Jinder's Dresses: A Very Subjective Rundown/Review of all Duggar Wedding Gowns

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

48 minutes ago, just_ordinary said:

Bleach please!!!!! Haven't seen Michelle's dress before! This is what nightmares are made of.

The (hideous) dress @Jinder Roles posted above is from JB & M's vow renewal ceremony, but the one she wore for their wedding wasn't too bad. It was Grandma Mary's dress, originally. 

Spoiler

It was a nice example of a mid 1980's wedding dress. 

[neurogirl]

You know, after seeing pictures of Jill's dress again...it's not THAT bad. Certainly worse than Kendra's (my style), Jessa, Jinger, and Amy's...but she looks so happy. Joy's may actually be worse. Joy's dress does not look like her style at all and that polka dot dress looked AMAZING on her! Why didn't she wear it????

@Jinder Roles I would LOVE to see the Bates' wedding dresses added to this. 

[LacyMay]

Jessa and Kendra tie for first in my mind, their dresses seemed to suit them the most. And they were modest without screaming "Look at my modest dress!!!" 

It all goes downhill from there... 

I think Jinger had the more showstopping dress. But for some undetermined reason I think I liked Joy's better. I'm not sure that I can articulate it. I think Jinger's train was just almost too much? Whereas Joy's seemed more natural? 

Anna I didn't like her dress. But I appreciate that it was nearly 10 years ago, the wedding was much more low key than the recent ones and it was handmade and not a monstrosity. Go Anna. 

Jill... the unaltered version of Jill's dress is beautiful (I mentioned in another thread that it was my wedding dress so I'm biased) but the detailing on that waist is amazing. There's also some gorgeous touches that don't show up in her photos (buttons going all the way down the back and a beautifully beaded lace train in the photo) *swoooon* BUT. She. Ruined. It. Her alterations were poorly done and took away from the integrity of the dress, it didn't fit her properly (too small, too big, too long...) 

Anna had a not amazing dress. But Jill took a lovely dress and made it awful. 

As far as bridesmaids dresses tbh I can't get on board with any of them. They were all... fine imo.

 

Edited September 17, 2017 by LacyMay

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

For over all style and looks of the weddings, I personally liked Joy's the best. I like the "I don't care I just wanna be married" vibe of a wedding.  I liked her Blue and Orange colors and her decor were nice, simple yet pretty. 

Jinger's next, it was classy and elegant almost formal, it was just a beautiful overall feeling.

Kendra, what I've seen so far it looks similar to Joy's. I like the candles and that they had an indoor reception as well.  

Anna, this is your typical fundy family with little to no money to throw a wedding, but thew threw together a nice set up and got it down on a budget. 

Jill, I like the look of Jill's wedding better than Jessa's that is why she's next. This felt like a 1/2 assed attempt at a wedding who the hell has a reception in a parking lot? 

Jessa, I will add who the hell has a wedding reception in a parking lot in November?  

Dresses

Kendra

Jinger

Jessa

Joy

Jill

Anna

Bridesmaids Dresses

Joy

Jinger

Kendra

Anna

Jill

Jessa

 

[just_ordinary]

@WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? Thanks, but I knew this "thing" is not her actual wedding dress.

Even if someone  didn't, the eleventy kids would have given it away 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

22 minutes ago, just_ordinary said:

@WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? Thanks, but I knew this "thing" is not her actual wedding dress.

Even if someone  didn't, the eleventy kids would have given it away 

That (the bolded part) is a really good point! 

[eveandadam]

Are we including Michelle now? So I've renewed my list, changed the rangs a bit and added pictures, where could find any...

 

1. and the winner by far Kendra: modern, modest, fun, playful, young, romantic, a little shy, all that Kendra seems to be.

2. Joy: the more I see her dress, the more I like it, especially the veil. It is a mix between early 70's hippie and 1910's bride, the top layer is split in the front, which I like. The veil has a Kate and William feel to it. The sleeves are also very nice. I would wear it. This is a dress that grows on you over time and you look at the wedding pictures in 20 years and still find it beautiful and timeless.

3. Michelle's first dress (Mary's wedding dress). Even though they got married in the 80's, this dress had a total 70's and 40's vibe to it. Fitted Michelle very nice, beautiful vintage dress.

