Meg here again, hijacking the blog (does anyone know how to drive this thing?), I recently married my best friend and did so in a dress I hand dyed hombre pink. You didn’t misread that last sentence. I did, in fact, dunk my white wedding dress into a sink full of pink dye, several times. Here’s a little about how I got there:
To those of you who have always had your dream wedding and dream dress down to a T, I commend you. You guys are my heroes. You know “the dress” ah-ha moment all brides are supposed to have? I didn’t have that. So for those of you that may be recently engaged, don’t get freaked out if you don’t. It happens to some of us. I’m not sure why, but the picture of the wedding and the dress weren’t engrained into me. Don’t get me wrong, I was SUPER into marrying my husband, I just wasn’t sure of that perfect wedding scene after my cute bearded boyfriend was like, “Will you marry me?” and I hugged him so much I forgot to say “yes” (the yes was implied, my friends).
I had my first big SAY YES TO THAT DRESS outing. There were mimosas, they were delicious…and that was basically the highlight of the experience. I tried on about 1,639 dress options and mostly felt like some sort of mythical fairy or witch (see: The White Witch, Chronicles of Narnia) or powder puff or something. Nothing felt like “me” or comfortable. There is SO MUCH PRESSURE to be the “most beautiful you have ever been” on the day of your wedding (You will be gorgeous, but I think the “prettiest you’ve ever been” days happen unexpectedly). I felt like I was playing dress up and this all felt pretty silly. Here’s some of the silliness (forgive me for my shameful iPhone photos next to all Benfield Photography’s beautiful ones!)
It was pretty confusing. My stipulations for this dress were:
1) That I could dance my bum off clad in this thing
2) Carter (my now husband) think I was pretty (not hard, he likes me with no makeup on, you know, like the lyrics from that Katy Perry song)
By nature, creativity, deconstruction, re-working, sewing, painting, crafting, etc. are basically like breathing to me. I’m also born with the curse of thinking I can do anything. So every time I tried something on I thought, oh this would be perfect if, the sleeves were gone, it was pink, shorter, high-low, less poofy, less white, sweetheart neckline blah blah blah.
Then, a dress happened. Not “the- dress-omigosh-I-am-in-happy-tears-over-this-thing-say-YES!” dress. More like, a wedding dress I finally felt comfortable in, one that I felt like I could dance the night away in with my husband. I had to think about myself and my love to create- wouldn’t it make sense that this need to create seeped into the item I was getting married in? Yes. Total sense. I decided to take this dress and make it everything I wanted. Here is the dress before:
To-do to the Wedding Dress list:
+Satin Top
+Deep Sweetheart
+Champagne/Coral/Blush Hombre
+Huge overstated flower in the back
+Pink beading
+Long ribbons
With the help of my sweet mom and my amazing seamstress, we did all these things to create a dress that was finally “me”. They are memories I cherish, screaming as I dunked my stark white purchase into a sink of pink dye, my older sister having a heart attack when I did, sewing beads carefully with my mother, hand stitching the huge flower for the back and seeing the thing come together. I had my “dress moment” when I finally got to try the craft of my life on. Here’s how it turned out:
My stipulations were met, I A.) Danced the night away in my dress (Dale danced right along with me) and B.) Carter thought I looked really pretty.
I’d wear my wedding dress every day if I could….I’m actually wearing it right now, as I type this… as I eat my frozen leftover wedding cake… joking. Maybe… don’t judge me.
The moral of the story is, it’s ok to not have that “moment”. I think it’s incredible for those of you who do (again, you’re my heroes) but if you don’t have the moment- keep dreaming. Make that dress your own and the memories will be even more special.
Are there any creative and daring Brides out there? If you’d like a tutorial on how to dye your wedding dress, comment below and let me know! Then maybe I can talk Dale into letting me guest post again with some step-by-steps on how to give your dress a special color for your big day.
Xo
Meg
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