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!

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.

It’s been a long time since I featured a steampunk business here on wedding skulls, but that time is at an end. Aerin of Royal Steamline contacted me months ago, but I’ve been horribly slack about putting this interview together. But finally, here it is. I know you’ll love Royal Steamline’s collection of vintage-inspired dark, macabre and steampunk wedding invitations.

Who is Royal Steamline and what do you do?

Royal Steamline is a husband-and-wife design team based in Portland, Oregon. We create wedding invitations that have a dark, clockwork or otherwise retro/vintage flavor. Through a subtle (and sometimes anachronistic) combination of shadows, textures and vintage illustrations, we aim to convey a sense of eras strange and forgotten. Sea monsters mingle next to robotic ravens, and gentlemen scientists have tea with rockabilly rebels.

What is steampunk to you?

We thought you might ask something like that! Well, it can be many things, but it often involves a reordered history, usually with a novel mixing of noteworthy technological concepts or historical figures. And, yes, it often evokes the people, manners, and building materials of the Victorian period. So you might have Sherlock Holmes working with William Fox Talbot to develop infrared photography as part of an effort to identify and apprehend the Ripper. But it goes way beyond this and the common penchant for corsets and goggles: it can involve elements of the Old West or totally fictitious times and places. It’s kind of like Justice Stewart’s famous quote, we’re not sure how to define steampunk, but we know it when we see it!

What drew you to the culture/style initially?

Hmm…a particular sense of adventure? Always asking “What if…?” The dusty, muted colors. The elegance of brass, glass, and the era of the gentleman scientist? Poe and the birth of the modern detective story? Sprawling fin de siècle country manors where strange dinner parties occur? Jim and Artemus foiling the mad diminutive doctor? The contradiction of it all. Plus, we adore Victorian wallpaper design!

How did you or will you incorporate gothic and steampunk features into your wedding?

We often tend to prefer the subtle. So when it came to our wedding, we tried to incorporate a lot of small details and touches that suggested instead of overpowered. For instance, we created table “installations” that featured objects from our collection of curios: glass eyes, Victorian travelogues, antique stereoviews of seances, examples of 19th century quackery. Our guest book was a stack of antique postcards that people used to “send us” their best wishes. J. wore an antique silver brooch (reputedly haunted) as a tie bar, and I wore a unique shrug and veil that I had handmade for the wedding; I also wore long gloves and a ’30s-inspired gray dress. In our readings, we quoted everyone from Poe to Shelley to the Gothic Archies (again, it’s all about new combinations!).

Tell us a little about your design process – how do you choose materials/motifs/inspiration for your pieces?

Our designs start and end with a story, usually sparked from a book or artifact on our shelves. J’s been deep into Victorian pulps and I’ve been collecting mourning buttons and early 20th century advertising and science imagery. We’re inspired by the stories of retro technology, textures of old paper…the look of outdated fonts…some crazy ornate border flourish. The combo of the different worlds usually leads to some interesting aesthetics.

Why do you think Royal Steamline appeals to so many people?

It seems that more and more people are realizing that weddings can and should reflect themselves, their styles and tastes. And, for what seems like a growing number of people, this means choosing wedding invitations that evoke a dark, gothic or Victorian or misplaced-science-type feel. It’s created a whole new definition of what a wedding should be. We just want people to enjoy their wedding day — and if they’re into the idea of people landing on the Moon in 1901, then please come see us!

Name a couple of bands/songs that are on your stereo at the moment?

Music plays a huge role with regard to who we are and what we do (or, maybe, just how we do it). We actually met when we were both living in San Francisco and our first date was basically one big argument about music (but it was great!). We genuinely enjoy a huge range of music: I grew up loving bands like Bauhaus, Ministry, Joy Division, Clan of Xymox, and The Smiths while J listened to stuff like the Misfits, Neurosis, Hawkwind and Einstürzende Neubauten. These days, we’re still all over the place! Recently, shows we’ve seen include Earth, Stereolab, Vagabond Opera, the Horrors, Thrones, the Handsome Furs, the Ghastly Ones…We haven’t even mentioned J.’s love of early Americana (Harry Smith is a big influence) and my collection of hard bop and sad bastard vinyl.

What’s coming up for Royal Steamline?

More invitation designs, of course! Oh, and we recently released a line of what we’re calling “dress badges.” By combining vintage seam binding, buttons, military pins and insignia, we’ve created accessories appropriate for weddings, balls, cotillions, museum dedications or just everyday wear.

Any advice you could offer to Wedding Skulls?

We just hope brides and grooms go with their hearts. If you don’t want to wear a white dress then don’t! If you want to walk down the aisle to Ernest Tubb or At the Gates, then do it! Your wedding is about you and your partner — make it a day you both will love to plan and remember.

So Skully brides and grooms, if you fancy a little steampunk-inspired wonder to adorn your wedding invitations, I suggest you head over to Royal Steamline and check out all their designs. While you’re there, you should take some time to read the Royal Steamline blog, which is packed with great steampunk articles.

What dark alternative wedding website would be complete without a little corset porn?

Nina, by Angels Carrying Savage Weapons

Angels Carry Savage Weapons is a UK-based corset company founded in 2005 by designers Lindsay and Lee Fidler. All the patterns are cut in their Nottinghamshire studio. Each corset is handmade to order and designed to minimize your waist between 2-4 inches. You won’t find any ill-fitting, plastic-boned, faux-corsetry here.

Angels Carrying Savage Weapons’ corset designs give a beautiful silhouette. The elegant, unique designs hint at the erotic.

Ava, by Angels Carrying Savage Weapons

Their bridalwear collection contains several stunning emsembles, like the Siren and Nina pictured here. As each piece is made to order, you can essentially mix and match your own design, adding or subtracting materials, trims and adornments.

Seeing these amazing corsets makes me wish I could have a whole wardrobe full of beautiful gowns. Le Sigh.

Right, now I know this is a wedding blog, and I know that I’m supposed to be talking about weddings, posting about weddings and generally having weddings coming out the wazoo. But when I stumble across something so utterly fabulous that has NOTHING to do with weddings, I’m gonna post it, and you can’t stop me

Leopard Metallica Motorcycle Vest, $175 from Toxic Vision

Skeleton Coffin Sparkle Capri Pants, $59 by Toxic Vision