Say yes...to MAKING the dress!

As much as I don't like to admit it, I can be a 'girly girl' sometimes.  One of those times just happened to be in December of 2003 when I was standing in a mile-long line at Wal-Mart waiting to check out.  In complete boredom I started scanning the sea of magazine covers that stood beside me and then it happened, the girl in me grabbed the one that said 'BRIDES'.  No, I wasn't dating anyone, interested in anyone, or remotely close to being a bride, but I opened that magazine anyways.  I was rhythmically flipping through the pages half-wondering how expensive all the rings, flowers and dresses were when all of a sudden I stopped.  There it was.  One of the most beautiful bridal gowns I had ever seen was staring right at me in crimson red. Great, now what do I do?  Do I be the pathetic, hopeless romantic girl and buy the thing so I can refer to it when my prince charming comes along?  Or do I act sensibly and put it back and figure out all of my dating dilemmas first?  Being that I am rarely sensible, I'm sure you know what I did next.

So there it sat for over 7 years under my bed.  About once a year I would find myself pulling out the photo to see if I still liked it.  I always did. 

Then it happened.  Prince Charming came along.  I was actually going to be a bride.  I pulled out the picture, this time as a valid wedding planner.  Yep.  Still loved it.  For years I had talked about how I wanted to make my wedding dress, but before I dove in, I decided to go dress shopping to see if I could try on dresses of similar style to make sure I like how it looked on me.  Doing this proved to be a good idea...and a bad idea.  There are A LOT of dresses out there.

So I tried some on...I liked some but started to fall in love with others.  I even began convincing myself that maybe I didn't want to completely make this dress, that I should buy one and alter it to my liking.  Hmmm.  Talk about stressing my Mom out.  Finding matching fabric and being able to alter the dress and make it look okay were just the beginning of her (completely valid) concerns.  I kept flipping through the pictures I took at the bridal shops and then finally pulled out the photo I had been dreaming about for the past seven years.  I called Mom and let her know I had decided, I wanted to make the dress.  Seconds later I had emails from her showing me patterns she had found that could be pieced together to create this gown.  I gave her all the needed measurements, she borrowed a dress form, got some muslin fabric and started creating a miracle.  After just one day of piecing things together and experimenting she had a complete mock dress to show me.  We skyped each other and I was in awe at what my Mother had accomplished.  It was so beautiful.  The next thing I knew she boxed up the mock dress, sent it to me so I could skype again, this time wearing it! 

A few weeks later in June, Mom flew out to Colorado so we could work on the dress together.  Needless to say, Mom did most of the work.

I enjoyed being a little worker bee and helping Mom with what I could. 

 I successfully pulled off the right sleeve...all by myself!

The days we spent sewing together were so much fun.  There were times we laughed so hard we cried, we brainstormed through tricky parts, skyped Dad for his opinions (of course), and became pros of getting the dress on and off in a matter of seconds as we fitted and fixed it into life. 

So here it is!  The finished, beautiful dress:

I obviously did not attend modeling school to know how to contort my body just right...

What great memories were made working with Mom on this dress that was to be worn on the best day of my life.  Thanks for the adventure, Mom!  I will treasure this experience with you always.