How to Accessorise a Fabulous 50s Bridal Outfit

Writ­ten by the mar­vel­lous Queens & Bowl — tips to acces­sorise your ‘50s bridal out­fit. Enjoy!

How to acces­sorise your fab ‘50s bridal outfit

After the war torn ‘30s and 40s, the ‘50s were the decade when fun was well and truly back on the agenda! With the likes of Mar­i­lyn Mon­roe, Grace Kelly and Audrey Hep­burn grac­ing the sil­ver screen and the jet­set Hol­ly­wood lifestyle well and truly estab­lished, the ‘50s was undoubt­edly a glam­orous era.

This glam­our, cou­pled with some fan­tas­tic retro Amer­i­cana design options and fab­u­lous music from clas­sic artists such as Elvis, make the ‘50s an extremely pop­u­lar theme for cou­ples plan­ning a vin­tage wedding.

If you’ve set­tled on a ‘50s theme, then you’ve prob­a­bly got a good idea of who and what has inspired you to make that choice; be it a cer­tain style icon or the music of the era. This means you’ve prob­a­bly got a good idea of what sort of dress you want; how­ever, acces­soris­ing that dress can be quite daunt­ing. With that in mind, here are some tips for acces­soris­ing a per­fect 1950s bridal outfit!

Vin­tage Wed­ding Jewellery

Any bridal out­fit inspired by the ‘50s needs to be styl­ish and ele­gant, with an edge of the friv­o­lous fun embod­ied by some­one like Mar­i­lyn Mon­roe! Opu­lent, sparkly jew­ellery is the order of the day; opt for state­ment ear­rings encrusted with Swarovski crys­tals and neck­laces and gor­geous crys­tal neck­laces. Alter­na­tively, you could choose pearl acces­sories for a more under­stated, yet still glam­orous look.

Remem­ber, when it comes to jew­ellery, never pair two state­ment pieces together! If you’re wear­ing a stand­out neck­lace, then team it with sub­tle ear­rings. Too many state­ment pieces can over­whelm an out­fit and lead to you look­ing ‘too much’ — even for your wed­ding day!

Head­pieces

A gor­geous vin­tage wed­ding head­piece is your chance to make a real state­ment on your wed­ding day, and cer­tain head­pieces are right at home with a ‘50s look. I’d rec­om­mend a side tiara for a ‘50s wed­ding ensem­ble, ide­ally encrusted with crys­tals and with a state­ment dec­o­ra­tion — the flower dec­o­ra­tion on this jaw-droppingly beau­ti­ful Audrey Side Tiara by Jo Barnes illus­trates this perfectly.

Shoes

Ah, the wed­ding shoes…surely the hard­est of all vin­tage wed­ding acces­sories to choose! For a ‘50s wed­ding, I think a sim­ple court shoe with a medium-to-high heel is an excel­lent way to cap­ture that classy and chic ‘50s vibe. To add a bit of a state­ment to your shoes, choose a shoe with an embell­ish­ment — a chic lit­tle bow or a brooch of pearls, dia­monds and tulle net­ting, for example.

Shawls

As we’re hit­ting the chill­ier months, a good shawl or stole can add a real state­ment to your over­all out­fit while also keep­ing you nice and cosy on a bit­ter morn­ing! When it comes to choos­ing a shawl, stole or cape, the choice is yours — most will ful­fill the classy, ele­gant cri­te­ria of the ideal ‘50s wed­ding out­fit! If you do want a pointer though, I really love pieces made from Marabou feath­ers such as this Alexi jacket by Sasso.

Above all of these tips, how­ever, only choose acces­sories that you feel com­fort­able wear­ing; after all, it is your big day!  As with any vin­tage wed­ding ensem­ble, the key to ‘get­ting it right’ is inject some of your own per­son­al­ity and style into your out­fit rather than look­ing like a car­bon copy of a movie star from the past. Be your­self, and you should find that the out­fit you set­tle on reflects this too.