4. Jinger and Anna tied:

Jinger: Train was beautiful and a show stopper, although almost too much, the bodice was a little weirdly shaped, but overall a nice dress

Anna: As I said: simple, timeless, self-made, the fit was very nice!!! The only thing missing would have been sash or a thin belt, then it would have been perfect.

6. Jessa: nice dress, but almost not modest enough for Duggar standards, seemed too large for her at her wedding day, but still a nice dress which suited her

7. Jill and Amy tied:

Jill: Nice dress, especially with the sash, but ruined by wearing no shoes and by the alterations made.

Amy: 2005 dress in 2015, a little too revealing, but the simplicity is very nice (just like Anna's dress)

9. Michelle's vow renewal dress. Alterations were really not suiting the dress and the type of dress was not for Michelle. But it's ok Michelle, your first dress was very, very beautiful.

Spoiler

 

Edited September 17, 2017 by laPapessaGiovanna
Adding spoiler box

[Lurky]

6 hours ago, adidas said:

I hope this doesn't come off as too BEC but what's the deal with the bridesmaids all having mismatched shoes? 

I understand that not everyone loves shoes and not everyone wants to spend a fortune on being a bridesmaid ... but some of those shoes are way too casual for the style of dress they're paired with imo. 

I assumed it's because the USA tradition is bridesmaids usually buy their own clothes?  In the UK, if a bride wants them all matching, she pays.

ETA If I were the Duggars, I'd get the older married daughters a pair of the same, neutral coloured shoes on some bulk deal, because they'll have at least 1 wedding a year for, well, ever, and it seems like all the Duggar daughters have to be BMs for Duggar sons.  Although so many will be pregnant for the next, well, ever, half will probably be in comfy sandals for the next eleventy weddings...

Edited September 17, 2017 by Lurky

[nastyhobbitses]

My rankings:

Jinger: Valid to say that it's impractical as hell, but hey, it's the one day in your life that you get to wear something totally ridiculous. It's an unabashed princess dress, and it looked gorgeous. Extra points for her soft, romantic updo and floral heels.

Kendra: She pulls ahead of Jessa because RUFFLES. Like Jessa's dress, I'd say it's a little prom (especially because Kendra is practically a fetus), but it's fun, frothy, and full of movement.

Jessa: 100 points to Gryffindor for blush (which I think suits her skin tone better than super bright white) and that gorgeous full skirt. As I said about Kendra, it's a little prom-y for my taste and I wish the Duggar ladies who wore embellished bodices would look into updos, but she looked lovely, and a slightly unconventional (by fundie standards) "statement" dress suits her personality.

Joy: On the one hand, it did suit her personality and taste - simple and un-fussy. On the other, BRUSH YOUR DAMN HAIR.

Amy: Points for simplicity and a nice material, plus fantastic earrings, but that bodice does not fit properly. I'm all for showing off the girls, especially when your relatives are the Duggars, but her boobs should be called Alyssa Webster and Jinger Vuolo: almost escaping.

Jill: This is what happens when you Frankenstein a dress rather than just get a modest one out of the box (or custom made like your sisters did). No cohesion, no sense of a "theme" for the dress, and it looks very slapped together. I'm here for the slimmer line (a ballgown isn't Jill's style, and she's relatively tall, so a fit-and-flare looks really nice on her), not here for the bad fit and how out-of-place the bling and champagne satin sash look with her otherwise very country-chic hairstyle (which I thought was nice, just not right with the dress) and wedding decor.

Anna: Sorry, Anna, but this was a fail. It was 2009 and times were leaner (and more mainstream wedding dress designers hadn't cottoned to the fact that fundies have money to spend and want to go all-out on their property transf--I mean weddings), so those are mitigating factors, but it didn't fit, I loathe the Holy Bridal T-Shirt look, and the ramen hair did her zero favors. Anna is such a beautiful woman, and this wedding look did nothing to let her beauty and personality shine. Though the worst thing about her wedding look wasn't the dress or the hair, but the massive turd right beside her.

Michelle's Vow Renewal: IT BURNS. IT BURNS US.

