Totally Subjective Bates Wedding Dress Rundown

[Shouldabeenacowboy]

Every time I see "lace" (especially lace overlays), I see "my grandma's tablecloth". Sorry, it's not you, it's me- obviously entirely subjective. 😄

I like silks, taffetas, chiffons, full, important skirts, and bling (not necessarily all at the same time). No veils, no tiaras. Fascinators or flowers- maybe. 

I think Lydia has a nice figure and can easily pull off any dress, but I see her looking great in a mermaid with flowy skirt at the bottom (kind of like the 2nd/3rd video that @Dbm posted above).

Edited May 27, 2022 by Shouldabeenacowboy

[CanadianMamam]

She said that they are having a "country" wedding and she expressed concern some of the dresses were too fancy for what they are going for, so I think she will go for something that fits her theme.

I can see something like these: 

Spoiler

She is tall and thin and pretty and can pretty much carry off any dress. This is what I would love to see her in but it would probably push the Bates modest standards too much.

Spoiler

 

[CanadianMamam]

My own personal rankings: 

1. Katie. It was all perfection: the dress, the flowers, the hair/veil. 

2. Esther. She loses points for the crown, but the rest of the dress is lovely. I love the skirt of her dress. 

3. Alyssa. The wide straps are the best of the early modesty-additons and she picked a dress that suited her and she had a gorgeous ceil. 

4. Carlin. I love it and it suited her perfectly. 

5. Tiffany. Loses points for the butt-bow but still very pretty and she picked a dress that suited her.

6. Erin. The modesty-alterations are attrocious but it is still a pretty dress and she looked stunning. 

7. Whitney, her look is forgettable. The bolero is awkward. 

8. Josie. I love the bottom of this dress, not the top but I really, really hate her head piece and her awful bouquet and it ruins the look for me. 

9. Tori. I don't like anything about this dress. The fit, the color. She is lovely but it is an ugly dress. 

10. Michael. The modesty additions are bad. Really bad. Erin and Alyssa got lucky in comparison and her lack of wedding hair did not help. 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by CanadianMamam
Second photo uploaded by mistake

[Johannah]

4 hours ago, CanadianMamam said:

My own personal rankings: 

1. Katie. It was all perfection: the dress, the flowers, the hair/veil. 

2. Esther. She loses points for the crown, but the rest of the dress is lovely. I love the skirt of her dress. 

3. Alyssa. The wide straps are the best of the early modesty-additons and she picked a dress that suited her and she had a gorgeous ceil. 

4. Carlin. I love it and it suited her perfectly. 

5. Tiffany. Loses points for the butt-bow but still very pretty and she picked a dress that suited her.

6. Erin. The modesty-alterations are attrocious but it is still a pretty dress and she looked stunning. 

7. Whitney, her look is forgettable. The bolero is awkward. 

8. Josie. I love the bottom of this dress, not the top but I really, really hate her head piece and her awful bouquet and it ruins the look for me. 

9. Tori. I don't like anything about this dress. The fit, the color. She is lovely but it is an ugly dress. 

10. Michael. The modesty additions are bad. Really bad. Erin and Alyssa got lucky in comparison and her lack of wedding hair did not help. 

 

 

Love the thumbnail photos!

1) Josie - I would have considered wearing this dress myself. Neckline is a little high and I would have left it sheer underneath without the modesty altering, but it’s fitted and flowy and has a lacy feel without looking tacky and dated. It feels like the most unique style choice. 
 

2) Tori - I don’t love the neckline and it’s too opulent for me overall, but I love the lace and the champagne color, and while it needed to be more fitted, it’s not terrible. 
 

3) Carlin - too princessy for me, but I actually like the full skirt and lace bodice. It’s just waaaay too loose on her. 
 

4) Tiffany - way too plain for my tastes, the high v neck looks awkward, and while I don’t hate the butt bow, it’s not my fave. But she looks great, the dress fits her really well, and I give bonus points for pushing the modesty envelope with the slit in the skirt. 
 

5) Katie - I think this cut in a dress looks like an athletic wear tank top, the neckline doesn’t fit properly and the plain bright white shiny fabric veers towards cheap-looking. But she looks beautiful. And it’s better than the other half of the dresses. 
 

6) Esther - I’m trying to judge these on the dress alone and not the accessories, but that tiara is so cringe-worthy! And the electric white shiny satin makes Katie’s less white shiny satin look tasteful by comparison. It fits her well though. If this had been done in linen or another matte fabric it would be much higher on my list. 
 

