This week in #thriftythursday news… (and, yes, I hope that I can continue to do these posts, but I don’t make any promises because, well, LIFE)
SAVE THE DRESS! An alternative to sticking your expensive gown in a box until your future offspring take it out to play dress-up or make fun of your fashion choices before their birth.
I was that child. When I found my mother’s wedding gown stuffed away in a cedar chest in my great-grandmother’s attic I played “bride” every.single.day. The sad thing was that I could fit into my mother’s gown when I was about eleven years old. Perfectly. i.e., I was my mother’s size when she married my father when I was still in middle school. That didn’t dawn on me then, however, and I was just the happiest little preteen ever. I also made fun of the lacy high collar and long lace sleeves, that probably didn’t make my mom too happy. Fast forward to my twenties and I’m doing the whole wedding planning thing. My mom tells me to get a “classic” gown because one day maybe my daughter may want to wear it! I reminded her that her dress is probably still in a toy chest in her basement with the stains of my dress-up parties. So, no thanks.
I fell in love with a modern, strapless gown made of dupioni silk. Zero lace, no frills or sleeves or high collar glory. I love(d) my gown, truly. It was me and it made me feel beautiful. Isn’t that what is important as a bride? I didn’t want to think about what I would do with the dress after the wedding day, or that fact that I would wear it for a total of 10 hours and then stuff it in a box never to be seen again. Yes, wedding gowns can cost thousands and mine did…but luckily we were able to stretch that purchase into something I will ALWAYS treasure!
I wore the heck out of my wedding gown. We danced and laughed and smashed cake (…yes). I had blisters on my feet for my entire honeymoon to remind us exactly how much fun we had at our wedding. I have beautiful pictures to remember that day by, plenty of them with me wearing my gown. Because of this I had no problem reclaiming the silk from my dress and having two darling baptism outfits made for each of my babies. Luckily, my stepmom is a fabulous seamstress and made family heirlooms that could not be purchased in any store. My children were baptized in the gown that I said “I DO” in to their father. That means much more to me than any silk garment left tucked in a chest to yellow over time.
My son’s jumper was made about 1 year after my wedding, and my daughter’s gown was made about 2 years after that. Her gown has some added fabric to dress it up a bit, while my boy’s jumper is made entirely from my dress. It truly is special to me and I hope that one day my children will treasure the knowledge that the wore my dress too.
Let me know in the comments if this is something you’ve done or are considering to stretch the usage of your wedding dress!
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