Bride Allison Shellito walked down the aisle in a 127-year-old wedding gown that had been worn by generations of women in her family. INSIDE EDITION has the story.
Bride Allison Shellito glowed as she walked arm-in-arm with her father down the aisle to meet her groom. But she wasn't wearing just any ordinary wedding gown; she was wearing a 127-year-old family heirloom dress!
Four generations of brides, over three centuries, have walked down the aisle wearing the exact same wedding gown.
Now it's Allison's turn. "I always dreamed that I would wear it," she told INSIDE EDITION.
The dress was handmade in 1884 for Allison's great-great-grandmother Nellie, who wore it on her wedding day. It wasn't worn again until December 26, 1941, when Allison's grandmother Jean chose to wear the gorgeous gown at her wedding. Then, Allison's Aunt Barbara wore the dress at her wedding on July 12, 1975. And, seven years later on June 5, 1982, Allison's mom, Mimi, wore the dress on her wedding day.
"I kind of think that everybody wears it differently, which is kind of something unique about it. I think it looked different on me than it looked on my grandma or my aunt or my mom," Allison said.
But it's not easy to get into the three-piece, silk brocade gown.
"It's about a 20 minute process, and there's a lot of special undergarments that I wear also to kind of protect it from just sweat and body heat," she said.
Four people helped Allison get dressed on her wedding day. The gown features an intricate lacing on the bodice.
Allison actually lost 15 pounds so she could fit into the dress. We were there as she and her mom packed the dress away. They wore white gloves to handle the precious garment, stuffed it with acid free tissue paper, and wrapped it in linen fabric to protect it from discoloration and decay.
Now the dress awaits another trip down the aisle.
