So while flower girl dresses today range from the minimalist to the risqué, both are a far cry from the modest, flowing styles that dominated bridal fashion a century ago. Sleeves have gone in and out of style; voluminous skirts have given way to narrow silhouettes and vice versa; hemlines have risen only to drop once again.

Your wedding day is the one day when all eyes will be on you, so you want to look your best. The most expensive, stunning best modest long sleeve wedding dress might look great in principle, but unless you feel stunning when you’re standing in it, it doesn’t matter.

Your modest wedding dresses is the single most important item of clothing you will ever wear, and it symbolizes so much more than just being a fancy dress. A professional preservationist will inspect your dress. Then–based on the fabrics, embellishments, and various stains–he or she will formulate a cleaning procedure. Having your dress preserved will prevent it from yellowing over time, so it will still look brand new even on your fiftieth anniversary!

Long sleeves allow you to get more creative with the necklines – plus, you needn’t find a bra that will stay hidden while doing your dance move of choice (mine’s the sprinkler). In a striped circus tent in Paris, nine pairs of rope-muscled female acrobats twisted and braided around each other until each couple had moved from a standing embrace to a double-height figure, with one woman standing on the shoulders of another. They then walked in their teetering pairs to the centre ring, where they rearranged themselves into a human archway for the models who followed them on to the catwalk.