The road to our wedding has been a winding one, for sure. We have set dates, postponed dates, picked locations, dropped locations only to circle back around to our original locations. It has definitely been a bit of a mind swirling ordeal, which is why I haven’t talked much of it since I mentioned Arlen and I were even engaged.
But we have finally nailed down a date and location and teeny-tiny, micro guest list and now I realize that… there is not much time left to actually make the wedding garments for both myself and Arlen- eeep! So, as soon as we had a date set in stone I worked backwards to figure out all that I needed to get done with time to spare.
Over the next few months, I will be putting together a weekly post sharing the progress of both my wedding dress and Arlen’s suit every Monday. It is my hope that by sticking to a schedule I will in fact get these two items done in a timely manner (and not be sewing the day of our wedding when I hope to be simply relaxing and enjoying the weather!)
Today, I wanted to share with you all a bit of the inspiration behind my dress. This has ALSO been a long, winding, back-and-forth kind of adventure. It started with a dress I had a dream about years ago, morphed into an idea Arlen had envisioned, and then finally settled to a place of perfection given the timeline, fabrics, and overall aesthetic I am after.
Across the board, however, a few themes kept popping up over and over again. These are all items I intend to bake into my final dress in some way, shape, or form.
The first is that my dress will NOT be a traditional white. I have always known that I wasn’t a white dress kind of gal and settled very early on for the idea of a French-Grey-Leaning-To-Blue color.
The next element I have always wanted (and is something I am known for wearing on the daily) is a low back. Everyone has their favorite features about themselves, and mine has always been my back. I am not sure if that is an odd thing to admit, but it’s true - I like my back a lot, even if I hardly ever see it! So a low back is a definite MUST!
I also found through trial and error that I was really drawn to a structured bodice that defined my waist. Generally, I gravitate to fit and flare dresses, primarily because they suit my waist to hip ratio, but this added element of a structured bodice is a newfound obsession! Maybe it’s because I am getting really into bra making or because I have always had a secret love-obsession with corsetry and how beautiful it is on both the inside and out.
The final bit I am unsure about is the skirt. I am torn between doing a hip hugging, trumpet style dress or a floaty bias cut skirt that wisps around in the wind. I love both styles for different reasons. Maybe if I somehow combine the two….
So, those are my thoughts on my dress! This is always the most fun for me - diving in to inspiration and mashing all of the ideas together. It’s also really cool to look back once everything is physically completed and see how close/ far from the original concept I have gone.
6 comments
Hi Alaina!
I am actually most looking forward to sharing the corsetry process with everyone as well! I have learned A LOT and it’s been both challenging and fun! I am excited to cut into my final corset, but for now, I am admiring my mock-up while gathering the courage to dive in, haha
So excited to read more about this process! I’d love to see more in-depth in the corsetry process. So excited to see the finished dress!
I am really excited, too Safiyya! Thank you for following along :) And that sounds like a really fun project (also super cool of you to be doing for a work colleague’s bride!) I hope that I am able to keep up with providing some informative posts !
This is so great! Really excited to follow along and see how it all comes together! I have taken on the challenge of making a wedding dress for the bride of a work colleague and I could really use your posts for inspiration haha :)
Oh my goodness Liss, yes I 100% understand! It’s all such a nerve wracking task and its extra difficult because you won’t know what it looks like until it’s literally finished. I mean, you get to do fittings and things but it’s not the same as going to a store to try things on and see if you like it, which is scary! I hope you are having fun through the process of making your own dress, though :) And regardless of what direction you take, I am sure your dress is going to turn out spectacularly!