Sarah Jessica Parker wore a black spaghetti strap gown with a ruffled skirt for her 1997 nuptials to Matthew Broderick
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The Morgane le Fay design was an off-the-rack purchase
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Parker has said she wore black because she was "too embarrassed to get married in white"
Sarah Jessica Parkerbucked tradition when she marriedMatthew Broderick29 years ago on May 19, 1997, wearing a black gown instead of bridal white.
The iconic black wedding dress went on to spark a lasting trend, but Parker toldMarie Clairein 2006 that it was never intended to be a style statement.
"I was too embarrassed to get married in white, and both Matthew and I were reluctant to have people pay so much attention to us,” the actress said. “Which is ridiculous, because that's when you can relish the attention, when it's natural.”
Like her dress, the couple’s ceremony was rather unconventional. In fact, it was a total surprise to the 100 guests who attended, all of whom were simply told in the invitation (which Parker shared for the duo's25th-anniversary celebration) to join Parker and Broderick for “a party."
“We treated it like it was a big party on a Monday night, and I regret it,” theSex and the Citystar toldMarie Claireof the couple's casual nuptials that took place at the Angel Orensanz Foundation.
Parker later toldTodaythat if she had to do it all over again, she’d choose differently. “[I’d] white it up,” she said. “I’d wear a beautiful, proper wedding dress like I should have worn that day.”
Here are all the details about Sarah Jessica Parker's memorable wedding dress — including how many gowns she tried on first and what she wishes she had worn instead.
Parker never envisioned herself in a wedding gown before her big day
While many brides dream of the gown they’ll walk down the aisle in, Parker told PEOPLE in 2018 that she was more focused on her would-be groom.
“I never thought about a wedding dress. Never. Had not one daydream about it,” she said. “At one point, I just simply remember thinking, ‘God, I really hope he asks me to marry him.’ I don’t know when or why. It was fairly early on.”
The gown was off the rack
While discussing her big day withAndy CohenonWatch What Happens Live With Andy Cohenin 2016, Parker revealed that the dresswas not a custom design.
“There was a store that I liked that I knew, and I just went and got whatever they had hanging,” she told the talk show host. "I just was too embarrassed to spend any time looking for a wedding dress.”
In fact, as theDivorcestar toldGlamourin 2008, “I bought the first dress I looked at.”
It was designed by Morgane le Fay
Chelsea-based designer Morgane le Fay, which wasfounded in 1983 by Liliana Casabal, was behind the frock Parker exchanged her vows in.
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According to the company’s website, the brand’s identity is based in “feminine form and diaphanous story-telling." Its motto: “Fashion should be a healing force that makes the wearer feel limitless.”
The black color was meant to be understated
Given Parker’s high-fashion background, one might assume that the nontraditional black hue of her gown was worn to make a serious style statement, but it was actually quite the opposite.
As she explained toGlamour, the dress was meant to keep the focus off the bride and on the guests who attended the ceremony. “Our logic was we didn't want to call attention to ourselves that day, because we're actors and we get attention all day long,” she explained. “It was a party for everybody else.”
Despite the actress’s desire for something more demure, the dress itself was actually quite ornate. The bodice was simple enough, with a plain spaghetti strap top and scoop neckline, but the bottom cascaded out into a pouf of black ruffles for the skirt.
Her shoes were her “something blue”
Like Carrie Bradshaw, who tied the knot withChris Noth’s Mr. Big in a pair of Manolo Blahnik blue Hangisi stilettos at their courthouse wedding, Parker opted for a pair of colored heels while saying her own “I dos.”
“I wore teal blue velvet Robert Clergeries with a rounded toe and a classic Clergerie heel, from Barneys,” she said at the debut of herSJP Shoe brand’s bridal collaboration with Giltin New York City in 2018.
Her accessories served as her “something old” and “something borrowed”
In addition to her shoes, which took care of one part of the old “something borrowed” adage, Parker incorporated several other key accessories into her big day.
"I borrowed a handkerchief, someone gave me an old coin, and the dress was new, so I covered all my bases,” she toldMartha Stewart Weddings.
It opened the door for other celebrities to wear black down the aisle
While black wedding dresses have since become a common choice for unconventional brides, in 1997, the hue was a rare one, and like it or not, SJP paved the sartorial way for other celebrity brides, includingEllen Pompeo,Avril Lavigne,Selling Sunset’s Christine Quinn and Shenae Grimes — all of whom said their “I dos” while wearing onyx — to do the same.
According to industry experts, the fadofficially peaked in 2020with the onset of COVID-19. “It’s our hottest trend,” Laura McKeever, head of public relations for David’s Bridal, told theWashington Postin May 2022.
Parker would wear a totally different wedding gown, given the chance
If she could do it all over again, Parker has said her dress would be far more conventional.
"If I were getting married today, I'd likely wear cream, just to have that bridal experience," she toldMartha Stewart Weddings.
TheFailure to Launchstar also elaborated to the publication on what it might look like. "Now, I would want my dress to have an Oscar de la Renta feel, pockets below the waist, a very fitted bodice, a huge skirt, in taffeta or duchesse satin,” she explained. “That silhouette appeals to me because it's old-fashioned, yet can look very modern."
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Sarah Jessica Parker wore a black spaghetti strap gown with a ruffled skirt for her 1997 nuptials to Matthew Broderick NEED TO KN...
