Weddingbee Blog

One huge, unavoidable aspect of weddings is the dress. It’s not even A dress—it’s THE dress. I have had a pretty clear picture in my mind of what I want for years. I used to be a bookseller and I did a lot of magazine perusing on my lunch breaks. After working my way through the tabloid trash, weekly “news” magazines, “health” mags, and feminist, craft, political, and snooty business monthlies, I would pick up the bridal magazines. At some point during my bridal-magazine-browsing days, I came across an ad for Melissa Sweet. The model was wearing a short dress, and I fell in love. But after doing some pricing research, I quickly fell out of love. Melissa Sweet will never be in my budget. Oh well. I still adore the idea of a short dress.

Love! Can’t afford! / Image via Manolo for the Brides / Dress by Melissa Sweet

Once we picked a wedding date, I started an inspiration folder on my desktop to save images for the wedding. (My lazy version of an inspiration board, I guess.) I started to notice that all the dresses I had saved were overwhelmingly

• short
• ’50s style
• with crinoline or taffeta
• simple

In fact, they were so simple I began to think, “Man, I could make these myself!” Once I got that idea in my head, it would not leave. Now, I’m not a a super seamstress, and I’ve barely sewn at all in the last few years. So I knew I would have to get some assistance. Cue my grandma!

I emailed Grandma to see if she would be interested in helping me. (Yes, email—my grandma prides herself on being a modern grandma.) I let her know it was totally cool if she didn’t want to help—it’s a lot to ask of anyone, let alone someone who lives over two hours away from me. If she said no, I would probably have called Bombshell to see if she would help. (Bombshell was on the fashion board for 4-H and is a pretty awesome seamstress herself.) If Bombshell said no, I would probably have given up on the whole sewing-it-myself idea, because I just don’t have that much faith in my sewing ability. But luckily it didn’t come to that because Grandma said yes! She also pointed out that we don’t have much time so we really need to get going.

Pretty! / Image Via Style Me Pretty / Photography by Jerry Yoon Photography

So, I’m looking through patterns and trying to get everything together. We’re planning on working on it and at least getting a muslin together this weekend so we can get an idea of fit. (That basically means making a practice dress out of cheap fabric to see how it will work before using the good stuff.) I have to say I’m super excited about this. Not only do I get to avoid the high-pressure sales floor and pushy attendants, but I don’t have to face down a tag with a number that will make me frown. On top of that, I’ll get to spend some extra time with my grandma creating a one-of-a-kind dress.

Gorgeous, vintage, too small for me / Image via Etsy / Product sold by CallMeChula

Also, as a fun side story, I used to go down to my grandma’s house for a week every summer and she would help me sew my own outfits. One of the most memorable outfits I created included awesome rainbow shorts—and now they seem almost prophetic! Who would’ve guessed the girl with the rainbow shorts would someday have a rainbow wedding?