What teenager, when shopping for a prom dress or tuxedo, hasn’t fantasized about scoping stores for wedding clothes? As an ongoing exhibit at the Farm House Museum will show, people in earlier times have also made a big deal out of wedding duds.

This spring, the museum will present the “Victorian Wedding Attire: Elegance of the Past” through August 30. Eleven wedding gowns, a traditional groom’s tuxedo, an “off to the honeymoon” dress and children’s wedding attire will be on display. These were all worn in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Mary Atherly, curator of the museum, said that about half of the dresses belong to Farm House and the other half are on loan from the textiles and clothing department at Iowa State.

But that’s not the only place that department helped in setting up the display. Jane Farrell-Beck, professor of textiles and clothing at ISU, and one of her classes researched and conserved these six gowns and the groom’s outfit. “They’ll provide a lot of information about the time period of the dress and the fashion of the dress’s day,” Atherly said.

Atherly explained that she came up with the idea for the display because of some studying she had done. “It came about because I had done a great deal of research on Farm House and the customs on campus, and I found out that there were a lot of weddings in houses on campus,” she said.

Two of the most well-known holy unions were that of Edith and Ruth Curtiss, the daughters of Charles Curtiss, who served as Dean of Agriculture at Iowa State.

Another interesting wedding dress on display is that of Mary Dudley Welch, which she wore while marrying A.J. Welch, ISU’s first president.

Overall, the 11 gowns represent the whole range of types of dresses, “from the very elegant to the more everyday type of wedding dress,” Atherly said.

There will be a reception this Sunday at 2 p.m. to mark the official opening of the exhibit. Dorothy Tschopp, Toni Whitman and Mary Barton, three Ames residents who donated gowns for the display, will also be honored, along with Farrell-Beck and her textiles and clothing class.

The Farm House Museum is located near Ross Hall and the Food Sciences Building. Its open hours until June 10 are from noon to 4 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

After June 10, the museum is open Monday through Friday from noon until 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, call 294-3342.