Yahoo Lifestyle 
Like Princess Beatrice, We Wore Hand-Me-Down Dresses For Our Weddings
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Princess Beatrice wore an upcycled dress that belonged to her grandmother, the Queen, during her wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi last weekend.
It might be an unusual wedding dress choice – after all, many brides spend hours donning gowns in shops to find The One – but we spoke to three brides who were ahead of the eco-friendly trend.
Sarah Lamsdale, 48, based in Shropshire, wore her nan’s wedding dress when she got married in 1997. Her nan, named Hilda – who died two years ago aged 101 – originally wore the dress for her wedding in 1940.
“I loved her dress from a young age and used to dress up in it saying one day I would wear it on my wedding day,” says Sarah. “We had it cleaned but it fitted as if made for me, including fitting right into my hollow back.”
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The fabric of the dress was panelled, due to restrictions on fabric width during the war. “The embossed pattern on it shone,” Sarah recalls. “I wore a long veil to fit with the style of the dress and had a bouquet the same as hers, long and made of lilies and ivy.”
Sarah’s grandfather, Norman, made a speech at the reception and spoke of the dress and how beautiful it looked, “just like the day [Sarah’s] nan wore it 57 years previously”.
“It felt magical that day, I love vintage clothing anyway but this was special and I felt honoured to wear it and her headdress, which was made of wax stephanotis flowers,” says Sarah. “I felt elegant, regal and bursting with pride as everyone commented on it with my nan stood at my side.”
