Sixty-one years ago, Georgianna Straffi married John Paone and wore a custom-made gown with white Dresden rose lace over satin.
As she walked down the aisle at the Our Lady of Peace Church in Fords, N.J., a Queen Elizabeth coronet with seed pearls and rhinestones with an attached veil of illusion glittered atop her head. Sequins and lace medallions adorned the illusion neckline. The cathedral train was lined with satin.
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Twenty-seven years later, her daughter, Jeanne Paone, walked down the same aisle in the same dress when she wed Thomas Bader.
She met her husband during their junior year of high school. “I told her I would marry her,” he said. “And we would have a daughter and name her Jeannine.”
On July 16, Thomas Bader walked his daughter Jeannine Bader, 32, down the aisle in the same wedding gown at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond.
“It’s more than a dress; it’s what it signifies to the family,” Jeanne Bader said. “It’s almost 100 years of marriage.”
Georginanna Straffi Paone, 87, said she saw a picture of the dress in a bridal magazine in 1955. She took the picture as well as a handwritten description to a bridal shop and had the dress custom made. She put down a $10 deposit on the gown and veil, which cost a total of $200.
“My mother was and still is very fashionable,” Jeanne Bader said. “She knew about fashion before the word ‘couture.’ ”
After the wedding, Paone placed her dress in a box and did not know when she would open it again.
“Once it hits the air, it discolors,” Paone said, explaining why she kept the box sealed for years.
Two and half decades later, her daughter opened it.
“It fit like it was made for me,” Jeanne Bader said. Her figure was similar to her mother’s; she was just a little taller.
“The moment I just never forgot was walking down the aisle with my father, knowing that my mother wore the dress,” she said.
Bader knew her daughter would experience the same emotions she had when walking down the aisle.
In 2011, Jeannine Bader met her now-husband, Bryan Mangas, at a car dealership.
“He’s a ‘BOGO.’ I bought my car, and he came with it,” she said. “It’s kind of a joke.”
She leased a Mercedes, and the two drove everywhere together. They racked up the mileage fee and had to pay a hefty bill. She said it was bittersweet turning the car in after making so many memories.
“He’s really the perfect match for Jeannine because he loves tradition. He loves family, and he’s incredibly loyal,” Bader said. “He understands what this dress signifies.”
When thoughts of marriage filled Jeannine’s head, she told her grandmother she would like to wear the dress.
But Paone would not open the box until her granddaughter had an engagement ring and set a wedding date.
The family had a small ceremony and opened the box together at Paone’s house in New Jersey. The dress looked as it did on the day Paone walked down the aisle in 1955. The Dresden lace was still intact and the color still fresh.
“We were shocked,” Paone said.
But when Jeannine tried the dress on, it didn’t fit.
“It was way too small, and we didn’t even know if she would be able to wear the dress,” her mother said. “But then we found Oksana.”
Oksana Vladimirova, a seamstress who works off West Broad Street, had to maintain the integrity of the dress while fitting it to the granddaughter’s curves.
It was challenging, she said. The material was delicate and rare, leaving no room for mistakes.
“The material is rose-point lace, which I don’t think you can get today,” Paone said.
The seamstress bonded with the family during the 10 months she spent working on the sweetheart wedding dresses.
“I’m so glad it’s making you happy,” Vladimirova said, starting to tear up as she held hands with Paone. “It’s very valuable to you and your family.”
As her granddaughter tried on the dress a few days before the wedding, Paone saw herself.
“I guess you could say that’s me,” Paone said. “Sixty-one years ago.”