7) Alyssa - Judging these last 4 seems a little unfair given that they were pre-reality show money and Bates family modernizing. Plus they all got married when there was nothing available but strapless dresses to modestify. But best of the bunch was Alyssa. It fit her, the straps aren’t terrible, a fitted mermaid cut was a little daring as a fundie, and I actually loved the bright shoes!

😎 Erin - Solely bc it’s not as terrible as the other two. It at least looks like it could be a real dress. 

9) Michael - It fits her, and it has a v-neck instead of a high round neck. But the modified bodice is terrible. And it still makes me sad that she didn’t spring for the pricier dress that she loved. Eternally self-sacrificial. While whatever was saved probably just went towards Carlin’s wedding-palooza.

10) Whitney - This dress is maybe worse than Anna Duggar’s t-shirt dress, the bolero is awful, the red and black are awful, and she looks so uncomfortable. Honestly I didn’t love her vow renewal dress either. I guess Whitney and I are not on the same style page. 

 

The sunglasses emoji for Erin is supposed to be an 8!

[DalmatianCat]

Out of all the brides, I’ve gotten the impression that Josie is most disappointed in how her look turned out. I think Alyssa and Whitney both acknowledge that they would do something different now (and Whitney did), but I think they were rather pleased with it at the time.

Josie definitely had a look she was going for, and for whatever reason it didn’t quite turn out. I don’t know if it was a combo of having to work within her parents modesty standards at the time, not accounting for the humidity in her hair, chickening out of putting her hair up, not having her florist understand her vision for her hair wreath, or all of the above. I’ve noticed that she rarely posts pictures from her wedding except for an obligatory anniversary pic, and even then, she sometimes chooses a photo shoot she and Kelton took shortly after their wedding of what I think she wishes was her wedding look. The dress is similar, but suits her better, she styled her hair in a trendy braid, and didn’t have a bouquet the size of a bush. Check out the October 5, 2020 picture on her personal Instagram and the October 4, 2021 photo on her Effortless Beauty page for the look I’m talking about. I think that’s what she envisioned for her wedding.

Rabbit trail—I really dislike the trend of bouquets the size of a rose bush…they overwhelmed brides and hid most of their dress. Thankfully, bouquets seem to be shrinking in size again.

ETA: I went ahead and added the pic since it’s pretty far back on her Insta.

Edited May 27, 2022 by DalmatianCat
Added pic

[Pecansforeveryone]

@DalmatianCat, that is a gorgeous hairstyle. And maybe could have had flowers woven into it.  I don't mind fundie women wearing their hair down on their day. It's just the way that is executed so often looks needless messy. Kendra's hair looked great down. So does Josies in this picture. That woven lace boho dress is a great style that I would have loved to have seen on Joy and Josie both. 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Pecansforeveryone
Add a thought

[SassyPants]

Agree that Josie’s wedding just missed the mark. I do think the extreme heat that day severely affected the presentation. The flowers, the crown, her hair and makeup all looked wilted and melted. And those huge green arrangements looked awful. Her hair was practically white and her dress, IMO, was meh. I expected so much better from Josie.

[0 kids n not countin]

In my opinion Josie's wedding dress overwhelmed her body, iirc there was a photo shoot or video with Carlin wearing Josie's wedding dress, and, imo, it looked much better on Carlin, didn't overwhelm her body. That being said, still not a fan of the modesty alterations on that dress.

[rebeccawriter01]

Of all of them I loved Josie's dress the most - pre alterations.

Tori and Katie's come in second and third for me. With Michaela, Tiffany and Alyssa's dresses following that.

Whitney and Erin's are just unfortunate. There is an episode of House Hunters - Comedians on Couches and I always laugh at a line that says. "I love this house. Now can we make it another house but still this house." That's what I think happened with their dresses. 

  I can't stand Carlin's or Esther's or any of the princess/poufy styles.

[Melissa1977]

The more I see Tiff dress, the less I like it. I usually like plain dresses, I love Lauren Duggar one! But from an aesthetic perspective, a very thin body needs a bit of volume to compensate. Or maybe it's because she looks so naive and young and the dress does not fit her "teen look". I think the dress would have looked glamorous in another woman, but it wasn't "her" dress.

 

 

[CanadianMamam]

Lydia. I will need a front view, but I think it will be in my top 3. 

