Victoria & Albert Wedding Dresses Exhibition

I first heard about the V&A Wedding Dresses exhibition in 2010, when the museum created a section of their website to collect wedding photos throughout the ages. For 4 years, I impatiently awaited the opening of the exhibition and finally got to visit it this week. It was incredible!

The V&A is one of my favourite museums/galleries in London (and the world!). It's absolutely expansive- I've never been all the way around it, although I do plan to spend one whole day in there at some point. 

The gorgeous stonework around the main entrance reads The excellence of every art must consist in the complete accomplishment of its purpose. This isn't a theory I subscribe to, but I've done quite a bit of research into the history of art education and it's fascinating to see this evidence of Victorian attitudes towards art.

It was a beautiful day, so I had a bite to eat in the courtyard before heading to the exhibition. I know you're not supposed to take photos, but I may have got a few sneaky shots on my iPod. The prettiness of it all just went to my head! 

The exhibition opens with Georgian wedding dresses and information about the customs surrounding weddings. I knew that Queen Victoria made white wedding dresses popular, but it was interesting to see just how many of the earlier dresses were still in shades of white, cream and ivory. 

The dresses on the ground floor were displayed chronologically up to the 1950s. Upstairs, dresses from the 1960s to the present day were displayed. The dress above left was designed by the bride herself in 1962. 

The photo on the right shows the bride in her dress on the wedding day. It's such a cute detail to know that confetti is still trapped in the seams of the dress. 

As well as dresses belonging to everyday people, there were designer and celebrity wedding dresses on show. The purple Vivienne Westwood dress above was worn by Dita von Teese for her 2005 wedding to Marilyn Manson. The pink ombre dress on the right is Gwen Stefani's, made by Dior for her wedding in 2002. 

It was a truly awe-inspiring exhibition. It's showing until March, so I strongly recommend you visit if you can. A wonderful way to spend the afternoon.