Wedding Shadow Box

3 years later, I finally got around to making the shadow box for my wedding. I wanted to make one of these from day 1 because I knew I wanted to frame the pattern for my dress somehow. I have written about the wedding on the blog before (here, here, and here) but long story short, my mom and I made my dress and I made my reception dress (pics below) so I have the pattern and various scraps of lace and fabric that I wanted to preserve. I also saved a few other odds and ends to include like my "something old" and "something blue" - a vintage bow hair pin from my sister, and two charms from a bridal charm bracelet from my sister. I included the wedding invitation and a pink bow from my shoes too.

I adore the shadowbox I found, definitely the cutest one I've ever seen. I found it at Michaels for just $20 (after coupon). To attach my fabric, lace, etc. I use the pins that were already in the shadow box plus a couple corsage pins I already had. The only thing I ended up taping in was the wedding invitation because I didn't want to put a hole in it. I also ended up taking the physical pattern out of the pattern envelope so it would be less bulky.

Click the photo below to see it larger.

I included fabric from both my dresses (below). 

I love being able to look at this stuff that reminds me of that day + the year of planning leading up to it. We spend so much time and energy on wedding planning and then so much of it gets stored away in boxes and never sees the light of day again. I am glad to have my wedding memories out on display now!

Rehearsal Dinner Dress

 Wedding anniversary week seems to be bleeding into the next week... but I will wrap things up Wednesday with a final post about the ceremony and reception. So far we have covered the engagement, showers, the wedding dress(es) and what I wore this year on our two year anniversary.

I decided to post about the rehearsal dinner because I absolutely love the dress I made for this event. I knew I wanted this dress to be almost as special as the wedding dresses so I went all out. The fabric choice was inspired by the shoes and matching clutch I found at Aldo - I bought the shoes and T.J. got me the clutch for Christmas. I found the shiny light purple fabric at Joann's. I loved the way the front of the bodice had some flare without overdoing it. It was a fun one to sew too! If I remember correctly, it was a little hard to breathe in though by the end of the night. :-)

Check out the whole crew below... do you see that "gaggle" of children in the front??

 I couldn't help but share this gem... it may be the best of the rehersal photos! My little nephew took his ring bearer job very seriously! :-)

The Dress

The dress to top all dresses... that wasn't enough for me! I needed TWO dresses to top all dresses. And I knew from the start that I wanted to make them myself... with a little love, support, and help from my mom. And without further adieu... here are the dresses.

The one on the left is the one I wore for the ceremony and first part of the reception (dinner, first dance, garter/bouquet toss) and the one on the right was my party down dress for the rest of the night.

I put a lot of thought and time into each of these dresses. My ceremony dress  is actually made from a pattern from the 1960's that my mom and I altered to make a little more modern. The original pattern called for lace up to my neck and long lacy sleeves - we just took that part off and left the bodice and skirt alone. My mom found the fabric - up close it was beautiful and a  little iridescent - from a store in Indiana. I was living in Charleston at the time so she flew down for a few days to help me get started.

Above: making the first cut! Below: Mom helping out in Charleston.

 In the picture below you can see the details a little better - we added a sparkly (yet classy) trim to the top and to the waistline. I ordered my birdcage veil from an Etsy seller (I wish I could remember who!) And below you will see I wore a "crown" on top of it - my mom wore the same one when she married my dad.

 To go along with the vintage theme I wore gloves for about 5 minutes of the ceremony until T.J. needed my hands for my ring!

 

The picture below really shows the lace detail around the bottom of the dress - my mom and I actually decided to add that at the last minute. I think it might be my favorite part!

Now onto the second dress. I like to think of it as my very own Britney Spears moment - a dramatic outfit change into a short little party dress! She did the very same thing at her wedding with KFed. :-)

I hand sewed on every single one of those petals - I wish I had counted them, there had to be hundreds! Every moment I spent was totally worth it though. I felt so special in that dress.

This dress is especially special to me because it was the very first one I really feel like I designed and made a pattern for. The 2 pictures below were taken outside my apartment  in Charleston (so the hair and veil are different) - I don't think I even have one of me alone in it at the wedding.

And finally -- because my long wedding dress didn't do my shoes justice - I had to throw in this picture. Hot pink and a bow! Everything about that day was so so special, dare I say perfect? More details of the ceremony and reception to come... stay tuned!