[BeccaGrim]

Lydia is gorgeous and will look beautiful in anything.  I do love the dress. But they got married in a Barn theme. It seems very fancy to me for what they did. 

[JDuggs]

I think Lydia is so pretty and has a perfect figure. I wish she would have worn her hair in a sophisticated updo, but...Bates. These are wedding dresses that she has modeled and I think I would have preferred either of these. I hope she actually preferred the more modest style and didn’t do it out of obligation.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by JDuggs
Trying to get pics in spoiler

[CanadianMamam]

Lydia's dress looks a lot like Josie's dress would have without the modestly alterations. It is a much better look. 

[freethemall]

On 5/24/2022 at 7:15 AM, freethemall said:

Looking at my predictions a year later:

Katie - "nothing exciting" with possible overlays. I was right she would do something boring and I guess simple with no details is the new trend, but surprised she had no sleeves, overlays, or lace.

Esther - sexy and fitted. Well it was fitted but I didn't expect she'd do the princess ballgown thing but with no sexinesss at all. The Lauren Duggar comparison seemed valid for all 3.

Tiffany - princess pouty, definitely wrong about that. I'm surprised Esther and Tiffany's dresses weren't switched and that there wasn't more bling.

All 3 dresses followed a trend of being quite minimal which I wouldn't expect for any of these brides, I'm guessing 10 years ago they'd all have more sparkle.

Lydia I'm not even sure at this point, maybe she'll follow this same minimal trend but some kind of random detail like a flower somewhere or other, or maybe some ruching. Hopefully something more interesting than these last 3!

 

On 5/24/2022 at 7:15 AM, freethemall said:

All 3 dresses followed a trend of being quite minimal which I wouldn't expect for any of these brides, I'm guessing 10 years ago they'd all have more sparkle.

Lydia I'm not even sure at this point, maybe she'll follow this same minimal trend but some kind of random detail like a flower somewhere or other, or maybe some ruching. Hopefully something more interesting than these last 3!

Revisting my previous dress predictions, again.

I'm glad she didn't go for the more plain dresses of the previous 3 Bates brides, i actually really like her dress and embroidered veil. But I hate the overdone silky white bm dresses, those are done done done, and I hate the overall funeral look of most of the guests in black.

[Jigsaw3]

The best dressed guest was Grandma Jane, hands-down. Gorgeous loose white dress and that beige coat/cloak, OMG. She was spectacular and Grandpa Bill was dapper. They cast all their descendants in the shade.

[Kiki03910]

So so late to the party but here we are! I thought Tori's dress was atrocious. Ill-fitting. Mismatched underlay. Not good. Josie looked like a nun or something, so covered up and unflattering, especially given that she has the tiny build that designers create for. I'm not actually sure I like any of the Bateseseses or Duggar dresses. Jessa's was okay, I guess; I like the blush color and simplicity. Jinger looked gorgeous but that dress ... I'd bet Jeremy Le Fuckface was behind the choice, dreaming of a British royal wedding vibe. Whitney was cute. Erin looked okay. Alyssa's Hooker Barbie shoes rocked. The rest ... blah.

[CanadianMamam]

I am genuinely excited for Emerson's dress as I think she will break the fundie mould. 

[just_ordinary]

Ahhh I love a good wedding dress ranking. 
 

1. Katie- hyper elegant. Who care if she looked older? My guess- it will age very well because it’s a more distinct look than Tiffany for example. 

2. Whitney’s vows renewal- very risky for a Fundie. Actually- so not Fundie at all, so couldn’t believe it.

3. Alyssa- hasn’t aged too badly (apart from the colour scheme), kind of pushed through the modesty ceiling at 19. Respect for this. 

4. Tiffany- hate the bow but like the sleek lines. Very modern.

5. Lydia- it’s nice. I am a sucker for tiny buttons. Had she worn the white halterneck with beading shoulder details she would have been my Number 2. A very sporty look and very cool. 

6. Carlin. Classic silhouette and bride look. Can’t really go wrong with that. Actually, could be a tie with Lydia.

7. Whitney’s original dress. Obviously dated but a normal dress for the time. Boleros were a classic choice for churches to cover shoulders for a long time. Also - this was before the show and it shows that the money didn’t sit as loose.

8. Josie- nice idea but the execution was horrible.

9.  Tori- loved that she wore her hair up. The big lace patches and the champagne underlay were a miss though.

10. Esther- nice skirt but the shiny top and the tiara made it look extremely tacky  

11. Erin & Michael- can’t decide what’s worse- the white T-Shirt or the weird bra like fabric pleats and the horrible hair…..

