They Found The Rainbow Connection
May 04, 2007
"The actual dresses aren't really the problem here," admits Amber of her cousin's 1973 wedding. "Instead of picking one color for her bridesmaids, [the bride] decided to have a 'rainbow' wedding." Although the wedding party looked like a package of Skittles, the Madison, Tennessee, native admits that an even bigger problem were the hats worn by the bridesmaids. "It was an indoor wedding, but the bride wanted head gear. The hat situation is still a mystery to my mother."
Were you forced into headgear as a bridesmaid? Tell us about it!
Jennifer | May 17, 2007 2:33:54 PM
My mom just got remarried about 4 years ago and had us wear "rainbow colors". There was not anyone over the age of 35 in the wedding party and we all thought it was so cute! The bright red flowers do clash with the pastel but I like the "rainbow look"!!!
Mitzi | May 11, 2007 1:57:12 PM
Okay - I was around during this time and it was a bad idea then - I would have preferred a long gauzy hippie style dress with a marijuana leaf design on it (and yes some people wore those) to this rainbow sherbet! See what girlfriends will do for you.
Jeanne | May 10, 2007 1:09:45 AM
7 brides for 7 brothers
Hal | May 9, 2007 4:54:18 PM
That is too Tacky !! Why didn't they know that...seriously though it looks like candy or a bunch of lollipops. All I can say is thank gosh I didn't live in the 70's or 80's !!!
Patti | May 8, 2007 1:38:17 PM
Yes, as a bride that married in June of 1976, I too am guilty of the rainbow colored dresses for the bridesmaids and the floppy hats. I guess it was the trend then. No one wanted to wear the green dress because it was an awful shade of green, but my cousin stepped up to the plate and volunteered to wear it.
judy | May 8, 2007 12:04:46 AM
I was married in 77 and had a rainbow wedding, with the hats, what the heck was I thinking?
Maybe thats why the marriage didnt work.
Angela | May 7, 2007 5:19:52 PM
I hate to admit this but I had a rainbow wedding in 1976 with matching hats. The groomsmen wore shirts that matched the bridesmaid's dress they escorted!! However, we are still together after 31 years so I guess it's OK.
kim | May 7, 2007 4:20:59 PM
This was totally in style in the time, as my cousin's wedding around 1975-76 had the EXACT same rainbow dresses--hats and all--and it was an indoor wedding as well!
Angel | May 7, 2007 3:32:57 PM
I wasn't even born until the late seventies but honestly this picture reminds me of being a child in the 80's. Picture the ladies holding baskets instead of the flowers and Presto....you have five little girls ready to go Easter egg hunting!
Kaillee | May 6, 2007 1:01:16 PM
All I can say is that back in the early 70's people were smoking their ponytails. As bad as those get ups were (hats & all) they were very tame compared the 80's 'electric' colors, shoulder pads, gigantic poofs, shiny taffeta gowns with huge bum bows. Many of these gowns are up for auction online billed as 'transvestite appropriate'. Kind of makes you want to loose your wedding pictures when you've see a man in your wedding gown, looking twice as good as you did !
Katelyn | May 5, 2007 3:31:29 PM
Look at the yellow one on the left side of the photo (they cut her off), her dress if awful!!! I wonder what the groomsmen wore?
Maureen | May 5, 2007 12:31:46 PM
The only thing I asked of the bride when she asked me to be her bridesmaid was that I didn't have to wear a hat - my head is huge and unless the hat is custom made, hats just sit on top of my head and never stay on. She agreed, but somehow during the planning, hats emerged and I had to wear a hat - actually for most of the wedding pre, during and post-cermony the hat was off or I was trying to get it to pull down far enough to stick.
teresa | May 5, 2007 11:55:02 AM
That was the style in the 70's and the rainbow wedding was very avant garde for the time. I don't like the hats, but again, in 1973, that what they were wearing. Even though they are wearing polyester, the fabric doesn't look flimsy and cheesy. The colors are not a well blended palette, however. The pale colors like the lilac and the peach should be a little bolder because the yellow aqua and pink are not exactly pastel- they pop more. None of the colors are bad, they just don't blend, which I chalk up the fact that back in the 70's, the rainbow idea was fairly new, and the dye lots for the dresses weren't manufactured to blend, they were manufactured for all pink or all aqua weddings. If that's the bride in the middle, I object to that because she should stand out, not blend in. She looks like one of them, and that's not good for her as the star of the day. Still it was her day and her wedding.
Amber | May 5, 2007 10:54:42 AM
It's Amber here, and that's my mom up there in the blue, and my aunt in the 'white'. I just wanted to clarify that the dress is actually, believe it or not, pink. It's really pale, but my mom told me it is actually a pastel sort of pink shade. I thought it was white myself the first time I saw it. I also recently found out that the groom wore brown and white shoes with a black tux...the 70's were really something. ;)
Rhonda | May 4, 2007 6:57:31 PM
Wow! Times have changed, I guess they thought they looked good at the time. I wonder what people will be saying about us in 2030!
AL | May 4, 2007 5:08:24 PM
i bet they were polyester too just to top it all off! gotta love the 70's though...they tried anything and everything!
Sara | May 4, 2007 4:57:14 PM
My mom made her wedding party wear flowered pastel dresses with almost the exact same hat for her wedding, which was also indoors.
In 2002 she had the audacity to ask me to wear her hat instead of a veil. I guess it was her idea of family bonding over "something borrowed." I borrowed inherited pearls from my best friend and went with a veil and tiara, thank you very much.
To add insult to early 1970s injury, my dad wore a white tuxedo. Only blue with ruffles could have been worse.
Brenda | May 4, 2007 1:48:27 PM
Maybe that is the bride. ;)
Phyllis | May 4, 2007 12:31:16 PM
This was a big look back in the day. When I was 13 year old bridesmaid in 1972 my cousin (the bride) had us in almost *indentical* gowns. We had the picture hats, the rainbow colors – my gown was yellow – AND (drum roll) we carried matching parasols!
Brittany | May 4, 2007 11:29:40 AM
WELL FOR 1973, I GUESS THIS WAS THE STYLE. WHAT'S WITH THE WHITE DRESS, ISN'T THE BRIDE SUPPOSED TO WEAR WHITE?