Simply Curious

Some time back I decided I wanted to make my wedding gown in 1" scale.  No doll, just the gown on a mannikin.  Dolls were giving me too many problems - either I had a dress idea that didn't suit any of the dolls I had, or the dolls I had refused to cooperate with any dress ideas! So - gown, no body.

I ran into the same problem I had with the actual gown - I couldn't find fabric I liked!  Instead, I found the most beautiful piece of lace on Etsy, sold by LaceBeauty.

I had to write and ask her to sell me just a yard, and while she probably thought I was strange, she complied, and my lace soon arrived.

Then a few months went by as I struggled with trying to figure out how to turn this piece into a gown, until one day I finally just sat down and pinned it this way and that, until, suddenly, it all worked.  It was like magic.

The True Cost of A Wedding Knot at Credit Sesame Blog

Average cost is 27k? I don't think we spent much more than 8. AND we had a church, a restaurant dinner reception for over 80 people, a dance floor with DJ, a 1940 Rolls Royce to cart us around, and a photographer. In June!

Where did we save money? My mother made the gowns and the pew bows. I made the invitations, the favors, the place name cards, and the table IDS. (we had a semi-tropical theme and named each table after a Caribbean island so guests would know where to sit.) The photographer was only there to take pictures. She gave us the copyright, and I did all the post editing. (she was awesome, too). The baker happened to be a former boss and was excited enough to cut us a deal. The flowers we got at the grocery store, and I had a tiny wrist corsage that I wrapped around my confirmation Bible. (Why sneeze my way down the aisle?) We kept the wedding party down to a single best man and maid of honor. We were also fortunate that our parents helped with the rehearsal dinner, flowers, and gowns. Brian already owned his tux.
My engagement ring? Pawn shop. Seriously. Not that we didn't try the regular shops first. My hands are so small that every ring I tried on at a regular shop just looked ridiculous, or would have warped the ring too much to have it sized down. I found EXACTLY what I wanted in a bizarre little shop in Leesburg. My wedding band belonged to my great-grandmother. Brian wanted the plainest, simplest style band imaginable as he was concerned that he would hate wearing a ring.

And everybody claims they had a good time, which, I guess is what we were aiming for.

I never expected to be married, so wedding gowns were never anything I paid attention to. All I knew was that I wanted my mother to make it, and it would probably have to be white and long. When the time came, I found myself doing a mad research rush on wedding dresses in order to figure out what I wanted. SO many gowns. So many websites. SO many ugly dresses. So few patterns.

In the end, we took my favorite, the Grace Kelly style gown by Maggie Sottero, found a similar pattern, and revamped it to our liking. Away went the odd sleeves and the awful victorian corset lacing, to eventually be replaced with translucent bell sleeves and rosettes. I found a rose embossed white fabric and borrowed a beautiful antique brooch. I left out the train so I would be able to dance with no problems. The bouquet was a rather large wrist corsage around my dedication bible.