Seasons of the Earth originally began as a herbal shop, but they’ve branched out into medieval and renaissance costuming, and we’re mighty glad they did.

Gothic Renaissance dress, $230, by Seasons of the Earth

Kim Cresson is the style maiden behind Seasons of the Earth and their new clothing line. All corsets are handsewn using quality boning and exquisite fabrics. Kim also sells a collection of goddess necklaces, altar candles and other magikal miscelleny. Kim’s goal is to help women of all ages and magical abilities to find and embrace the goddess within.

This gothic-inspired dress comes in five pieces – a black satine skirt, dark red celtic cross brocade and taffeta fabrics for the front and tail of the bodice, and black suede for the back of the bodice. Dark red knotted taffeta is also used in the front of the skirt. The bodice is finished with black rattail for the ties. The cuffs are made with a combination of matching materials.

To view the rest of Kim’s collection, visit the Seasons of the Earth website, or the Seasons of the Earth garb etsy shop. She ships internationally via Priority Mail, and can do alterations and custom orders.

Spooky Kitten Couture offers a range of handmade “costumes”, which are more elaborate than they sound. Spooky Kitten Couture is the shop of a Californian costume designer and she says:

“if you have an idea, or twelve, we can moosh them together into your dream wedding gown.”

The use of the word “moosh” has me sold

She’s got Victorian gowns, medieval gowns, Southern Belle costumes, and more. She uses quality fabrics and embellishments, and – although these are relatively simplistic gowns - the attention to detail shows.

Spooky Kitten Couture’s costumes would make excellent bridesmaid dresses, or even bridal or mother-of-the-bride outfits. She loves custom orders, so convo her if you have an idea, or twelve.

She donates a portion of her funds to animal charities, which is also totally awesome.

So, Victorian brides and medieval wenches, check out Spooky Kitten Couture on Etsy!

Medieval weddings have a certain magic, a touch of faerie in the air. So many of our notions of medieval matrimony are tied up in the tales of Auther and Guinivere, knights and chivelry and fantasy novels.

The starting point for anyone planning a medieval (or other historical period) wedding is the source material and history books. A little reading would reveal the reality of medieval marriage is much different to the fantasy.

The Church performed marriages, and any marriage had to be sanctioned by them. In 1076, the Council of Westminster decreed that a man could not marry his daughters or sisters without the blessing of the Church. However, it wasn’t until the 16th century that a marriage had to be performed by a priest. Castle weddings were common, and allowed, so long as the marriage was blessed by a priest later. Weddings would often take place in the “Great Hall”, or in the gardens. 

Marriages were generally arranged like a contract, with papers drawn up describing the rights, responsibilites and properties of the bride and groom. Arranged marriages were the norm, especially among the upper classes. An arranged marriage would be decided when a the intended were about 10-12 years old, and they might not even meet until the day of the wedding.

For a marriage of lesser wealth, a betrothal ceremony would take place at the bride’s family home, and the whole village would gather to celebrate. They would give the couple useful gifts like farming tools and spindles. If the groom couldn’t afford a ring, he would give the bride half a broken coin, and he would keep the other half.

The bride’s family was responsible for organising her dowry, while the grooms family provided a suitable home for the couple. A gift would also be given to the priest who performed or blessed the ceremony. A groom might also give his bride a gift on the morning after the wedding, to say, essentially, “thanks for letting me pop your cherry, love.”

Grooms who married a bride from a different village would have to buy a round of beer for the local lads, since he had robbed them of a possible wife. In return, the local lads might stage some kind of serenade or prank (sounds like a stag party to me) to try and catch the bride and groom doing the dirty.

The bride’s dress would be the nicest one she owned, and her entire face would be painted with cosmetics. High foreheads were considered beautiful, so she would pluck her hairline. Brides would wear their hair loose or weave flowers through it to create a floral wreath. She might tie a blue ribbon in her hair or on her dress, and blue was the symbol of purity.

