Wedding Dress Success! Simplicity 1775 & Simplicity 1876 Part One

So, as I've said in a previous post, I made my wedding dress. The fact was that I couldn't find what I wanted in my price range (under $500). I know I had a very small budget for the dress, but I figured it was a Vegas wedding- I didn't need to go balls to the wall!

 I started with finding my inspiration. I scoured Etsy and eBay for vintage dresses. Too bad I don't have a size 2 rib cage...... But I did fall in love with Leann Marshall's design.

I did some more research and realized she has a line of patterns with Simplicity, and I could probably finagle something out of those!

    I used the bodice from 1876 and then made 3 different skirt bottoms, because, well,  I couldn't make up my mind. I did 2 skirts from 4070 and the one skirt from 1755 (which I've made before and loved)

What a goonie face...

The first one has no pleats, just cut on the bias. It's a very flattering cut, but just wasn't enough of a statement for a wedding dress. Dress 2 has some pleats.  I liked the volume it added, but still not enough. Dress 3 has millions (ok, not millions) of knife pleats, giving the skirt tons of volume.

Step one: Done!

Wedding Invitations

As noted before, the Man and I are into the retro scene and with that comes tattoos! Right away, I knew our wedding invitations to reflect our style, and I knew I was going to design them. So here's a little sneak-peek of the process of our tattoo styled wedding invitations.

 

 I, then, painted in the image with a mixture of watercolor and gouache and then cleaned up the outlines again with the India ink. 

 

I uploaded the finished painting into Photoshop and cleaned up with image and added little details to make it look reminiscent of a playing card. Overall, I'm quite happy with how they turned out. And-it was economical! We had 250 invitations printed and it cost us around $200.

Wow......I've Really Been Slacking.....

Where have I been?? What have I been doing?? Well, nothing and everything, I suppose. I've been feeling very uninspired to post, and I've been busy with my wedding and our day to day lives.

We jumped on a plane and got married in the mediocre (more on this later) city of Las Vegas!

I did make my wedding dress, and plan to do a separate post about it.

Yes, we got married by the King!

We accomplished what we set out to do: Get married. However, we overstayed our welcome-or perhaps Vegas overstayed its welcome with us. We were there for 8 day-far too long for people who don't really gamble. It was a far more expensive trip than we had previously thought it was going to be, and there were bumps along the way that didn't help our financial situation. BUT! the weather was perfect, and the days that we did find ourselves beside the pool were the best.

AND THEN WE GOT SICK! now we don't know if it was food poisoning or a stomach bug, but 10 or so of the people who came out with us also got sick. Nothing like spending the first days as a married couple miserable in your hotel bed taking turns for the bathroom. :/ We laugh about it, because honestly, that's our luck. In sickness and in health, right?! and isn't the point of a good vacation yearning for home by the end nears? I was seriously happy to be home with my husband and our kitties, it was a wonderful feeling of family and togetherness that started off our marriage.

Oops, I forgot I'm almost 30.....

....and I shouldn't be delusional enough to think that I can still drink like I'm 21.  This hangover business is BUNK! BUNK I SAY! I was innocently looking to have a relaxed good time with the Man and now I am punished with a 2 day hangover! All because I'm getting older....boo.

Dry rolled my hair last night, so this is what I was sporting while knocking back the gin & tonics.

My 1990 Sturgis t-shirt that he hates and I love

Anyway, we tried to be productive today. Run to the bank, look for a tux/suit, get food into our bellies. Here's a pathetic OOTD and shot of my hair:

We're getting married in Vegas in 8 or so months and beginning to look for our attire. There's a place in town, Mike Bjorn's, that has vintage and all around wacky suits, jackets and tuxes, so we figured to head there first.

Lots of taxidermy :/. And suits if you were to be in a do-wop band. All very stage-worthy, but not wedding material. (pun intended)

I need to go back to bed.