My creative contributions

So, how did my parts of the wedding turn out? Why, thank you for asking. I'll tell you about it. (In some detail, since this is my blog.)

First, let me say that I do not think of myself as creative. I follow directions, but I'm not much on creating--at least not physical objects. Definitely not an artist. I think that's why I get so thrill when things I make turn out beautifully. And I get even more excited when I did something besides follow directions in order to get the end product. So this wedding involved several beautiful things that I made. It made me pretty excited! [And before we move on, let's give credit where credit is due. Many prayers were answered in guidance from the Holy Ghost.]

Dresses

Nancy's instructions for all wedding creations, clothes, etc. were "bright summer colors". That's about it. So, you can judge for yourself if they match her criteria.

Since I have no good summer dresses and Rachel has only old ones, I decided to create some for the day. Like a fairy god mother.

My involved fabric that was a color I love. I'd spent hours looking at premade dresses, patterns and fabric and finally just decided to just forget it all, buy the plain cotton fabric that was a lovely color and make a simple dress.
Color: I love.
Simple dress: Ha. I used a pattern that was my aunt's back in the 70s. It was not a good choice (I do not a body for the 70s). I spent 3 or 4 times as long as I should have on this dress (including much taking out and trying again and taking out and trying again) and it still doesn't really fit me comfortably. However, I was excited because I did a lot of altering and making up and all of that worked great. :) Hooray!  No modeling pictures of it, but here's something:

 Then came Rachel's. Much better! First, I found this lovely fabric and decided I didn't care if we didn't match in any way, shape or form, this was also "bright summer" and I liked it. Then, I re-perused patterns and again, came away with nothing. Only to return to the internet a few days later and a new pattern had appeared! It was expensive (new = not on sale), but ebay helped me out and got it to me on time. I love the pattern; I've been imagining it (more or less) for quite some time. It's a 60's-inspired pattern and, let's be honest, I do have a 60's body (funny (when I'm in the mood), Rachel's body does wonders for my dress and hers was designed for curves like mine).  And then I cut it out and sewed it up in no time flat. Easy, peasy. Even the parts that included techniques I'd never done before. Including the alterations to (HOPEFULLY!!) fit Rachel's longer than average body (again, I was proud of myself for figuring out the alterations; nervous, though, because she was across the country and the moment of truth wouldn't come until 24 hours before the wedding (and I had other things to do in those 24 hours).

Before I took the dress to Rachel, I wore it to church. I just loved it and wanted to wear it once. It was too long for me and because of the fitted bodice style, it was obvious (to me, at least) but I still enjoyed it. (Don't worry, when I have time to sew again, I'll be whipping one up for myself.)

Then, "Christmas morning" came and it fit!  Hooray.  Again, did we take pictures during the hectic-ness of reception? No, we didn't. But here are a couple of the dress and Rachel in action:

We'll get some modeling pictures when we're together again in July. Hopefully.  (And I'll sweat off 10 pounds by then so mine will fit better. :)  )



Next up:  Flowers!!
Nancy asked me to do her flowers. Of course, I said sure and when she was here in March we looked at some different things to get a feel for what she like. There were a few more guidelines than "bright summer colors", but not much.
What I realized with time (besides the fact that no guidelines is a curse as well as a blessing) is that my years as a florist's apprentice are steadily receding into the distant past. Although I still know more than the average folk, there's a lot I've forgotten (as evidenced by my forgetting some simple corsage construction). Also, it's a little nervewracking to not be able to do anything for the flowers until 30 hours before the wedding, in a town that I know NOTHING about. Again, answered prayers.  Hyrum helped me search for flowers the day before, I plunked them into a bucket for a day/night and early the morning of the wedding I got up (me and the smoke from the forest fires. Oh, and poor Rachel who had been up since 3 working on mounds of work that was due the Monday after this Friday wedding.) and went to work. At my mother's suggestion, I also snagged some of the Wall's flowers to add it--great addition!, should have used more (the yellow/orangeish lilies)
I love bright colors!  I love flowers! And I love creating things with flowers! (even though I wish I knew more. someday - a design class is still on my list)

 

All day long I felt happy as I saw the flowers (not always the case when viewing the objects of my creation attempts):

(Disclaimer: I think the flowers were pretter than any of my pictures portray.)

One Miss Lietta most definitely approved!!

The mothers'/grandmothers' corsages also turned out beautifully. And in the top dress pictures you can see my special for Nancy bouquet--not bright summer colors, but green Bells of Ireland. (Fancy Nancy loves green and these are such a FUN green flower! (if you don't know them, go to a flower shop and ask to look at some)).

All in all, I was quite pleased. Perhaps most importantly, I did not allow any of this ruin the day for me. I did what I needed to and then I enjoyed the reasons I was there. :)