Emma Sharpe, the fourth woman in her family to wear this handmade gown, poses with a photo of her grandmother, Alvera Nichols Kemper, taken in 1948 on her wedding day. Photo: Lollipop Media
Modern weddings bring heirlooms and heritage into focus.
There’s a growing trend in the wedding industry—and it’s greater than basque waists and Espresso Martinis. Modern couples are exploring meaningful ways to incorporate their family and heritage into their wedding festivities, from memorial tables to moments of remembrance.
Even further, many couples choose to incorporate family heirlooms into their wedding attire—in ways big and small. Reyna Becerra, the founder of Reyna’s Alterations in White Bear Lake, has special projects like this on her docket at all times. She has sewn fabric hearts into dress linings, used a mother’s dress to create custom handkerchiefs and pocket squares for an entire wedding party, and made numerous getting-ready robes from ’80s satin gowns. “It’s so fun to see the smiles, the joy,” Becerra says. “I feel so confident that I can do things that some brides don’t think is possible.”
It’s been more than 20 years since Becerra’s first legacy wedding dress project—and 40 years since she began working in the bridal industry. Her expertise and willingness to try new things have brought her numerous unique bridal projects. Over the years, Becerra has altered family wedding dresses to create modern rehearsal dinner and late-night reception gowns, often by dropping the neckline and “chopping” the skirt shorter. And for the brides who hope to wear a family dress when they say “I do,” Becerra is ready to infuse new life into beloved heirlooms.
Last year, she worked with the Sheldon family of Lino Lakes to alter a dress with a distinctive legacy. Made and designed by Eva Skoog Winters for her daughter, Alvera Nichols Kemper, in 1948, the satin gown was later worn by Kemper’s daughters—Kathleen Kemper Picard in 1981, and Ann Kemper Sheldon in 1995. Thirty years later, on October 4, 2025, Sheldon’s daughter, Emma Sharpe (née Sheldon) became the fourth woman in the family to walk down the aisle in the now 77-year-old gown.
The women in the family joke that they are “the sisterhood of the traveling wedding dress,” Sheldon says. “This has been touched by some of the greatest women I know,” she says, holding back tears. “We’re all different shapes and sizes, but we’re all going to wear this family heirloom.”
When Sharpe first tried on the gown, with its high neckline and buttons down the back, the seams began to fall apart before her eyes. The family came to Becerra with fingers crossed, hoping that she would take the project on. And she did, altering the dress to fit Sharpe’s tall frame and resewing most of the seams. She added new lace to the bodice and the hem, along with mother-of-pearl buttons to replace the worn originals. As Becerra worked, she even referenced a picture of the original pattern, kept for all these years. “I try and try until I get it done,” Becerra says. “I like challenges.”
Over the past year, the family watched the dress transform at multiple fittings at Reyna’s Alterations. “[It’s not] my dress anymore. Not my mom’s dress. Not my sister’s dress. Now, it’s Emma’s dress,” Sheldon says. “It’s not anything like the dresses that we see on her friends, but she loves it. She has always loved family, like this is the kid that is going to keep all the family heirlooms. And she’s the one that’s going to keep us alive.”
Reyna’s Alterations
Facebook: Reyna’s Alterations