Anniversary Dress

Anniversary week continues... today I interrupt the blast from the past posts (from my wedding two years ago - read the two posts so far here and here) to bring a current update. Tuesday was our official 2 year anniversary and T.J. and I celebrated the way all couples should - with a present for the wife and delicious Italian food! And a little Coldstone Creamery thrown in at the end never hurts. :-)

I finished my dress just in time for us to head out to dinner. The fabric is Lisette from Joann's - a super cute line. The pattern I used is McCall's 6560. Below are more detailed pictures of the dress.

For now the straps are tucked in to the back, but I may take them out again like the picture above and add buttons and button holes.

Wedding Showers

Continuing with anniversary week - today is our 2 year wedding anniversary! We are celebrating tonight with delicious Italian food downtown and cheesecake. There has to be cheesecake!

Next up chronologically are the wedding showers. We had two awesome showers thrown by my sister and sister in-law. My sister threw us a "glamping" couple's shower and my sister in-law hosted a super classy family shower. Check out the details below.

Above you see the "glam" side of the glamping shower - my sister thought it would be fun to play off one of the big differences between T.J. and I - he is an outdoorsman, and I prefer to observe the outdoors through my living room window. :-) "Glamping" is glamorous-camping, and it is a real thing! Below is the "camping" side of the glamping shower.

The invitations were super cute too. They included this defintion of glamping:

Glamping:  Glamour camping.  Satisfying your craving for the outdoors, while still enjoying a nice glass of wine and a comfortable bed.

The idea of roughing it during a camping trip might sound appealing if it weren't for the bugs, wild animals, sudden storms, leaking tents, smelly sleeping bags and questionable food. For a number of people (lizi), their first camping experience often becomes their last, but there is now a camping option growing in popularity. Welcome to the world of glamorous camping.

 She used these adorable images on the invitations:

I made the dress below especially for the couple's shower.

I love this Scrabble game piece holder with our names - it is in my living room now!

Next up is the family shower. I made my dress for this one too, inspired by my shoes. I bought the wedges a year or two before and didn't have anything to wear them with. Being able to sew whatever I want helps solve many a fashion issue!

Just looking at the eclairs is making my mouth water...

Notice the vintage wedding cake topper and vintage china serving plates.

My sister in-law had my boquet ordered as a centerpiece so I could see it before the big day (above right). I was thrilled with it! Bright pink and glittery. What could be better?

Anniversary Week - Wedding Memories

It has been two years. How is that possible? So much has happened and changed, yet they flew by. To celebrate our anniversary this week (tomorrow to be exact) I thought it would be fun to look back on the wedding and all the DIY goodness that happened. Everyday this week I will be posting about all the DIY work we did from the dress, to the showers, to the wedding itself.

I thought we'd start where it really all began... the engagement. So now we are going back more than three years. I am starting here because even part of that day was DIY - I made the dress I was wearing! Here are some pics of the dress, and the engagement, and our engagement story - I wrote it out for our wedding website a couple years ago.

T.J. and I met our freshman year of college at Western Michigan University. When T.J. joined his grandfather's fraternity and I followed in the footsteps of my sister and joined a sorority we had no idea we would find each other. My big sister in the sorority introduced me to T.J. in October, after only being at WMU for a month. We attended my formal together in November and another dance in December. T.J. and I went on our official first date over Christmas break and shortly after met each other's families. By January we were official (Facebook Official that is)!

We spent the next 3 years of our college careers as a couple. We did everything together. We even took a few of the same classes! On April 24th, 2009, the night before graduation T.J. planned a special date. We were to spend the night doing all of our favorite things in Kalamazoo, because we were about to move to Charleston, SC. We picked up my favorite kind of pizza, stopped at the Den for a den pop, and went to sit on "our bench" down by the Valley Pond. I brought my camera along because I love to document our lives, and T.J. said he wanted to take a picture of us in front of the pond. He skillfully set up the camera on the 10 second timer and when he ran out to join me in front of the pond he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring!

And I said Yes!!

Honestly, I had a feeling that this night was the night. Earlier that week T.J. had mentioned that we should do a special date on Friday, sort of a "goodbye to Western" kind of thing. That was the first time he had ever suggested we have a special date. So I was suspicious. I knew I wanted to wear something memorable that meant something to me. I made this dress in my apparel construction class at Western and I was super proud of it. That class pushed me to try things I might not have ever done on my own and has given me confidence to try new things ever since. This dress has a ton of buttonholes for example, and sleeve tabs and a crisp collar. It turned out to be a nice fit for the occasion.