What they decided is that they would have the small private ceremony in New York in August and then a reception for family and friends in October in Denver. (That's where Causten grew up). We made plans to meet in Denver in April to take care of wedding business. This would include checking out the likely reception venue, tasting proposed menus from a few caterers and maybe, just maybe there would be a little time to squeeze in some dress shopping. I had my fingers crossed.
In the meantime, I started thinking about little things I could do to make the day special. I NEVER had any illusions that any of my girls would want to wear my wedding dress. My dress was very special to me and was stylish enough for 1983, but not so much for a modern, stylish woman in 2013. Still, I wanted JB to have something special to wear, use or hold during her ceremony. I took my wedding dress and veil out of the trunk I had it stored in and stared at it for about a week. Then I took the plunge.
With tiny little scissors and a seam ripper, I began to painstakingly remove the yards of Chantilly lace that covered the dress. I was surprised that it was in such good condition and I started brainstorming what I would do with the lace and taffeta. Before I made any more cuts or snips into the dress, I cut a piece of scrap muslin into a strip and started playing with it. I folded, gathered and twisted it into a flower. I liked it!
Hmmmmmm.
What if I were to cut the taffeta into strips and make lots of flowers and then make a bouquet of those flowers? I got very excited about the idea, but I was nervous, too. Once I started cutting the fabric, there was no going back. I took out my rotary cutter and mat, took a deep breath and started cutting my wedding dress into 2 inch and 3 inch strips of fabric. JB knew that I was making something, but didn't know what.
I didn't want her to feel like she HAD to carry it if she didn't like the way it turned out. I knew that she might really want to carry fresh flowers. I put together a small bouquet of the fabric flowers to show her when we met in Denver. It had a vintage quality to it that was very pretty and it turned out that she loved it! Whew!
Since JB and Causten were getting married on our 30th anniversary, I used 30 flowers to make the final bouquet. I wrapped the stems of the flowers with a piece of the Chantilly lace. I think it turned out wonderfully - here is how it looked...
By the way, I still have enough fabric and lace leftover to make flowers for another 2 bouquets should I need them...
1 comment:
Wow! That's gorgeous! And thank Heaven, your daughter liked it! Whew!
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