Bridesmaid Dress Mommy Made

I always knew my mother was good at sewing, but I never realized just how amazing she really was. She always made all of my sister and my halloween costumes and special little dresses, jumpers and blouses when we were kids, but I had no idea she would do such an stellar job on sewing all four dresses for my bridesmaids to wear!

We had a little fiasco with ordering some dresses online and them arriving with fabric that was completely see-through. Those were promptly returned. I didn't want to go with David's Bridal (I was opposed to it for some reason and in hindsite it probably would have been the easiest route) and going to a local dress shop was too pricey and I didn't want to have to make my friends buy 200 dollar dresses. So I asked my mom, "Should I hire a seamstress?" We looked at a few on ETSY and I did love what they were doing but my mom said, "I can do that, it's easy!".

In the long run I don't think it ended up being "easy" for her but she seemed to enjoy the challenge and the process of making them and creating something that is going to be so prominent at the wedding.

We picked out the pattern - a sun dress pattern we found from Simplicity Patterns. Then we took one of the groomsman's french blue shirts to a silk fabric store in Carboro, NC and picked out a fabric that matched the guys shirts perfectly. Pretty lucky that we found the exact match!

Mother dearest has been working diligently on these dresses for a few months now and she finally had the last fitting with the girls last weekend! And they all fit really well! Whew ... and although we hit a few snags it all worked out perfectly!

If I had to do it all again I would probably just pick a color swatch and tell the girls to just find a dress in that color. That way they could then find whatever they liked/felt comfortable in and also at the price they wanted to spend. Picking a color like navy or black probably would have made it a lot easier too.

But I picked french blue with yellow accents and that is what I love about the dresses and I'm so glad it all worked out. The girls are going to look beautiful! (And the guys will look handsome too - don't want to leave them out! Men's Warehouse had some great deals.)

The blue with the yellow liner is so fun! I just love them. Thanks to the most wonderful mother in the world!

Yellow and Blue bird caketopper

It has been a while since I have blogged about my wedding crafts. I can't believe we are only ONE MONTH AWAY NOW! Yikes!

I think I took a break from blogging for a while for two reasons. First, because I have just been too gosh darn busy with wedding planning, preparing for a move across country to Denver and quitting my job while looking for another one. All that stuff sure takes a lot out of a gal. And Second, because I felt I didn't want my blog to come off as some kind of bragging show for all the things I was doing for my wedding.

But after numerous friends and family have told me how much they love to share the blog with other brides or party planners to get their inspirational juices flowing, I decided to start back up again. That IS the reason I started anyways, to share ideas with people to take, use or change to fit their event. After all I did steal pretty much everyone of my ideas from photos, other blogs and craft sites that I have visited. The internet is a limitless supply of DIY goodies you just have to find it. And since I LOVE to find it. I'm blogging about it. :)

Anyways, enough about the blogging hiatus. Onto wedding things. Look at these cute pictures of our cake topper!

 

These adorable little birds were made by a family friend from Minnesota. She hand sews tiny woodland animals and has her own ETSY shop. (If you would like to see more of Alice's Animals. They are pretty incredible.)

The thought behind using these birds as a cake topper was that we could then save the birds, attach a string to their backs and use them as Christmas tree ornaments for years to come. I love Christmas tree ornaments with a story. Every year when decorating my parents tree I get to relive those fun memories. And now starting a family of my own, (and hopefully having an actual tree next Christmas) these ornaments will be very special indeed as they will have sat atop our cake and witnessed the love and joy of our wedding day!

(Side note: If you have been following the blog the whole time you might be confused. Because, I am still doing cup cakes for the reception. So what cake will these little birds be sitting on you say? And, no they are not small enough to sit on a cup cake. We will have one 2 layer 8 inch round cake on a stand amongst the cup cakes on the table and that will be the cake we ceremonially cut and decorate. Everything else is cup cakes and cake pops!)

So there you have it. A cake topper you can keep and use for years to come.

It will be sitting a top the sugar cookie and fondant nest that I blogged about before. Thanks for reading and sharing!