Wedding Blog

My master’s work involved lengthy research on veiling in the Middle East. My choice to veil is much less political, and not even entirely religious. I love the look of it, actually. Regardless of the symbolism, the veil appeals to me as delicious and delicate. Take at a look at these gorgeous photos by David Schwartz (a top tier local photographer) of Maya and Eric.

Right.…

Remember when I played dress up with Mama Duckling’s wedding dress? Well, after trying on her dress I wanted to figure out some way to incorporate the lace into my veil. There was a veil that I loved when I first tried on my dress, but it was a crazy $1000!! That clearly wasn’t in the budget, but I loved the lace edging and thought…

So I only made you wait a day; that’s not so bad! Now that you have seen my beautiful veil it’s time to learn how it was made! As promised, here is: The making of Miss Sunbeam’s veil. A step by step tutorial by Mrs. DG.

*All photos taken by Mrs. DG unless otherwise noted*

First pick an appropriate length of tulle. A typical veil is…

If you remember, about one month before the big day I was still debating about which veil to choose. Truth be told, I liked the third least popular veil the most, but it was also the most expensive option.

While I had been given money to afford the veil, thanks to a generous Momma Sunbeam, I just could not bring myself to spend it! This would…

Okay, so long before I knew what type of dress I was going to wear, I knew that I wanted a mantilla veil. I just hoped that whatever dress I chose would go with said veil because I was in love and totally unwilling to give it up. So the search for the perfect veil began… and then I learned that mantilla veils can be really expensive. I wasn’t about to give up though. I knew I could find one in my price range eventually. I finally searched Etsy and came across a gorgeous veil:

Now that we finally have a venue (well, we're 95% certain), I feel like I can move on with planning! Phew!

My awesome fashionista friend and fellow bride S sent me Sara Gabriel’s website full of unique and beautiful veils. These are some of my favorites:

All images below, unless otherwise noted, are courtesy of Sara Gabriel.

My neighbor cut my hair in exchange for some red velvet cupcakes and brownies. I’m a pretty decent baker, and she’s a beauty maven. Fair trade, right? So to jazz up my head at the wedding, I’m looking into birdcage veils.

These first two are from Etsy seller brendasbridalveils.

Way back at the beginning of June, I dropped off my dress for alterations. This weekend, I went back in to visit my dress, check things out, and identify any other changes that might need to be made over the next two weeks.

They had sent it out for cleaning, taken up the hem just a bit, did the bustle, but had held off on adjusting…

While I spent much of the last weekend recovering, I did manage to accomplish one wedding related task - my veil. Before setting out on making a veil as described in my last post on this topic, I decided to visit another vintage store I’d walked past after dinner one night downtown.

While a lot of the vintage stores in Cape Town are ravaged by fashion…

During my dress fitting a little while ago, I indulged Mama Lightning by trying on a traditional white veil. However, looking back on those pictures I can’t help but feel that I was overpowered by it. My dress is so unique that I sort of feel that a traditional white veil actually hides its silver beauty. And so, I have decided to either look for something else, or go sans veil.

I always knew I wasn’t going to be a veil bride. It’s just not me. Then, I went back and forth between a hair flower and headband. In the end, the flower won. I just couldn’t back away from the floral prettiness that is organza-and-taffeta petals and blush- and ivory-pearls.

So, as every other bee has ever done, I searched Etsy for some hair flowers I thought suited my look. I stumbled upon this beauty by Portobello and was pretty keen on the center of the flower and its petals (sans the feathers and birdcage veil).

I can’t say it enough… Weddingbee rocks! It has changed not only my wedding, but certainly my life, to be able to consistently share and partake in such a wonderful community. This is why I’m ultra grateful that a bee is lending me my something borrowed!

I arrived home from a grueling workout to find this beautiful package on my doorstep.

Okay… maybe it was in a…

You might remember my post about the first part of my veil saga where I told you all how I made my own birdcage veil. If you don’t, that’s okay. It was so long ago! It took me a bit longer than anticipated to finish my second veil, so you’ll have to excuse the gap between parts one and two of this story!

Anyways, I promised…

Okay, I wont be wearing a crown or a tiara. That’s just not my thing, and my dress doesn’t really warrant that kind of accessory. I am talking about a veil! I know, I know, "What about the hair flower, didn’t we cover this?!" I’m definitely still wearing the flower for the reception, but I might wear a veil during the ceremony. I had been considering a veil on and off but thought with the extra cost I’d probably just forgo it...

When I started looking for veil inspiration, I wasn’t sure what I really wanted. I had tried on a few veils while dress shopping, but nothing really caught my eye (and at $$$, I wasn’t really into buying a veil, anyways). While I was shopping at Jo-Ann’s one afternoon, I decided to stop by the pattern section to look for veils. It turned out that…