The wedding day would include a great feast, and entertanment (jugglers, musicians, minstrels). if the Lord of the Manor felt the occassion justified it, he might even free prisoners to mark the special day. Beggars gathered outside the gates to beg for leftovers.

And what leftovers there would be! Roast quail, venison, cheeses, carrots, pears, strawberries, apples, oysters in almond milk, tarts, bread, salads of chives, lettuce and radish roots, onions, pistachio nuts, and turnips. Mulled wine, cider, beer and mead flowed freely, and dancing would follow. Guests brough small cakes, which they stacked in a huge pile (mmmm, cake pile!) and the bride and groom would try to lean over the pile and kiss without toppling the cakes, as this meant bad luck.

A medieval wedding sounds like an awful lot of fun. If you’re planning a medieval-themed wedding, you can use these traditions as a jumping-off point for your own ideas. No one is going to stone you if you don’t follow medieval traditions to the letter.

If you’ve been hunting around the online gothic couture shops for any length of time, you’ve probably heard of Azrael’s Accomplice. Both Azrael’s Accomplice and AZAC Designs (a “less gothy” line of gowns and eveningwear) are the children of designer Tracy Robertson, often called by her nickname Batty. If you’re looking for that perfect gothic wedding dress, or even just a gothic gown to wear on an evening out, you might want to check out Azrael’s Accomplice.

Tracy has been creating stunning alternative clothing for over ten years, and her history as a costume designer shows through in her dramatic gowns and corsets.

The Azrael’s Accomplice line features Tracy’s high-end gothic couture gowns (stunning pieces) and corsets, as well as some ready-to-wear and club pieces. These are all designed for the gothic sensibility, but have a sensitivity about them, which makes them accessible to non-goths.

Tracy wanted to expand her clothing line, so designed the AZAC line to appeal to non-gothic types. The AZAC line features avant-garde coctail dresses, wedding gowns, and fashion corsetry.

All of Tracy’s designs tell a story and inspire a mood. The gowns in particular evoke fantasmagorical places, forgotten lands and magical women. They’re emotive pieces that set a tone for a wedding. An AZAC gown would suit the dramatic, avant-garde, ethereal and fantastical bride.

Tracy’s opened up an Etsy store with discounted gowns, corsets and other pieces. It’s well worth a look. I’ve even put that gothic pixie dress on my to-buy list.

I found this beautiful casual renaissance / medieval wedding on flickr and HAD to show you. Lucky for you, Lauren, the bride and and woman in-charge of this gorgeous wedding, has sat down and answered some of my curious questions. Read on!

That is one gorgeous wedding party!

Yaaarrrrr!

I might have mentioned this before, but I thought I’d better do a whole post on the topic. Just in time for Etsy Day, Wedding Skulls now has an Etsy shop! You can buy both wedding planner ebooks there – as well as my writing ebooks, and copywriting / marketing writing packages for Etsy shops.

But that’s not the best part. A good friend of mine – Amy Beales – has come on board as well. She’s selling her beautiful line of gothic clothing and accessories, including wedding garters, favor bags, rosaries, coats, corsets, bags and more. Every one of her creations is custom made to your exact measurements, so you can change the colours/fabrics if you desire. Her pride and joy is the Nevermore coat – a stunning red floor-length gothic coat with handmade fastenings.

For those of you who have NO IDEA what I’m rambling on about, Etsy is a network for people to buy and sell handcrafted goods. You can sign up for a free account and browse away till your eyes are sore. So many talented, wonderful people sell and shop on Etsy, and Wedding Skulls is honoured to now be counted amongst them.

Wedding Skulls are also proud members of Etsy Dark Side street team. You can find us on their website, forum and blog. If you search ‘etsydarkteam’ in tags, you’ll find all the delightful gothicky items.

We’re adding new items every day, and we’ve got TONS to add. So keep checking back. We have a special section just for – well – specials, and we’re active in the Etsy forums.

Also, don’t forget that you have only FIVE MORE DAYS of the Wedding Planner Promotion – %50 off both wedding planners when you enter the discount code mmmdonuts or buy through the Etsy shop. Get yours today!