by Kerragan Treywick
When it comes to your wedding day, the hunt for “the one” is an enormous task—no, not finding your soulmate (because you already checked that off the to-do list) but finding the wedding dress that matches the momentous occasion and your style. Recently, going vintage has become the move though for many brides-to-be because what’s better than walking down the aisle in a one-of-a-kind vintage Vera Wang dress?! Vionnette Bridal, founded by Monet Brewerton-Palmer, is a couture vintage bridal boutique in Atlanta, Georgia, specializing in rare couture-quality vintage wedding dresses from the 1950s to 2005 and archival couture bridal attire.
Every gown in Vionnette Bridal’s collection has a story. Several dresses come with personal tokens from the former owners as gifts to the future owner. Some come with interesting stories, like the dress from a woman who vividly recalls her meetings with Vera Wang herself when designing her fully custom gown in the late 1990s. To gain more insight into this lovely vintage bridal shop, we asked the owner, Monet, a few questions regarding her business. Below are her inspiring responses:
1. What inspired your idea to open a vintage bridal shop as opposed to a typical modern bridal store?
The inventory for the store grew out of my personal collection of couture wedding dresses, but it was really my brides who convinced me to go all in with it as a business!
I come from a long line of professional seamstresses, and I’ve been sewing for most of my life. I’ve always had an interest in the history of couture and haute couture fashion, and I’ve been collecting vintage clothing and wedding dresses since 2014.
I opened a contemporary bridal shop in 2023. It didn’t even occur to me at the time to open a vintage bridal shop; I thought that couture vintage fashion was just a hobby for me, and I couldn’t have imagined that there would be enough interest in it to support a brick-and-mortar business.
However, about a year after I opened the store, a bride came in for her very first bridal appointment. She tried on a couple of dresses, but my intuition told me that she would be interested in a couture vintage gown, so I pulled out one of the vintage Vera Wang dresses I had recently brought from my house to the shop. It fit her like a glove, and she bought it on the spot. (We later learned that it was made the same year – 1995 – that her parents got married!)
I had never seen someone so certain of their dress so quicky, and I realized in that moment that there might actually be a lot of brides who were interested in the dresses I had been collecting. Within a couple of months, I made the decision to launch a vintage collection. I closed my other shop and opened Vionnette in late November 2024 – less than two years after I had opened the first shop, and only about a week before I turned 40.
There are truly no words to describe how much I love what I do, and how lucky I feel to be doing it. It is such a joy to be able to share my love of couture vintage fashion with my brides, to make them feel beautiful, and to help promote an appreciation for couture construction and embellishment techniques. I know it is a rare and special thing when you can turn your life’s passion into your career, and I don’t take it for granted.
2. With them being made decades ago, is it necessary to provide any special care to the gowns to preserve them?
This is not exactly what you’re asking, but since you brought up the topic of preservation, I can’t pass up the opportunity to tell brides in the strongest possible terms to please preserve their wedding dresses after they get married! I know that preservation can be expensive, and it’s easy to put it on the back burner while you’re managing other post-wedding tasks, but if you want your (or anyone else’s) children to have a chance to wear your dress in the future, proper preservation (not just dry cleaning) is non-negotiable.
One of the reasons that so many of my vintage Vera Wangs are in such beautiful condition is that Vera gave very specific instructions regarding the care & preservation of her gowns. She sent a brochure out with her finished dresses that explained exactly how her brides should care for their gowns. (Some of them cared for their dresses so well that they even kept this brochure, which is how I know exactly what it said!)
Make it a priority to preserve your dress and make it easy on yourself to do it: research preservers and select one before your wedding, plan for the expense, and set yourself a deadline for dropping off your dress. I promise that you won’t regret spending the time and money on this.
3. What was your biggest challenge when opening the shop and how did you overcome it?
I wish I could give an interesting, insightful, or inspirational answer, but my answer is very boring! Since we opened a couple of months ago, my biggest challenge has been managing the unexpectedly large amount of interest in our dresses from people all around the world. I dramatically underestimated how much demand there would be, and we didn’t have the staff capacity to manage the dozens and dozens of messages we receive every day. I’m very grateful for the interest and excited to help people find their dream vintage dresses, and I’m still working on bringing on a new employee and setting up systems so we can respond to everyone more quickly.
4. What is your favorite vintage gown currently at Vionnette Bridal?
This is such a difficult question, but there are several dresses that stand out for me. One of my favorites is an early ‘90s wedding gown by Elizabeth Emanuel, who made Princess Diana’s wedding dress – I feel so lucky to have such a rare piece in the shop!
Because I often have a long correspondence with the women that I get some of my dresses from, I always feel very attached to the dresses that have been sold or consigned to me directly by individual women, so those are my favorite dresses by default. These women always tell me interesting stories about when they purchased their dresses and share their wedding photos with me – and some of them even send me gifts to give to the bride who purchases their dress. Their wedding gowns are a daily reminder of the importance of this garment in a person’s life, and how lucky I am to have the chance to build connections between generations of brides who are wearing the same dress.
photo credit: Vionnette Bridal
5. Can you describe/show us the wedding gown you chose when you got married in 2014?
People often ask if I wore a vintage dress for my wedding, and I inevitably disappoint them when I say no.
I had always pictured myself wearing my grandmother’s wedding dress, and I was totally crushed when I learned that she had donated it to a thrift store. (She said it was taking up too much room in the attic.) I’m the oldest grandchild, and I was the first to get married, so none of us even knew that she had given away, but it had apparently been gone for years by the time I got around to asking her about it.
I felt adrift after that. I went on to try on 200-300 wedding dresses, which I absolutely do not recommend. I was searching for something that resembled the gowns made by the great couturiers of the 1950s. I found that in the Seaside dress by Lela Rose, which was covered in complex embroidered details that were reminiscent of mid-century couture and haute couture gowns. I still love that dress and think it was a great choice for me at the time.
6. If you encountered a bride who was on-the-fence about wearing a vintage wedding gown, what piece of knowledge/advice would you share with her?
Vintage wedding dresses are trendy right now, but – like everything – they aren’t the right choice for everyone. I believe that every bride should wear the wedding dress that makes her feel the most beautiful and special she has ever felt in her life. If I was working with someone who said she was on the fence about wearing vintage, I’d try to figure out if she actually likes vintage garments, and if they make her feel special. Does she prefer traditional laces, fabrics, and embellishments over contemporary ones? Does she prefer sexy silhouettes and necklines? With a vintage dress, you won’t find the plunging necklines and sheer bodices that are so common today; nor will you see embellishments like laser-cut floral laces and appliques (because laser-cutting technology didn’t exist). You’ll almost never see a vintage dress made with a stretchy jersey fabric that hugs your curves. If a bride feels the most beautiful in a form-fitting, stretchy dress with a plunging V-neck that is made from embroidered botanical lace, she won’t be happy in a vintage dress, so she shouldn’t wear one no matter how trendy vintage wedding dresses are. She will definitely feel best in a modern dress.
I know this opinion isn’t always popular, but I really do believe that your wedding dress is the most special garment you will ever wear. Even when the style of your dress goes out of fashion (and it will, I promise!), I want you to be telling the bridal stylist at your daughter’s bridal appointment in 30 years that you loved your dress and you felt incredible in it. It doesn’t matter if that feeling comes when you’re in a couture vintage dress, a skin-baring Galia Lahav from the most recent collection, or a simple slip dress you picked up at ASOS – when you feel that indescribable feeling, then that’s your dress. Choosing a wedding dress is a deeply personal decision, which is as it should be.
