As the old English rhyme goes the bride must wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue” to her wedding.
Pennsylvania-born Abigail Kingston got the “old” part down perfectly since she is a part of a tradition of wearing a wedding gown that had been passed down through her family from generation to generation.
All photos courtesy of Abby Kingston
The first bride to wear the dress was Mary Lowry Warren, Abigail’s great-great-grandmother, who worn the dress at her wedding in 1895.
“When I was younger, while I was playing piano at my parents’ house, there was a framed picture of the first six brides wearing the dress, so I would think, ‘Someday,’” Kingston told BuzzFeed Life.
Once she got engaged, she told her mother, Leslie, she wanted to try to track it down. Leslie also wore the gown, so she was all for the idea, writes Buzzfeed.
The tradition actually started 50 years ago, because Mary Lowry’s daughters were not interested in wearing the dress.
The second bride, Jane Woodruff, wears the dress for her Feb. 20, 1946, wedding to John Kearns.
Virginia Woodruff’s Oct. 13, 1948,
Laird MacConnell’s Oct. 16, 1976,
Sarah Seiler wears the wedding dress here, in a photo from her June 15, 1960,
Leslie Kingston — Abby’s mother — wears it to her Aug. 6, 1977,
This photo is from Janet Kearns’ wedding to Mark Daigle on Oct. 30, 1982
Janet Kearns’ wedding to Mark Daigle on Oct. 30, 1982
This is Jane Ogden, wearing the dress at her June 2, 1986,
This photo is from Virginia Kearns’ wedding to Charles Stinnett on Aug. 26, 1989
Kingston first saw the dress in person at her aunt Ann Ogden’s wedding in 1991.
It was not an easy ride for the dress when Abigail received it, the dress had yellowed and was full of tears and holes due to its old age. After 200 hours of painstaking expert restoration, she was still only able to wear it to the cocktail hour, as it was too fragile.