Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage
April 5, 2025–March 29, 2026 - Get Tickets
2nd Floor
Star-crossed lovers, rejoice! The Frazier History Museum has opened its latest exhibition—an exploration of 150 years of love, marriage, and courtship in Kentucky.
Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage shines a light on the origins of Kentucky wedding traditions and the changing nature of love, courtship, and dating.
Prepare to be dazzled with glitz, glamor, and all the feels—but you’ll learn along the way!
Take in the beauty of historic Kentucky wedding traditions—and the customs from around the world that are now practiced in Kentucky weddings. Best of all, there are fifty uniquely gorgeous wedding dresses on display, worn by Kentucky brides from the 1870s to the 2020s!
Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage also answers questions about Kentucky matrimony: Why wear a nonwhite dress? What was marriage like for enslaved Kentuckians? How did women make wedding dresses during World War II? Why would Kentucky void a marriage? When did wedding bands become fashionable? Do people get married in Mammoth Cave? Why do Kentuckians bury Bourbon bottles at their wedding venues?
“From east to west, each bride has a beautiful Kentucky story to tell,” the Frazier’s Simon Meiners said. “From the Western Kentucky tobacco country, we’ve got the rust-colored dress Olivia Thompson wore at her 1889 wedding in Hopkinsville. From Appalachia, we’ve got the laced coral dress Faith Jackson wore in 2023 while dancing to “Wagon Wheel” at her traditional Nigerian ceremony in Johnson County.”
Bask in the love of Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage, open now!
EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS
On display are historic and elegant dresses, textiles, jewelry, artifacts, installations, and interactives about love and marriage in the history of Kentucky:
· Decades of Gowns. Featuring seventeen wedding dresses, one from each decade, 1870s–2020s! Ceremonies took place in churches and hotels throughout Kentucky.
· Rainbow of Gowns. White wedding dresses weren’t the norm until 1840! Dating from 1882 to 2023, we’ve got one dress from each color of the spectrum.
· Unique Wedding Gowns. We’ve got a parachute material–made gown—a popular choice during WWII, when the grooms were often servicemen. And, from the 2020s, we’ve got a sparkly dress custom-made to accommodate the bride’s wheelchair!
· Famous Wedding Gowns. The hand-beaded white silk corset and layered skirt Miss America 2000 Heather French Henry wore is on display, along with the tuxedo with tails her husband Lt. Gov. Steve Henry wore at their ceremony.
· Historic Wedding Gowns. Fanny Ballard was the grand-niece of Louisville founder George Rogers Clark. See Fanny’s 1840s dress—the oldest dress in the exhibition!
· Rings from Taylor Swift’s Jewelry Designer. What do Reese Witherspoon, Zoe Saldana, and Taylor Swift have in common? They buy rings from Oldham County native Shahla Karimi! See some of Shahla’s rings and bands on display.
· Wedding Attire & Artifacts from Different Kentucky Cultures. Kentucky couples represent many cultures—and practice their weddings with unique customs. Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage features: A Jewish couple’s Chuppah and tallit. A Hindu groom’s turban, sherwani, and churidar; a Hindu bride’s Lehenga, dupatta, and bangles. A Mexican groom’s tuxedo and jarritos. A Palestinian bride’s thobe and candle. A Nigerian bride’s dresses and coral beads. A Buddhist bride’s liturgy book and San-San-Kudo sake set. An African American couple’s jumping broom.
· Fun-Filled Wedding Interactives. Learn “love” in 25 languages! Model gowns in the bridal dress-up area! Design you own Davis Jewelers ring! Take a quiz to find your Kentucky love song! Pose with friends at the floral photo op! Flip up panels to reveal the origins of different wedding traditions: Who came up with bells? Rings? Bouquets? Garters? Wedding cakes? Honeymoons? Not seeing each other before the wedding?
· Kentucky Wedding Objects. A double wedding ring quilt and a bottle of Bourbon buried at the site of the ceremony for good luck!
· Kentucky-Made Wedding Dresses. On display are Madame Grunder’s white velvet dress, Mary Cummings Eudy’s tiered ecru dress, Madame E. M. Pierce’s bodice, and Elizabeth Crum’s green dress. There are three dresses made by legendary Irish-born Louisville designer Madame Glover—including a 1913 dress, the last she ever made!
