The Cecilia Wedding Gown From J.Crew
September 25th, 2008 . by LeighHere is the Cecilia gown that I pictured in the entry, “A New J.Crew Wedding Dress.” At the time of the post, it was not yet featured online.
The dresses look so different that I almost did not recognize it online. It is styled much more gracefully for the catalog than for the website.
For the price point, I think it is great wedding dress for the winter months. The cap sleeves and neckline are so feminine. I am just curious about the feel and clingy-ness of the fabric.
What do you think?
Silk tricotine Cecelia gown, $395.00, Item 96230
Love the dress but I would only wear it spring/summer/early fall……already married but if ever I did a vow revewal….WOW!
I bought this dress in July for an October wedding. I really like the clean modern line of it and the neckline — it also drapes super nicely, however, it is super clingy between chest and hips which makes me feel a bit self-conscious even though I’m fairly slim.
Leanne, would you be willing to blog about your wedding and share some photos with other J.Crew-Aholics? I really do think that would be a great treat for the blog.
Sure! My wife/fiancee and I and our 4yearold daughter are all wearing JCrew (we’ve been married before and are doing it again to be finally legally married in California).
I have this Cecilia as well as the tshirt silk Mimi gown (item 89158). Not sure which I’ll wear - I prefer the Mimi because I feel less self-conscious in it (than the Cecelia) and the t-shirt Mimi feels very 20’s/30’s. The stylist is giving my short curly hair some finger waves with a big ivory rose flower pin on one side and curls in the back and I think both dresses go well with that hairstyle plan.
The stylist is pinning a big ivory rose silk flower in my wife’s hair too — our daughter, being 4, might wear a big flower in her hair or not, she’s a wild card. I got the flower pins on etsy.
My wife’s wearing the linen-silk tussah rosette gown - item 93753 (which was my first choice but it looks better on her - the only problem with a twobride wedding - when both brides like the same dress!).
Our 4yearold daughter is wearing a the crewcuts Alexis silk faille dress (item 86442) - hers is a dark pink wildberry color that we got on final sale during the summer.
Since we’re getting married by the ocean, where it could be foggy (or not), we also got velvet jackets for all of us - velvet ecole jackets (item 97130) for me and my wife/fiancee (olive for me, burgundy for her), and the most adorable crewcuts girls’ velvet benoit jacket with ruffles (item 96577), which, perfectly, comes in the same tawny olive color as my velvet ecole jacket.
My wife/fiancee’s also wearing some jcrew jewelry with her gown - the double-strand jeweled flower bracelet (item 96995) and necklace (item 96997) in guava - it looks good with the burgundy jacket and the rose on the front of the tussah gown.
I got a necklace from Anthropologie to go with my gown that has sage silk ribbons and crystals and resin beads (style 840146) - it’s big and bold and the ribbons make it look romantic and I love it. We got our shoes from Anthropologie - lovely metallic light colored flats with flowers (decided against heels at the beach)
I’d be happy to post some photos of how it all looks together within a couple weeks.
I’m considering this dress for a black tie wedding in November. However, I am concerned that people might think I am trying to compete with the bride, because of the light color. Any thoughts?
I just bought the Cecelia on the advice of a j.crew employee for my wedding in december when I’ll be 4 months pregnant. She told me the high waist would make enough room for my belly, but your review of the clingy fabric makes me reconsider! Should I cancel my order and save the shipping charges??
Janna: The color of the Cecelia is sand/champagne/light-gold and wouldn’t compete with a bride who is wearing white but might compete with a bride who’s wearing cream — if you know the bride well enough, you could ask her - I wore an off-white tuxedo (jcrew, of course!) to a wedding once *with* the approval of the bride
If a knee-length dress would work for you (you probably already know this), the Cecelia comes in a shorter length in other colors.
ckc: I don’t think the Cecelia would work at 4months pregnant - it’s definitely clingy through the belly and high-hip area even though it does have a high waist. When I wear it, you can definitely see the whole outline of my body from shoulders to hips. I tried 6 different J Crew wedding dresses earlier this year and I think the Rebecca would work better for accomodating pregnancy (congrats!) — it has a high waist and then it has more fabric around the belly area - it has a fuller skirt. The Sophia also has a high waist, isn’t as clingy as Cecelia but might be too clingy to accomodate a new pregnancy bump. The Gracie is pretty fitted and has a lower waist — same with the silk tussah rosette gown.
There are photos here of our two-bride wedding with our jcrew gowns (and daughter in jcrew dress) — I wore the crepe mimi t-shirt gown and my wife wore the silk linen tussah rosette gown:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lwaldal/sets/72157607857019192/
Thanks so much for your commentary Leanne. I did end up getting the Cecelia gown upon finding out that the bride is indeed wearing bright white! I’ve tried the dress on, and I’m pretty happy with it. I agree that it’s a bit clingy, and I would recommend spanx or another “slimmer” even on a petite frame similar to my own. I think I might add a broach similar to the picture above for flare, but the color is definitely champagne enough not to be confused with the bride. Thanks again!
That’s fabulous! The spanx is a good idea - I’ve never used anything like that before with a dress, but it’d definitely work/help with this dress. I think it looks really glam with the brooch - have a great time!