I know I’m embellishing, but…

I began the artistry portion of my wedding dress. I’ve recovered from the fact that the slip doesn’t really fit yet, but I’m okay and even if I have to remake the slip for a third time, I’ll do it and it should be easier after two previous attempts. Blah. Blah. Blah. I’m over it. But now the fun begins on the overdress.

First a bit about what’s been going on in our world. So much has happened in the past week, we can hardly keep it straight. On Saturday, we went ahead and ordered our invitations — this after about two hours of changing the wording here and there and then finally sending it off to print. The funny thing is, we used Vistaprint. It was mainly because we could adjust the wording the way we wanted and we liked one of their backgrounds. That ended up being the deciding factor. I used to use Vistaprint a lot because, as a teacher, I needed business cards for sub jobs. I haven’t needed them for a while because I’ve been in permanent positions for about seven years. I tried to create an account and lo and behold, I already had an account. I found nearly everything I’d done with them since 2010 or so when I used to sell Avon.

Finding the right invitation was a bit difficult since we wanted something outdoorsy (our ceremony and party are both outside) and we didn’t want anything that had fireflies, lights, stars, etc. So we found something with whitewashed wood and greenery. After I placed the order, that was it! They said it would be delivered by April 1. Great. Later on Saturday, I got a notice saying that they received my order. Sunday morning I got a notice saying my order was ready to ship. Sunday afternoon it had shipped. We got the invitations on Tuesday. Today I spent some time on the address lists and making sure we didn’t miss anyone. We already sent out save-the-dates, so it isn’t like we had to build a list from scratch!

This weekend we also spent some time with our reception/party planner. Brenda is awesome. She throws great parties, so we knew she would be great at this. She is so organized and even though this weekend was our first face-to-face meeting, she already had pages of questions, notes, and ideas in her planning book. It is going to be fabulous! And honestly, she should get some business cards printed up and go into the biz! When COVID is officially over, she could be booked solid! We are lucky to be in on the ground floor!

So back to the dress. I purchased some lace a few months ago and it was spendy. I only got a yard. A few weeks later, I’d gone back to JoAnn’s and found the same lace fabric on clearance for 60% off. I bought three yards. The background is netting and the lace on the face of the fabric is actually “appliques.” So there is a recurring pattern along both edges and then recurring individual appliques in the middle on both sides of the netting. It is really complicated to explain and now that I’ve cut it up, I cannot really take a picture of the entire fabric. I cut the edge off to place on the hem of the outerdress. I didn’t really think it would take anymore than one side (which is nine feet). Well, apparently, I was wrong. The hem must be about twelve feet or so. I pinned on the lace and will hand sew it on.

I went to JoAnn’s today to see if they had any lace I could buy to put around the neck and sleeves — something I wouldn’t have to meticulously cut off the edge of a giant piece of fabric. They had two different lace varieties that would work. When I first looked at the price on one of bolts, I thought it said “$12.99.” But it was actually $21.99. Both were $21.99. That is kind of expensive for this bargain-hunter. I decided to buy two yards of one of them and put back the other. Fortunately, there was another 1/2 yard that they sold to me for 75% off. And, after I dug through my coupons, I ended up saving 40% on the cut, which made the piddly little bunch of lace $29 and change. Not a bargain, but it worked. I pinned the lace around the sleeves and neck and am feeling pretty good with how it looks.

I also decided to clean up my area, although now there is a ton of glitter everywhere. I wanted to get rid of the scraps of outerdress fabric, but felt weird about throwing it away. It has “pearls” all over it. So I decided to pull off the pearls and keep them with the other pearls I had removed when I sewed the pieces together. You cannot sew over them and they cannot really be left on the seams. I put them into a plastic cup without a plan. They aren’t beads, so no holes to string them together. I figured they might be good for something, but don’t know what! Now I have almost a whole cup of plastic beads.

Another week is in the books. We are making progress! Stay safe everyone!