My Custom Handmade Wedding Dress

One of the things I couldn’t divulge before the wedding was what my dress looked like.

my wedding dress

{photo credit: Sheila Addleman}

M decided that he wanted the dress to be the one thing that he didn’t get to see before the wedding, so it would be a surprise. This was reallllllly hard! Not only because I wanted to share every aspect of the planning with M, but also, it turned out that my dress was another DIY project, and working on it without him seeing it was pretty tricky!

I am not a very girly-girl kind of girl. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the pretty stuff – flowers, fabric, puppies, jewelry – but when it comes to my personal aesthetic, I am very simple and very underplayed. I don’t wear princess dresses; I would feel absolutely ridiculous! Not to mention, I am extremely thrifty, so the idea of spending hundreds (even thousands!) of dollars on a dress just never entered my mind.

After a single try-on session at David’s Bridal with my mom (ok…maybe not the best place to start looking for a dress, but it is what it is) I knew I could NOT do that, and from then started searching for a vintage dress. I knew I wanted a short dress, kind of 50’s vibe, and lace. This was going to be an outdoor/backyard party dress.

When I finally found the dress that I would turn into my wedding dress, it didn’t seem to have much potential, and I am amazed at my bravery when I look back at the “before” pictures! But when I tried it on, the fit was good, and I just knew there was a one-of-a-kind dress within, waiting to be created.

wedding dress - before

I know – cringe, right? This was an 80’s number. Off the shoulder neckline, with a weird undulating lace hemline, and down-right awful appliques all over the bodice. I immediately ripped off the appliques (with a seam-ripper, of course) to get to the bare-bones form underneath. I trimmed the skirt to a mid-shin length, thus eliminating the weird raggedy look.

trimming the skirt

I also added a middle layer of organza to the skirt to give it a bit more fullness, and I added a pretty strip of lace detailing around the hem of the lace.

Dress Inspiration

Now I had to decide on a decorative motif. I’d collected plenty of inspirational photos from around the interwebz, and after finding this organza flower tutorial, I decided to make a slew of white flowers to embellish the dress. Making them was time-consuming, to say the least, and when I finally had enough flowers, it took me forever to figure out how to arrange them. I think I pinned them on the bodice 100 different ways before committing them with thread.

organza flowers

It’s emotionally challenging when you take own wedding dress into your own hands! If it looks like crap, you’ve only got yourself to blame! haha

So I also wanted a full skirt, because it’s fun and goes back to that 50’s vintage look. I already posted about how I sewed my own pretty petticoat to wear under my dress, and it really made the whole look work, and of course was super fun to wear.

The last detail I added was very light and airy cap sleeves (sort of), just to give a bit more softness to the shoulder/arm area.

shoulder flowers

Overall, I worked on my dress over 5 months, just here and there (because I could only work on it when M wasn’t around). There were certainly stressful times, and times when I needed my mom’s help with the sewing, but I am certainly happy with how my dress turned out, and I know that no one else will be wearing the same dress! It was fun, and easy to move around in, and most of all, it was a dress that felt like ME.

And just to drive home the point that not everyone has to spend a fortune on a wedding dress…my final total (including all the extra fabric/dry cleaning/original cost of the dress) was only $70. That’s right. My wedding dress cost me less than a hundred bucks. I had to put some of my own effort into it, of course, but that makes it all the more special! And I suppose, therefore, it’s priceless. 🙂

an Etsy favorite

Have I mentioned I love Whichgoose on Etsy?? Emily, the mastermind behind this shop, makes the most amazing and whimsically beautiful hair accessories, and I want them all! And her pricing (if you ever comparison shop between the really talented hair fascinator sites) is so reasonable, I love it ^_^

This gorgeous piece would be a perfect bridal accessory and it’s ON SALE right now!!

If I didn’t already have my hair accessory already lined up (shame!!) I would snatch this up in a heartbeat. I’m sure it won’t stay un-sold for long.

Check out her stuff and tell me you don’t smile – I won’t believe you, haha.

Homemade boutonniere

Let’s talk about wedding flowers.

For whatever reason, despite being a self-proclaimed crafty person, I have never gotten the hang of flower arrangements. Perhaps this is just due to not receiving any guidance or instruction in the art of arranging flowers, but the fact is, if you give me a pile of beautiful individual flowers, I will most likely make them look terrible in a vase.

So, I was completely inspired when I read this post on Once Wed several months ago on DIY herbal boutonnieres. The tutorial was so simply laid-out and gave such a charming end result, it made me think that even I could craft a beautiful homemade boutonniere out of plants I have growing on my balcony!

So here is my own attempt to make a green and white boutonniere from plants I already have. This is really only an experiment – I don’t know if I intend to make the groomsmens’ boutonnieres for the wedding day, but at least now I know that I could!

So I gathered up a small stash of plants: Dusty Miller, Lamb’s Ear, two “flowers” I knicked from roadside bushes, rosemary, and mint

I made all of the stems roughly the same length, and then began layering them. I knew the lamb’s ear should be in the back for a nice back ground, then the rosemary and mint, then the white flower-thingy in the middle, and then the Dusty Miller sprigs in front.

I held all the stems together and then wrapped them up with floral tape. I was amazed at how easily I could make something that looks this good! It looks like a real boutonniere, haha 🙂

So when M got home from work I showed him what I had whipped up, and to my delight he thought it was fantastic. He especially loved that it smelled of rosemary (he loves rosemary). And then he kept petting the lamb’s ears.

So I’d say this was a successful experiment. Even if I don’t end up doing the flowers myself, we’ll at least be able to tell our florist that we want something similar to the herbal boutonniere I concocted. It feels like progress 🙂

Bountiful Flowers

It was a flower-filled weekend, and now I have a flower-filled apartment! *Sigh* I love the effect fresh flowers can have on a room (I just wish they weren’t so expensive! They really are a luxury).

colorful birthday flowers

This cheerful gift (thanks, Doury!!) gave me two other arrangements I spread around the living room:

baby's breath and eucalyptus

and:

orange gerbers with sparrow

These sweet little orange gerber daisies are brightening up my computer area 🙂
And the wire sculpture was another birthday present – from my artist friend; definitely check out his other stuff on his Etsy site jakobi! So cool ^_^

springtime tulips!

Our darling friends from Bellingham brought these gorgeous tulips (I love tulips!).

And my dear friend Natalie gave me the cutest little daffodils. They hadn’t bloomed yet when she gave them to me, but two days later, look how happy they are!

mini daffodils

I will be so spoiled with all these pretty flowers around! When it’s your birthday, I guess you get to be spoiled a little, heehee 🙂