June 9 – November 26, 2009

Main Gallery

Everyone loves a wedding!  This will be a major exhibition from the museum’s extensive collection of costumes and textiles chronicling the ceremonial and practical

aspects of the bridal costume.  As the role of women and wives changed through the centuries, the ritual of weddings and marriages has also changed, and this exhibition of historic wedding gowns and accessories dramatizes the social and cultural shifts that have accompanied American history. The museum’s Curator of Costumes Elizabeth Laba and Curator of Exhibitions Ann Aptaker are planning a grandly mounted exhibition of lush textures and historic tableaux in the grand tradition of great romantic weddings.