· Sara Delano’s Memo. Did you know FDR’s mother bought her dresses from a Louisville dressmaker?
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage
April 5, 2025–March 29, 2026
Frazier History Museum
SOMETHING OLD
The first room in the gallery, “Something Old,” explores a range of topics: Whey Wear a Nonwhite Dress?; Marriage in the 1800s; Marriages of Enslaved People; Courtship, 1870s–1910s; Dating, 1920s–30s; Gay and Lesbian Dating; Depression, War, and Weddings; Laws on Women, Marriage, and Pregnancy; Five Reasons Why Kentucky can Deny or Void a Marriage; and Going Steady, 1940s–50s.
SOMETHING NEW
The second room explores more contemporary issues: Interracial Marriage in Kentucky; the Sexual Revolution, 1960s–70s; the AIDS Epidemic, 1980s–90s; the Kentucky Road to Obergefell v. Hodges; Online Dating, 2000s–Present; Jones v. Hallahan; Marriage Penalty; a Timeline of Engagement & Wedding Ring Fashion; and Davis Jewelers.
SOMETHING BORROWED
The third room explores the origin of wedding traditions from different cultures found and practiced in Kentucky: Bachelor & Bachelorette Parties; Wedding Veils; Trousseaus; European Traditions; Jewish Traditions; Hindu Traditions; Mexican Traditions; Islamic Traditions; Nigerian Traditions; Buddhist Traditions; Blended Weddings; and Jumping the Broom.
SOMETHING BLUEGRASS
The fourth room celebrates uniquely Kentucky wedding traditions: Weddings at Mammoth Cave; Appalachian Wedding Traditions; Burying the Bourbon; and the Courting Dulcimer.
ABOUT THE WEDDINGS
Brides, grooms, and ceremonies from Anchorage, Bardstown, Bowling Green, Glasgow, Green Springs, Hagerhill, Hopkinsville, Lebanon, Lexington, Liberty, Logan County, Louisville, Shelbyville, Somerset, Taylor Mill, and Temple Hill are represented! The ceremonies were held at churches, temples, hotels, and other venues in Kentucky: at Adath Israel Temple, the Cathedral of the Assumption, Christ Church United Methodist, Church of the Epiphany, Concordia Lutheran Church, Edenside Christian Church, First Baptist Church in Glasgow, St. George Church, St. Louis Bertrand, St. Thomas More Church, the Brown Hotel, the Gillespie, the Watterson Hotel, the Ice House, the Seelbach Hotel, Buffalo Trace Distillery, and West Sixth NuLu. We also have artifacts from weddings held here at the Frazier History Museum, where the world meets Kentucky! Learn more at fraziermuseum.org/events.
ABOUT THE SPONSORS
We thank our title sponsor Davis Jewelers and our presenting sponsors Jenkins & Wheatley Family Law, Jewelers Mutual, Mariner, Rebecca’s Wedding Boutique, and WLKY for making this exhibition possible.
QUOTES
“Love stories are at the center of what we do at Davis Jewelers, so partnering with the Frazier Museum for the Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage exhibition just felt right. We’re so proud to help bring this experience to life and celebrate the many ways people say “I do”—past, present, and future.”—Ashley Davis, Owner, Davis Jewelers.
“We are thrilled to help sponsor and contribute to this exhibition as family law attorneys. The Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage exhibition celebrates the whimsical, but also chronicles the evolution of the laws related to the personal choice of matrimony. Matrimonial law continues to evolve and this exhibition highlights the history of the right to marry as it applies beyond traditional male-female unions to encompass same-sex and interracial marriages, granting rights and protections to a greater community of people. We look forward to contributing more of our expertise during panel discussions at the Frazier and in written articles to their newsletter Frazier Weekly.”—Elizabeth McConahy Jenkins, Managing Partner, Jenkins & Wheatley Family Law.
“At Jewelers Mutual, we believe jewelry tells the story of life’s most meaningful moments—few are as powerful as love and commitment. We’re proud to be the educational sponsor for the Davis Jewelers’ Love & Marriage exhibition at the Frazier History Museum and help bring these timeless stories to life for the community. It’s an inspiring reflection of the emotions and connections we’ve been protecting since 1913.”—Scott Murphy, President and Chief Executive Officer, Jewelers Mutual®.
