Disney Bridal Gowns – No Kirstie Kelly?

In 2007, Disney teamed up with wedding gown designer Kirstie Kelly to debut Disney Bridal by Kirstie Kelly.

The initial collection was released to, judging by internet comments, mixed reviews. Some were highly disgusted or disappointed because they either hated Disney in the first place (citing that the company feeds the female sex unrealistic expectations regarding love and life – to which I say, what piece of media doesn't?) or because none of the dresses seemed to look like any of the actual dresses of the princesses from their respective films. Others, however, were thrilled at the prospect of finally being able to purchase a "Disney" wedding gown. And while plus-size ladies were initially left out in the cold, eventually Kirstie Kelly added a line for them, too.

Fast-forward to 2010. At the beginning of the year, David Tutera teamed up with Kirstie Kelly and Disney to create a Disney Weddings book (comments are found earlier in this blog).

Imagine my surprise when I tried to check up on the collections at disneybridal.com – to find Kirstie Kelly's line eliminated and promoting a new line by Alfred Angelo.

Don't get me wrong – I'm happy to see that Disney is trying to include budget-conscious brides here. These gowns are significantly more affordable than Kirstie's. However, the former line was not in the most expensive category for bridal gowns. High-end designer bridal gowns can end up being $20,000 or more, and Ms. Kelly's line was around $1,000-$3,000.

I'm not terribly impressed by these dresses. They are pretty, but most of them look like dresses that the designer had already created and put on the market before Disney approached them. What especially disappoints me is that Rapunzel is not included in the collection. I know that the collection was released before Tangled came to theaters, but the time gap is not that big (then again, that film went through so many changes that perhaps when the designer was creating mock-ups for his new dresses the animators did not have anything to give him for reference). In any case, these gowns still suffer from the same issue with the first line – none of them look much like the outfits we actually saw our favorite Disney Princesses in (though I will say that Alfred Angelo came closer that Kirstie Kelly did).

For the record, here are some points of reference:

 Characters and their likenesses copyrighted by Disney.

But here's the real question: are we going to start seeing Alfred Angelo Disney Bridal Rings, too? Because at least that gives one room for interpretation without significant basis…