31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 25 – What the Bride Wore

I needed to wait until after the wedding to discuss “The Dress”. You know how you just “know” when you find the right wedding gown? When I shopped for mine, I had found a photo of exactly what I wanted in a magazine. I was in college, and on a free afternoon when I went looking in that college town to see what was available, I found the dress in the basement of a clothing store. It was priced just slightly out of my budget, and I was going dress shopping with my mom the next weekend, so I left it there.

When we got to the bridal shop, my mom asked if she could pick out a dress for me to try on, and I said sure, then started digging through the racks, looking for that gown I’d found the week before. It was nowhere to be found, so I grabbed a few that were similar and headed to the dressing room. Can you guess what dress my mom had picked out and had hanging there waiting for me? I didn’t need to look at another one – she’d chosen the same gown I had.

Jess and I don’t have quite that same serendipitous story from shopping for her dress. I was looking at completely different style dresses than she was, and I have to admit, none of the ones I picked out worked for her. This dress was the third one she tried on, and the only one she put on a second time:

It was that second time that she knew this was the one. The tears flowed immediately…

The gown is Maggie Sottera’s Bailey. Here’s the description: “A-line, strapless gown with dipped neckline and corset closure. L'Amour Satin is asymmetrically wrapped across the bodice with star-shaped beaded embellishments highlighting the center neckline and side hip. An asymmetrically swept train makes a remarkable finish for this stunning A-line silhouette.”

It did not require any alterations, save a small adjustment to the hem on the front of the skirt. It has a corset back, so was easily adjusted around her midriff as needed. The only difficulty was with the bustling, since the skirt was “asymmetrically swept”. The lovely woman who did the alterations put two hooks on the skirt to hold up the train instead of just one.

Her plan was to not have a veil, rather just some sort of sparkly comb or clip, but when the bridal shop salesgirl put the veil on her, she changed her mind. My sister made the one she wore, so I’ll show you that tomorrow…

 

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31 Days to Happily Ever After – The Garter

 

Yesterday I showed you the pile of cloth and lace that once was my wedding gown. I’d hoped to be able to use quite a lot of it in my daughter’s upcoming nuptials, but as it turns out, I’ve ended up only using a length of lace off the bodice for Jess’s garter. It was already gathered, so just a little elastic sewn to the inside stitching, and it’s ready for the big day.

The first photos is the length of lace I used before cutting. The lace, and then the elastic were cut just slightly longer than the measurement needed. Pinned at both ends, then stretched out and pinned along the entire length. A run through the sewing machine secured it to the lace, then I sewed the ends of the length together and viola! – we have a garter.

 

 

It needed a little “something”, so I hand-sewed on a narrow ribbon and bow. Easily removed if it ever needs to be changed out for another color or embellishment.

Gotta say, I just love it! It’ll be pretty much the only lacy thing at this wedding, and for me, it’s very special.

Jess is kind of sentimental also, so I’m hoping this garter is passed on for her children’s weddings and perhaps beyond that. I like to think a piece of my gown may be used a few times over the years.

I have forbidden it’s use in the traditional garter toss at the reception, so after the big event I’ll show you what we got for that. It’s a surprise right now…

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31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 1 – Cutting up the Gown

Last February our only daughter became engaged to her sweet boyfriend. The wedding date is set for October 20, and we’ve been busy these past several months with arrangements and making stuff.  

There will be many personal touches, that while simple, are what will differentiate Jess’s and Scott’s wedding from anyone else’s. We’re DIY people, so many components for this celebration are handmade.

One of the personal touches involves using part of my wedding gown.  Jessica was  not interested in wearing the dress at all, and even though it was professionally cleaned after Greg and I got married, it wasn’t boxed and sealed, thus has not aged incredibly well.

 

May 23, 1981

While I’ve known for quite some time that I was going to disassemble the dress, when it came down to making that first cut, I had to take a deep breath. One evening late in April, I turned to my Facebook friends for support and took seam ripper in hand. The dress was taken apart in about an hour.

Here it is the next morning, in a pile on the kitchen counter. You can see the ribbon is brown and stained, though that all pretty much came out when I soaked everything in some OxyClean and cool water, then hand rinsed it all.

Though there is a nice pile of fabric and lace there, we only ended up using a tiny bit of the dress. I’ll show you tomorrow.

After the holidays I plan to use up the rest for some keepsakes that can hopefully be passed on down in our family.  Awhile back I found myself in conversation with some email friends over the possibilities. A favorite choice was to make a christening gown and/or a teddy bear. Another suggestion was to make a ring bearer pillow. I’d love hear your ideas for using pieces of the gown since I still have lots of dress left to do something with.

(Linked up to The Nester's 31 Day Series)