For her intimate wedding last month at The Ritz-Carlton Montreal, 51-year-old bride Lyne Lazure knew she would wear a classic white wedding dress to marry her fiancé, Lee Jay Berman, 64.
The first-time bride had never tried on a wedding gown before, so she immersed herself in fashion research before she began shopping.
Although she intended to wear only one dress, Lazure says she fell in love with two at bridal boutique White Montreal, both by designer Monique Lhuillier, and had to have them both. For her ceremony and reception, Lazure wore a dramatic floral-lace A-line ball gown. For dancing, she changed into a curve-hugging, lace mermaid gown.
As a mid-life bride, Lazure said the only shopping consideration she had for her dress was finding one that was totally her. “I love fashion and clothes,” says Lazure who is a CEO and tech industry leader. “It is always important for me to wear something I’m comfortable in and that reflects me. At age 51, I know my style and what I wanted in my wedding look. It had to have elegance, a bit of tradition, and represent me.”
In a summer of high-profile celebrity weddings, it’s refreshing and inspiring to see that some of the most buzzed-about style stars of the season are Gen X brides bringing a fierce confidence like Lazure’s to their aisle style.
Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm, 52, wore a slinky Victoria Beckham ivory silk slip dress to marry her 40-something husband, actor Chris Dingwall, in England last month. Supermodel Eva Herzigova, 53, chose a boho-beautiful white vintage Lanvin midi dress and cape when she recently tied the knot with longtime love Giorgio Marsiaj in Italy.
Fellow supermodel Paulina Porizkova, 61, also married her now-husband Jeff Greenstein, 62, in Italy, wearing a bespoke pale-blue accordion-pleated gown by House of Gilles. In an interview with Vogue about her wedding look, Porizkova said that she wanted to “look like my very best self,” and went on to clarify that meant her “very best 61-year-old self. Not any other age.” At a time when chasing youth and a forever-31 esthetic is an obsession, it’s a powerful statement about how she wanted to look on one of the most meaningful days of her life.
London-based bridal designer Savannah Miller thought each of the looks worn by these over-50 brides were perfect. “The wonderful thing about getting older is you really start to know deeply who you are and what works for you,” Miller says. “Clothes should be a direct reflection of your personality, and their choices were clearly reflective of them: joyful and super elegant. There was nothing age-prescriptive about the choices they made.”
In her experience of dressing modern brides of all generations, Miller says age should never be a limiting factor for what they choose to wear.
“If a dress feels great, then that’s your dress, be you 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60,” Miller says. “My clients are never coming to me with age-related concerns. They want to feel like the best versions of themselves and have a dress that is reflective of however that feels for them. Generally, I find the brides who really know themselves and their own personal style have an easier journey, and confidence can also be gained throughout the process, as it really is an exercise in self-discovery, too.”
Miller, who is recently had her fourth child at age 47 — her first with husband James Whewell — says that when she got married in 2022, age never even blipped on her radar as a factor in deciding what to design for herself to wear down the aisle. “I feel the narrative around age really gets way too much airtime — I did not even contemplate it. I thought about the venue, the time of year, the essence of the wedding I wanted to create and how my dress could complement that.”
Toronto entrepreneur and former fashion publicist Pat Angelakos was married in her late 40s in Greece in 2023. Her biggest consideration for what she wore was that it was appropriate for the style of wedding she and husband Sakie Bakoyiannis planned in Athens, but also that it made her feel comfortable. “I was surprised by how overwhelmed I felt by the dress choices, but ultimately, I stuck to my style and chose something simple and feminine,” Angelakos says. “Figuring out what that meant to me as a bride was my biggest challenge.”
Angelakos leaned on her best friend, stylist and owner of White Montreal and White Toronto, Andrea Anastasiou, to help her discover her bride vibe. Angelakos went with two looks. The first was a dramatic floral-embroidered-lace gown from Eisen Stein Bridal, which had many layered pieces that could be added and subtracted to change things up from ceremony to reception; the second was a form-fitting Galia Lahav party dress for the late-night celebration.
“I think of that dress as being my alter ego,” Angelakos says with a laugh. “I was open to trying it when Andrea suggested it, even though my style is typically more subdued and effortless. When I tried it on, I fell in love with it. The sparkles and cut-outs were sexy, and I had so much fun wearing it.”
Vancouver-based designer Ou Ma, the designer behind Ouma Couture, loves to see brides of all generations wearing exactly what they want and not feeling restricted by any notion of what is age-appropriate. “Brides today are getting married at every stage of life, whether it’s their first marriage, a second marriage or simply because they’ve found love later in life,” Ma shares. “They shouldn’t feel limited by outdated expectations about what they ‘should’ wear.”
She’s also quick to add that mature brides never need to dress more conservatively. “Wear what makes you feel beautiful,” Ma says. “For some, that means a sleek minimalist gown. For others, it could mean choosing dramatic sleeves, a statement silhouette or even a mini dress.”
Seeing brides of all ages represented in the bridal fashion industry is something Ma is passionate about. For the launch of her Spring 2027 collection, Alluvia, at New York Bridal Fashion Week in April, Ma cast 60-something Canadian model Erin Leigh to walk in her presentation. The designer loved Leigh’s beauty, elegance and poise, and the fact that having a mature model brought greater inclusivity to her designs.
“When I was planning the show, I realized I wasn’t seeing much diversity in model selection, particularly when it came to age,” Ma says. “I wanted to challenge that. OUMA has always been about dressing women, not a specific age group. Our designs celebrate confidence, individuality and femininity. To me, beauty is not defined by age; it’s defined by how a woman carries herself and what she’s wearing.”
