She's Not Heavy, She's Diana!

Today was the big day...my honey treated me like a princess and took me to see the Diana exhibit in Atlanta. We were not able to take pictures in the exhibit, but these are some that I was able to download. When we got there, we had about a 15 minute wait to actually get into the exhibit. Frank was so well behaved, and at some point, he said "She's not heavy, she's Diana", and I told him then, that would be the title of my post! When you get into the exhibit, the first thing you see is this...
a beautiful tiara from the 1800's that belonged to the Spencer family. Wow. I can't describe how beautiful it was. From there, you go through a display of Spencer women...Diana's female ancestors. She looked remarkedly like her great-grandmother (Charlotte, I believe) and apparently got her desire to help others from her. Along with portraits of some of these women were family jewels. There was a diamond necklace with HUGE diamonds in it and a cross pendant made with gorgeous emeralds. The family jewels were breathtaking. From there you went through a display with some of Diana's childhood belongings including her diary. There was a home movie playing with clips from her childhood. (She had really long legs!) That display transitioned into her courtship and engagement to Prince Charles and then you see it...

the gown! The train is 25 feet long. There are thousands of tiny pearls sewn into the lace. Her shoes were a masterpiece of their own. Tiny pearls, the soles were handpainted with gold, and they were very low heels! It was all sooooooooooo pretty. All along the room were photos from her wedding day and a video was playing. It was surreal to see the video that I've seen so many times standing right next to the actual gown. And you can't get the concept of how long a 25 foot train is unless you see it with your own eyes! Her mother paid for her dress and the bridesmaid dresses. According to a sign, it was $1900 USD. I take that as $1,900 US dollars, and that just doesn't seem right....obviously she got a great discount! The tiara belonged to the Spencer family and the diamond earrings she wore (beee-u-tee-ful) were bought by Diana with money she inherited from her grandmother. I know that it is customary for the bride's family to pay for these things, but you would think sinc she was marrying royalty they could have chipped in! From there you go through a display of her charitable work. There was a prayer book on display with a handwritten inscription from Mother Theresa about Jesus. Then you go into an exhibit of items from her funeral. A video of the procession and service is playing accompanied by a recording of Candle in the Wind. It was very quiet in there, and the girl in front of my in line was crying. I wasn't about to cry, because I thought Frank would laugh me out of there! But it was very touching to relive a day I remember so well. From there you go into an exhibit of her clothing...what a difference!

The gown in the middle is the last dress she wore at a public appearance. She wore it to her birthday party I believe. There was a short version in light blue just like it. The clothes were so beautiful. I've never been that close to couture clothing before, and was amazed at the detail and workmanship. My mother was a seamstress, so I notice the construction of clothes, and these were flawless. The suits, the gowns, all of them. Just wow. One of the sweetest things was the blue coat dress she wore that had matching baby blue coats that belonged to both of her little sons. There was a Versace (I think) cocktail dress with a velvet bodice and a deep dark red lacy skirt. The fabric for the skirt was just too beautiful for words. And there was a hideous blue with red polka dots gown from 1987...and it was straight 1987, haha. The rest were timeless, but that poor dress from 1987, screamed 1987.

As you can tell, I had a wonderful time. As much as I've said about it, there is so much more to see. If you would like to go too, there is a special offer available to all my blog readers (all 2 of you!)