Elva's Wedding Dress

Image courtesy of Brain Watkins House Collection. Ref. 2005-0093

A bride for the first and only time at age of 72 Elva Brain chose for the occasion a silk crepe and lace dress that she had worn as a much younger woman.

Image courtesy of Brain Watkins House Collection. Ref. 2004-0550

These images of her wearing it are obviously in different decades and demonstrate her frugality in 1964 when she married long time family friend Willie Watkins.

Image courtesy of Sun Media Ltd.

The dress is still in very good condition and part of the Brain Watkins collection. Here you can see it laid across the bed in the master bedroom on display for the recent wedding display for the  Tauranga Historical Society’s annual fundraising Garden Party.