Cindy's Wedding Dress

Back in December my cousin, Chance, married the lovely Cindy. I was called upon to make her wedding dress, which was super exciting. I love making wedding dresses. Well, I like the idea of making wedding dresses. With four kids running around it becomes a bit more difficult to do everything necessary to make a wedding dress. Because of that, we decided it would be best to order a dress ans alter it. Cindy found her perfect dress at JJ's House.

Cindy liked the mermaid silhouette

The button down back was another favorite feature.

As gorgeous as the dress is, there were some limitations. The sizing available in this style leaves a lot of girls out of luck. Thankfully the dress is encrusted with lace and I knew I'd be able to add in a gusset. The biggest issue with the gown, however, was how much of it was sheer. It's a gorgeous look, but Chance and Cindy planned to be married in the Payson temple and the dress needed to be more opaque for that. She also wanted 3/4 sleeves instead of long sleeves.

The dress straight out of the bag.

The first thing to do was make the dress fit. That required taking it in around the waist and adding a gusset in the hips. DOing this proved to be a bit more difficult than I had expected. I had assumed the lace medallions were only sewn to the mesh. They weren't. Those medallions were sewn on after the dress was constructed, so I had to pick out and peel them back before making the alterations to the dress. It was pretty involved. Picking out seams sewn with transparent thread is super fun. There needs to be a sarcasm font.

So. Much. Picking.

The sleeves and neckline were next. To avoid having the dress look like an obvious alteration, we decided to add more lace at the neck and back. I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Neck detail.

Along with building up the back with a satin lining, the dress needed a zipper that went all the way up to the top. In the interest of honesty, my mom took care of that for me. Sometimes things get to be too much and I was so grateful she was able to step in when my life got to be overwhelming. It gave me that extra rest I needed so I could come back to it fresh.

Finished back

By the time the dress was done I realized that it might have been less work to make the dress from scratch than it did to alter it. Oh well. She looked gorgeous and was happy with the dress. In the end, does anything else matter?

My quick snapshot from the wedding day

It was a beautiful wedding, a beautiful couple, and a beautiful day. Here are the professional pictures, for your viewing pleasure.

 

The Payson temple is one of my favorite places on earth. So beautiful inside and out.

With the bridesmaids

There is a nativity display in the fountain at Christmastime.

My aunt, Cindy, and Cindy's mom

One of the many required kissy-face pictures

Such a cute and happy couple.

Shellee

This is my gorgeous and awesome sister in law, Shellee.  I made this wedding dress for her wedding in October of 2009.  Due to major Blogger weirdness the original post was deleted.  So now I get to add it again today and relive the fun. ☺ All of Shellee's bridal pictures were taken by Alyssia B Photography.  She's also the one who took the family pictures in the About the Goddess section.

It is honestly impossible to make this girl look bad.  She is so elegant and poised, along with having a lovely figure to work with.  Shellee knew what wedding dress she wanted, but it was only available in a size 24.  As she is nowhere near a size 24, we decided to copy the dress and make a custom fit for her.

Store version.  image via beautifullymodest.com

After several fittings we had all the elements Shellee wanted and modified what she wanted changed.

Our customized version

The original fabric was a taffeta but I made Shellee's out of a lovely dupioni silk.  You just can't beat the luster of silk.  The skirt on the original dress had large godets at the side seams, which I didn't know until I saw the dress in person, after the wedding.  That was one option I gave Shellee when asking how she wanted to achieve the fullness in the skirt.  She chose the other option of simply making the front and back pieces flare at the side seam.

For the bead detail on the petal sleeves and at the neckline we chose a beaded trim which I was able to sew in like piping.  Love that trick.  Because of the sharp curve at the neckline I had to crush a few rows of beads to make the trim lay flat.  I love that trick too.  It makes it so you have the right fit, but don't need to worry about re-securing the beads so they don't slip off the string.

The bustle of the train was also pretty cool.  It's a permanently secured bustle which adds fun detail to the back, as well as pulling the fullness of the skirt back a little.  That gives the look of a sheath with the comfort and roominess of a fuller skirt.

The girls knows how to dress her body.  This style is perfection on her.  She told me she likes that the dress gives her curves.  She's free to take some of mine if she wants them. ☺

The dress has a lace up back to be fully adjustable.  Shellee looked so incredible at her wedding and was a stunning bride.  We're glad to have her in the family.

Just because it's cute, here's a picture of my little family at the reception.  Blue Eyes thought it was hilarious to feed me and we thought it was hilarious to watch her doing it.  I also made my dress but it wasn't really a big deal.

I'm so glad I got to make Shellee's dress.  She was a great client (though making the dress was a gift) and she is a fantastic sister in law.  She's also a pretty kick-A interior designer.  You can find her stuff here.  Check it out.  She's good.  Like, REALLY good.

Heidi

This is the beautiful and fabulous Heidi.  She was really a joy to work with and so easy-going.  That's not an easy trick to master when you're prepping for your wedding.  Heidi came to me with ideas for what she wanted in her wedding dress.  She has a very elegant, simple, and clean style.  After a few revisions we ended up with the dress that had the elements she wanted, as well as a fun blue sash to add to her beauty.

What a lovely bride!

Heather

Heather was my first bridal gown customer and a dream to work with. She is a fabulous seamstress. You can find her blog here. Heather wanted a unique dress and had chosen some great fabric with stripes. I appreciated that Heather knew what she wanted for her dress. Her chosen design elements were a full skirt, dropped waist, Queen Ann neckline, petal sleeves, and a band to separate the skirt and bodice. We worked together to find exactly the right look (especially the skirt) and were very pleased with the outcome. After the bridal portraits were taken we decided it would be fun to add a matching band at the bottom of the hem. She looked fantastic.

Buttons down the back are a classically beautiful look.

Isn't she fun?

Heather sent me some great photos with pictures of the band. I couldn't decide which was my favorite, so I've included several.

With her lucky groom.

Close up shot of the band

Full length

I just thought this one was cute.

Some Wedding Gowns

This first gown is my own and (obviously) modelled by yours truly. 

This second gown is shown in a few snapshots I grabbed of someone else in a finished dress.  It fits the real bride perfectly, but my model still looks pretty good.  I'm still waiting to get some bridal portraits which will show it off as it is meant to be seen.

Here's some extra detail of the lace on the bodice.