Edited March 22 by just_ordinary

[CanadianMamam]

On 5/27/2022 at 7:42 PM, DalmatianCat said:

Out of all the brides, I’ve gotten the impression that Josie is most disappointed in how her look turned out. I think Alyssa and Whitney both acknowledge that they would do something different now (and Whitney did), but I think they were rather pleased with it at the time.

Josie definitely had a look she was going for, and for whatever reason it didn’t quite turn out. I don’t know if it was a combo of having to work within her parents modesty standards at the time, not accounting for the humidity in her hair, chickening out of putting her hair up, not having her florist understand her vision for her hair wreath, or all of the above. I’ve noticed that she rarely posts pictures from her wedding except for an obligatory anniversary pic, and even then, she sometimes chooses a photo shoot she and Kelton took shortly after their wedding of what I think she wishes was her wedding look. The dress is similar, but suits her better, she styled her hair in a trendy braid, and didn’t have a bouquet the size of a bush. Check out the October 5, 2020 picture on her personal Instagram and the October 4, 2021 photo on her Effortless Beauty page for the look I’m talking about. I think that’s what she envisioned for her wedding.

Rabbit trail—I really dislike the trend of bouquets the size of a rose bush…they overwhelmed brides and hid most of their dress. Thankfully, bouquets seem to be shrinking in size again.

ETA: I went ahead and added the pic since it’s pretty far back on her Insta.

I noticed in a recent story that this is the picture that Josie has displayed in her living room. She might have wedding photos too, but I didn't notice them. 

[AussieKrissy]

7 hours ago, CanadianMamam said:

I noticed in a recent story that this is the picture that Josie has displayed in her living room. She might have wedding photos too, but I didn't notice them. 

Poor Josie the heat just tanked her look sweaty limp hair, limp florals and a dress that just swamped her tiny frame even though it was a poofy dress and I dont know how that can even happen. I liked what she was going for but it all needed to be pulled in a bit mainly that ginormous head dress... which actually doesnt look as bad as I remember in the above posted pics... 

[SassyPants]

10 hours ago, AussieKrissy said:

Poor Josie the heat just tanked her look sweaty limp hair, limp florals and a dress that just swamped her tiny frame even though it was a poofy dress and I dont know how that can even happen. I liked what she was going for but it all needed to be pulled in a bit mainly that ginormous head dress... which actually doesnt look as bad as I remember in the above posted pics... 

Agree 100%. I think the heat was her biggest foe. And her blonde, blonde hair. I was really expecting Josie to have a very polished wedding…Carlin’s was much nicer, but again, the weather worked against Josie’s day. 

[AussieKrissy]

16 hours ago, AussieKrissy said:

Poor Josie the heat just tanked her look sweaty limp hair, limp florals and a dress that just swamped her tiny frame even though it was a poofy dress and I dont know how that can even happen. I liked what she was going for but it all needed to be pulled in a bit mainly that ginormous head dress... which actually doesnt look as bad as I remember in the above posted pics... 

I just re read mine and meant to say her dress it swamped her  even though it was NOT a poofy dress 

5 hours ago, SassyPants said:

Agree 100%. I think the heat was her biggest foe. And her blonde, blonde hair. I was really expecting Josie to have a very polished wedding…Carlin’s was much nicer, but again, the weather worked against Josie’s day. 

Oh yes the bleached brittle hair. I forgot about that. That was a strike against Katie’s wedding for me. Which imo was pretty much the nicest imo. Katie’s very rigid bleached hair. It did look nice but.. just so rigid and she had a very “classic” wedding. I would have liked her to have something young and fun. Then again I think that is what Josie was going for and it tanked. So in that regard Carlin pulled off the best balance between young and fun and polished. 

[0 kids n not countin]

I agree that Josie's dress swamped her. I seem to recall some video one of them posted with Carlin wearing the dress and I thought it looked much better on Carlin. I know they are all small framed, but I suppose Josie more so than Carlin.

[AussieKrissy]

10 minutes ago, 0 kids n not countin said:

I agree that Josie's dress swamped her. I seem to recall some video one of them posted with Carlin wearing the dress and I thought it looked much better on Carlin. I know they are all small framed, but I suppose Josie more so than Carlin.

Yeah a music clip for I carlins fiancé at the time. Yes it did look better on Carlin. I agree, I had forgotten about that.