I Made My Wedding Dresses - Part 1 of 3

I always knew I would love being a bride.  

Weddings, or to be more specific, wedding dresses, have fascinated me since early childhood. My mom’s bridal veil was in heavy rotation in our dress-up bin, and my aunts still talk about the summer I would spend hours crafting elaborate wedding gowns out of toilet paper.  I even chose to dress up as a bride in second grade for Halloween, complete with a wedding dress and veil that my mom sewed out of old curtains, a la Sound of Music or Gone with the Wind.

mini groom and mini bride in curtain couture

In college, I began using thrifted wedding dresses in my fashion designs.  To me there was, and still is, something so romantic about giving such an important garment in a woman’s life a NEW life.  Plus, all that white fabric is a perfect blank canvas!  

Not long after graduation, I transitioned from just using vintage bridal gowns as raw material to designing actual wedding dresses and even had a bridal themed fashion show, complete with bouquet toss finale.  Foreshadowing, anyone?

 And so, even before I got engaged (or even met my future husband for that matter) I was confident about one thing.  While I had never gotten married before, I absolutely knew how to make a beautiful dress.

Speaking of husbands, he was always a nebulous form in my youthful bridal daydreams.  I never could have imagined someone as wonderful as the man I had the privilege of marrying in August.  Disclaimer - these posts are *purely* about fashion.  Of course, I don’t have to tell you that marriage is so much more than the gowns, glitz, and glamour that is the wedding day.  I’m not sharing super personal details about my relationship or family, because some things are, well, personal.  That being said, it doesn’t mean that we can’t fully enjoy the fantasy that is being the woman of the hour, the princess for the day, the BRIDE!

This is a three part post.  The following two will be each be about one of the dresses I loved making and loved wearing on one of the happiest days of my life.  

Coming up next in part 2…the ceremony dress! 

bridesmaid cuties

All photos on this post by Kellie Robinson Photography

Location: Belle Isle Boat House

Event Coordinator: Ryan Abney

Florals: Scarlet Poppy

Hair and Makeup: Black the Salon (Jordan Praski and Krystal Majeske)

Bridesmaid Pajamas: Plum Pretty Sugar

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