there will be enough for everyone,” said Wood.
