Wedding Dresses

This simple dress was made by Donna Gard for her marriage to Claude Litherland Oct. 2, 1943 in Gainesville, TX. Claude was stationed at a nearby military camp and was shipped out to the Pacific Theater of World War II soon after the wedding. The wedding attendants were Ada and Earl Buchanan, high school friends who were also in similar circumstances. The blue cotton dress has a matching fabric belt, matching lace yoke and short sleeves. The skirt is just above the knee length in the style of the 1940's. It was undoubtedly worn many other times in addition to the wedding day since this was during the days of rationing of consumer goods and followed the depression of the 1930's.

The empire waisted dress on the right was worn by Claudia Litherland at her first marriage to Jerrel Jacobs in 1972 in Allendale, IL. Her sisters and a friend were attendants and wore dreses made from the same pattern, each in a different pastel color adorned with daisies. The mint green dress just to the left was worn by one of the attendants, Irene Saltsgaver. The wedding cake was also decorated with daisies. The bride and groom were college students and the bride's mother, Donna Litherland, made most of the dresses and the wedding cake.

Miss Edna Schmidt of rural Wabash County wore this ballerina length gown of silk brocade fashioned along princess lines when she married Luis Saniel in 1961 at the chapel of Oberlin College in Ohio. Edna made the lovely dress herself, using her sister's sewing machine. The bodice is lined and the skirt includes a can-can for fullness. Edna also made demi-gloves (gauntlets) worn with the gown. The bride was a graduate student at Oberlin School of Theology and part-time director of Christian Education at West Side Evangelical and Reformed Church in Cleveland. Luis joined the Air Force and was stationed at Chanute Air Base at Rantoul, IL where the couple lived for a short time before his transfer to Lockbourne AFB in Columbus, OH.

This wedding gown with its full chapel train was first worn by Dorothy Jane Zimmerman when she married William Duncan Mowatt. It was such a lovely gown that her sister, Marilyn, could find none she liked better and she also wore it when she married Don Hayes a few years later. The gown features a square neckline and short sleeves. The layered full skirt is accented with embroidered roses.

This brown shift dress features a boat neck and front pockets and is trimmed in velveteen. It could be worn with or without a matching fabric belt. It was worn by Mrs. Elizabeth Hanauer at the wedding of her son Joe to Kay Allen in 1955.