Finally, a few photos taken on the big day by friends and our photographer. For all the photos see our fabulous photographer Andy Allan's page. You can see the front of the dress, the length of the train and some detail of the back. No close ups, and we didn't get one of the train all spread out ... yet. My mum has plans for me putting the dress on again so we can take the train detail better. Then we'll get some more close ups.
Final thoughts - would we do it again? Without my mum, no. I simply wouldn't have managed it at all on my own. Her experience, knowledge, and most importantly, calm-ness in the face of the many stressful situations we encountered was what made this dress. She put in so much time and work. And not only that she made the wedding cake too!
When we started this project, the pattern was said to be relatively easy. I think it probably is - we complicated it by adding a full lace overlay, although this also was useful in hiding any mistakes. My body shape also complicated things, as I am so narrow on top, and so wide at the hips that this, combined with the weight of the dress, meant it just kept slipping down. If I had something up top to keep the dress up, we wouldn't have had half the struggle we did.
The dress was amazing. I felt so special. I have never been a centre of attention, 'girly-girl'. I spend the majority of my time in jeans. But this dress made me feel beautiful. And that me and my mum made it was one of the most special aspects of the day.
Photo (c) Karina Westermann
Photo (c) Andy Allan
Photo (c) Andy Allan
Finally some images of the amazing Brora Black Shawl that one of my very closest friends knitted for the day. This was a massive (massive!) task, and made me cry all over the place when I saw it. A pattern designed for yarn spun in a woollen mill my granny worked at, with a tree motif that reminds me of the trees around Dunrobin Castle, and a pattern both my grannies recognised - this was truly a special gift and heirloom.
Photo (c) Karina Westermann
Photo (c) Karina Westermann
Photo (c) Karina Westermann
And a final note; do not iron your handmade veil with a hot iron 2 days before your wedding and burn a bloody great hole in it in about a nano-second!! fortunately it was only the bottom 3 inches of one of the layers, so I took the scissors to it and shortened it quickly, glad in myself that I was too lazy to finish the edges of the veil and just left them free-cut.
Many happy memories of all the special time we spent in our sunny living room sewing/admiring the beautiful satin/lace. How the sun caught the beads and seqins. So glad the sun persuaded you not to remove the beads! The dress is lying on the spare bed now, because I think the lace is still dropping! I have to keep going in to the room to admire it still : ) You forgot to answer 1 question, How many bags of marshmallows does it take to make a wedding dress?
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