Wedding: The Dress

Here it is, the post on THE dress! Now, this is kind of anticlimactic and very un-"say yes to the dress" like. I didn't go wedding dress shopping with the intention of finding a ridiculously overpriced gown that I would never wear again, instead I went and tried on dresses to find out what looked good on me and then, I did what I always do, I decided to create a cheaper version of what I wanted. The cheaper version of my so-called "dream dress" is not only a thriftier option, but also a sentimental one.

I decided to wear my mom's wedding dress, which two of her sisters also wore when they got married. My aunt found the dress in an antique shop in the 70's, so it was already vintage 40 years ago. The original dress has long sleeves, a high collar, and lots of unique stitching and lace.  I decided to redesign the dress for two reasons. One, I wanted to create a unique dress and well, lets be honest, I don't pull off the high collar look very well. Two, I think it will mean so much to my mom and my aunts to see me walk down the aisle in their dress and why spend thousands of dollars on a new dress when there is so much beauty in the old. (Oh did I mention that the redesign is only going to costs $300, hallelujah!).

Here is the $2,000 dream dress that I tried on (Claire Pettibone's Queen Anne's Lace). It was gorgeous and I felt like Elizabeth Bennett from Pride & Prejudice, but lets get real, I am way more excited to redesign a dress that will be completely unique and not as heavy on the budget.

Here are some examples of the original dress. I don't have a picture of the actual dress because Mike doesn't want to see any glimpse of it, redesigned or not (even though I could honestly care less...). 

Pulling inspiration from the dream dress and from other dresses I have seen, I've decided to go with the low-back, lace-sleeves cut and have the front be a sweetheart/curved neckline. I think this design is best  for my body type and bone structure. Though some may disagree and be nervous to surrender their dress to someone else, for me it felt really good to hand it over to an expert. 

Here are some photos that inspired my redesign

Sources: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 //