Crowning The Outfit -- Some Brides Opt For Hats Instead Of Veils As The Topper For Their Wedding Ensemble

Teri Plummer always knew she'd wear a hat on her wedding day, though her friends had all worn veils.

Plummer wanted to look "elegantly simple" when she wed Eugene S. Plummer a year ago. "When I found my dress, it just had to have a wonderful hat. A veil would not have looked right at all."

Women have traditionally covered their heads for their weddings, either with veils - which sometimes have religious or cultural significance - or variations of hats or crowns. Through the centuries, wedding headpieces reflected various cultures, from veils that totally covered the hair and face to decorative headpieces that completed an outfit.

Always, says Karen Claxton, a Snohomish writer who has researched wedding traditions for an upcoming book, the idea of head ornamentation is to "make the bride a queen for her special day. To make her the center of attention."

Plummer's broad-brimmed hat certainly did that.

She chose it to set off her unusual gown, a short beaded sheath topped by a floor-length, off-the-shoulder satin coat dress. The very wide top of the coat dress would have drawn eyes away from her face without a strong headpiece. And neither the dress nor Plummer's shortly cropped hair seemed right for a veil.

"I had a hat I was thinking of wearing, but it needed updating and glamour. My mother said, go see Henrietta Price. She'd made hats for my mother."

Henrietta, of Henrietta's Hats and Accessories in Madison Valley, loved Plummer's dress, but the first hat "wasn't right," she says firmly. "We talked it over, and then we began."

Over the next few weeks, Plummer and Price met several times: Price would fashion variations of what eventually broadened to a 32-inch-wide satin portrait hat, topped with a swirl of illusion veiling and a cluster of beading to match the sheath. And though Plummer had planned to have her arms bare, Price convinced her that the total look required the finishing touch of elbow-length gloves.

"Men love to see women in hats and gloves, it's so romantic," says Price.

Plummer's husband, Eugene, agrees. "When she walked into the church, everyone gasped. She was gorgeous. Her look was perfect."

Choosing the hat first

While many brides, like Plummer, choose their gowns first, others decide on a hat or hat style, then seek a dress, says Susan Trenery. Her custom clothing shop, Susan's Couturier, on Queen Anne, features a large array of draped, sequined, veiled, brocaded, straw or floral-embellished wedding hats.

Trenery often has clients who ask for looks that harken to the Hollywood of yesteryear, special eras like the '50s or garden parties where hats were worn. Some want simple silk cloches to wear close to the head; others opt for elegant pillboxes, elaborate straws or frilly lace toppers.

Local milliners say they've seen an increase in women asking for wedding hats, and not just for older brides or for second marriages.

Some absolutely want hats; others chose creations that cross the line between a hat and a veil.

"They may choose a hat and have it made with veiling that trails or swirls around it," says Izzy Lewis, a North Seattle milliner. "Some want veiling they can remove for the reception. Others don't want any veiling at all."

Some want a hat that can be worn later for church or other dressy events.

That was the case for Garrel Lindberg, who chose a lace-embellished straw hat and Victorian dress for her summer wedding to Carl Lindberg.

"I was an older bride, 45. I didn't want to fuss with a veil, it didn't feel right to me," she says. Lindberg, a teacher, has worn the dress and hat several times since, and plans to wear it when she chaperones the senior prom this year. She's debating whether to wear the hat.

"It certainly makes a statement," she says. "You have to decide how much attention you want to draw to yourself, when you wear a wonderful hat. It was perfect for my wedding."