Each week during the Here Comes the Bride exhibit, the history of one of the dresses will be featured on the website and social media. Visit these dresses and more in person from June 2 through August 12, 2023, at the David L. Pierce Art & History Center. Exhibit hours will be listed below the article.
This dress was worn by Joanne Cathy Stuart (b. 1941) at her wedding to Bob Cutter (1932-2019) at First Methodist Church of Aurora on February 10, 1961. Husband Bob, an Air Force veteran from the Korean War, was well known in the community as a teacher for 35 years, a referee and umpire, and an alderman for 12 years. The couple raised three children.
A contemporary Beacon-News article about the wedding described the dress as “a white classic floor length gown of hand clipped Chantilly lace over Duchess satin, fashioned with a scooped neckline accented with tiny pearls, long tapered sleeves, and empire bodice with deep midriff from which fell a circular skirt in soft folds.” Cathy also wore a “pure silk, elbow length white veil of English illusion held in place by a halo of imported waxed orange blossoms and tiny pearl pips.” She carried “a crescent of white carnation florets and white roses.”
Cathy got her dress at the Trousseau Shop on the Fox Promenade. She donated it to the Historical Society in 2014.