Edited September 17, 2017 by nastyhobbitses
added a few more

[HOTW]

4 hours ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

The (hideous) dress @Jinder Roles posted above is from JB & M's vow renewal ceremony, but the one she wore for their wedding wasn't too bad. It was Grandma Mary's dress, originally. 

  Hide contents

It was a nice example of a mid 1980's wedding dress. 

It definately was not a mid 80s wedding dress.i got married mid 80s and there wereba lot of sequins and puffed sleeve tops with the beginning of the mermaid dresses with dropped waist. It was a plethora of bad taste to wade thru!!

[shiverful]

1. Jinger. Its a very beautiful dress and it fitted her perfectly. The fact that it was so big and long, but at the same time simple and classic really worked for her. I also liked that she wore her hair up. With that kind of dress, I think that a lot of loose hair would make her look messy. 

2. Kendra. I do like the champagne color of the top, and the sleeveless arms. Complemented her well. 

3. Jessa. While I do love the general style of this dress and the color, i also find it a little too immature for a wedding dress. The band around her waist makes it look a little bit like a flower girl dress. 

4. Joy. This dress looks a little bit like Jinger's with the long sleeves, but the sleeves are too lose and looks wrinkled on most of the photos. I know that others don't like her hair and makeup, but I think she cleaned up pretty nice considering that she's not the typical "girly-girl". 

5. Anna. I do think that the dress itself is nice (considering the fact that hers is 9 years older than Joy/Kendras and that fashion has changed), and it compliments her body nicely. My main problem with Annas style is her hair and that the skin tone don't match the dress at all. 

6. Jill. Like others have said: the alterations ruined the dress, and I also don't think that it suited her figure. Her hair looks messy. 

 

Bridesmaid dresses

1. Kendra/Jinger - just because their bridesmaid dresses are the only ones that do look like formal dresses in my opinion. I do like the color of some of Jinger's bridesmaid's dresses, but some of them didn't match that well in the photos of everyone together. 

3. Joy. More simple than Kendra/Jinger's dresses, but still nicer than the others. 

4. Jessa - Slightly better than Jill's since they don't had the ugly alterations, but still cheap looking. I also think that the color is too bright. 

5. Jill. Doesn't look like formal dresses at all, and makes everyone look like little girls. Also, the color is too bright and the alterations made the dresses look even less formal. 

6. Anna. Just ugly. Sorry, Anna, but you can't blame 2008 for these ones. The style hasn't changed that much since then. 

[eveandadam]

56 minutes ago, shiverful said:

6. Anna. Just ugly. Sorry, Anna, but you can't blame 2008 for these ones. The style hasn't changed that much since then. 

What? I thought Anna's brides maids dresses were the best out of all! Go Anna for making the bridesmaids dresses as well. They were beautiful!

[nastyhobbitses]

13 minutes ago, eveandadam said:

What? I thought Anna's brides maids dresses were the best out of all! Go Anna for making the bridesmaids dresses as well. They were beautiful!

Points awarded for being handmade and being modest out of the box (I'm looking at you, JILL), but that doesn't change that they gave me high school concert choir flashbacks.

And the hair...*shudder*

[HRM1216]

In order of my preference:

1. Kendra

2. Jinger

3. Jessa

4. Joy

5. Jill

6. Anna

[Pandora Spocks]

I want to give Kendra bonus points for the sparkly edge on her veil. I love veils, and so far hers is my favorite. That little extra bit of bling clinches it for me.

Jill's dress doesn't offend me visually as much as it could. As others have said, it's really a matter of proportion. Starting with the too large dress made the waist detail too wide so that it takes up most of the torso which smothers rather than accentuates the waist.

I like Joy's well enough and love Jinger's dress. Jessa's dress was quite lovely as well. Anna's suffered a lack of styling. She didn't use her accessory wall and hair and makeup studio very thoughtfully. As a result, she failed to make it work. 

Bridesmaid dresses are harder for me to sort. I love this thread, and I see the potential for a most hideous dress/wedding ever in fundieland thread as well. Or most lovely, I guess, if you want to keep it on the positive side.

[Pretzel]

Kudos to Amy for (imho) really pretty bridesmaids dresses. Her bridesmaids looked gorgeous (despite the fact that on the pic below, some pose like they desperately needed to go to the bathroom). 

