Wedding Details: The Dress

I am so excited to be doing this next portion of my wedding details series!  Today I am sharing the dress!  My wedding dress is honestly my favorite detail from my wedding.  I know I haven't gotten into the details of my wedding decor, but my wedding was vintage-inspired.  I love vintage, antiques, and hearing old stories from parents and grandparents.  This leads me to my beautiful and unique wedding dress...

My wedding dress was my grandmother's wedding dress from 1960!

Just that sentence alone makes me smile!  Yes, I wore my grandmother's wedding dress from my mom's side.  My mom has had the dress for years, and it has stayed in such great condition.  I remember my mom bringing it out every now and then to show me it when I was younger.  I even tried it on as a young girl.  It was much too large, but that never stopped me from twirling around imagining my own wedding one day.  She always told me that I could do whatever I wanted with it when that day came.  

I did alter the dress to make it more of an ideal dress for myself, but I must say, the dress was already beautiful to begin with.  It was solid lace with a sweetheart neckline and thick straps (not sleeves.)  The dress also came with a solid sheer lace long-sleeved jacket.  So, unlike most dresses from that era, it did not have long sleeves, rather it came with a lace jacket to go over it.  This made it easier to alter, as there were no long sleeves to deal with.  Aside from that fact that this dress is from 1960, what makes it even more unique is that it was handmade by my grandmother and her mother (my great grandmother.)  

The changes we made were actually quite minimal.  Like I mentioned, I loved the dress to begin with.  We had a wonderful seamstress help us with the alterations, and here is a short run-down of what we did:

• We made the dress fit me to start.  It had to be taken in and made quite a bit shorter.  (I'm only 5'3'')
• Since the dress already had a sweetheart neckline, which was my absolute ideal, we just had the straps taken off to make it strapless.  The sweetheart neckline only had to be altered slightly after the dress was taken in.
• I ordered a pink satin ribbon from a website called Your Dream Dress.  It was inexpensive and just what I was looking for.  I love bows and pink, so this was the perfect way to complete making the dress my own.  

And ta-da!  My dream dress was complete!  

I created this collage to show the lace and other details of the dress.  So lovely.  

And, here are some more lovely dress shots.  (Photography by Stephanie Fry)

 I created this collage as well, showing myself on my wedding day and my grandmother on her wedding day.  

I'm going to wrap this blog up with two pictures of newlyweds. (Myself and my husband, and my grandparents!)  

If anyone is considering altering an older dress, I highly recommend it.  It's a perfect way to get your dream dress, and an even better way to wear a dress that has meaning.  

Thanks for reading!

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Wedding Details: Love is Sweet Candy Bar

Today I want to share a favorite wedding detail from my wedding last June.  I opted for a candy bar in place of individual wedding favors.  I loved the idea right when I saw it, and immediately got to researching the details.  It's actually a very affordable option- more affordable than any favors I liked.  I'm going to share pictures, as well as break down the details and costs.  My biggest piece of advice for wedding planning is use what you already have! (Or what anyone else you know already has!)  It minimizes the amount of things you're buying just for the wedding.  I used a lot of glassware and little decorations that I had at home, and when the wedding was over they went right back to decorating my house rather than sitting in a box labeled "wedding stuff."

The best part about doing a candy bar?  Picking out your favorite candy, of course!  I went through Candy Warehouse, an online website for purchasing candy in bulk.  They have so many options and you can search by your wedding colors!  It's best to know where your wedding will be held (indoor/outdoor) before purchasing the candy.  My wedding was outdoors in June, so I knew that chocolate was off limits.  I stuck to candy that I knew wouldn't melt if the weather was really warm.  Here's a breakdown of the candy I purchased and their prices through Candy Warehouse:

• Tootsie Roll Frooties in Strawberry Lemonade- $7.20 for a 360 piece bag:  I've always loved these little candies.  I used to walk down to the mini mart with my brother and we would stock up (they were only  a penny a piece back then!)  One bag was plenty for our guest list of around a hundred.  
• Laffy Taffy in Strawberry- $14.50 for a 145 piece tub:  I love Laffy Taffy, complete with a joke on every wrapper.  These were a hit!
• Pink Pillow Mints- $9.90 for a 14 ounce bag (about 350 pieces):  What's a wedding without mints for after dinner?
• Pink and White Candy Sticks:  $12.50 for a 250 piece box:  Although these wouldn't make my favorite candy list, they were too adorable to pass up.  Plus, they look like a vintage candy, and my wedding was vintage-inspired.  
• Salt Water Taffy in Strawberry and Creme:  $15.00 for a 3 pound bag (about 195 pieces):  My husband and I both love salt water taffy, and there are so many flavors to choose from!  At the time, we chose this flavor because it was on sale for $12.50- so be looking for deals!
• White "Just Married" Candy Rolls- $24.50 for about 150 rolls:  I fell in love with these the moment I saw them.  They are rolls of white candies that say "Just Married" on them.  If you're wondering what they taste like, they are similar to the white "Smarties" candy- very good, and larger than I was expecting.  

 After I purchased the candy, I had to figure out the rest of the candy bar details:  bags for guests to put the candy in, candy scoops, jars/ containers, and the table decor.  I was able to find the bags and the scoops on Amazon.  I knew I wanted small white paper bags, nothing fancy.  Here is a link to a vendor that has a pack of 100 for $11.69.  I definitely had a lot left over.  I'm still thinking of projects to do with them!  Here is a link to the adorable 2 oz aluminum scoops I found.  I purchased two of them, and they worked just fine. They were less than $3.00 each.

For the jars, I lucked out.  My sister-in-law had a set of two lovely apothecary jars with lids that she let me use.  My mom also provided me with a large jar, and I purchased some inexpensive hurricane vases from Ross for the rest. 

The candy bar decorations were simple.  I used blue vases from home, and we put a single pink carnation in each of them.  For the "candy bar" sign, I used a free printable from Wedding Chicks.  Their website is fabulous, and they have so many great free printables where you can pick the colors!  Here is a link to the printable I used.  I framed it in a $1.00 frame, and was so happy with how it turned out!  The "love is sweet" was a touch I added myself.  

Photography by Stephanie Fry Photography

 I am so happy that this is something I included in my wedding, and I adore how it turned out.  If you're considering a candy bar, it's a great option- especially for those on a budget!  

 Happy Sunday all!

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