Spoiler

Just for y'alls' pleasure, the #1 monstrosities: lots of layered turquoise bulkiness

Spoiler

Just so nobody forgets...the coral. Coral, coral, coral. 

Spoiler

 

I will never forget that Blessa forced very-pregnant Jill into the coral disaster: 

Big thank you @Jinder Roles! This thread is a lot of fun. 

[Melissa1977]

I only really like Jessa's because it's light and confortable and it's the only dress I would wear.

Jinjer was the most elegant. Her dress is beautiful now and will be beautiful in the future when she'll show her grankids her wedding pictures. I mean that Jinger was classical and it's ok, but It looked heavy, a bit suffocating in my opinion.

[shiverful]

8 minutes ago, Pandora Spocks said:

I love this thread, and I see the potential for a most hideous dress/wedding ever in fundieland thread as well. Or most lovely, I guess, if you want to keep it on the positive side.

What about a thread where you put together the worst and best weddings based on different parts of all the Duggar's weddings? 

Like for instance: Jill's dress, Anna's bridesmaid dresses, Josh as a husband and Jessa's parking lot reception etc. 

[Kailash]

@Pretzel Thank you for posting some of the bridesmaids dresses. I kept wishing someone would. 

[VeryNikeSeamstress]

3 hours ago, shiverful said:

What about a thread where you put together the worst and best weddings based on different parts of all the Duggar's weddings? 

Like for instance: Jill's dress, Anna's bridesmaid dresses, Josh as a husband and Jessa's parking lot reception etc. 

Kind of like Four Weddings... except this will be 'Eight Weddings, One Vow Renewal, and Counting".

Edited September 17, 2017 by VeryNikeSeamstress

[nastyhobbitses]

Ooh, bridesmaid dresses! Let's go!

Jinger: Out-of-place hue on Jill aside, these are probably my favorite. They fit the modesty bill, are in very lovely colors (even Jill's, even though it didn't go with the jewel tone look), and could be worn again for other formal events.

Kendra: Very pretty, high wear-again value, but I feel like they could do with a bit more definition at the waist - a same-color sash or something. And would it kill these women to wear some nice neutral flats/wedges to fit the more 50s feel of the dresses, instead of the gladiator sandals?

Joy: I'd straight-up wear these. Bit casual for a wedding, but wear-again value is astronomically high, and they did accessorize well.

Amy: These were fine, but I feel like if you weren't of the body type that most of those women seemed to be, they wouldn't look too good.

Anna/Michelle's vow renewal because they recycled them (and Anna even seemed to be wearing Michelle's MOTB look from HER wedding - WTActualF): Show choir flashbacks, but at least they fit OK and are modest out of the box, unlike...

Jill: Ten thousand points from Gryffindor for enslaving Jana to make those LOOK HOW MODEST I AM YOU GUYS alterations. And another ten thousand points from Gryffindor for the random white ruffle. But the color was alright and I liked the lace. There, two nice things I said.

Jessa: Boob ruffles are a bad choice. And I don't mind the color, but the dresses didn't match the formality of her dress. If she had that color but with some more 1950s/60s-looking dresses that looked a little more dressy than something I'd wear to work on a Friday in August when I want to avoid pencil skirt-induced swamp ass, we'd be golden.

[ADoyle90815]

For me, my favorite wedding dresses are Jessa's and Kendra's. Anna, I give a pass on as the t-shirt dress was the fundie trend when she got married, plus the pervert she married and is stuck with.

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

8 hours ago, HOTW said:

It definately was not a mid 80s wedding dress.i got married mid 80s and there wereba lot of sequins and puffed sleeve tops with the beginning of the mermaid dresses with dropped waist. It was a plethora of bad taste to wade thru!!

I got to thinking about that dress not actually being from the 1980s, because it was Grandma Mary's first. The reason I think it fit into 1980s fashion, is that it looks very similar to my sister's wedding dress from 4 years after JB & M got married. So, I guess the dress was ahead of its time? 

[grammyj]

Thanks Jinder. Love this thread! Excellent critiques. More please.

[Markie]

I liked the dress Michelle wore to Amy's wedding. She wore natural hose and beige flats with it too. The only pic I've come across when I've googled is that from Perez Hilton and not sure if I can share it...