Springtime for Weddings

Last weekend, saw me making the trip to Toowoomba for the wedding of a friend who I have known since we were 7-years-old. I met Jessica on my first day at my new school when we moved to Gympie. I was in grade 2. She was a lovely girl then, she is a lovely woman now and I am honoured to be her friend and included in her special day.

We made the 2.5hour drive up the range on Friday afternoon, (my parents and I) to check into a nearby hotel. The main reason, I needed to be up bright and early for a 9am start on the Makeup. Yes, she had asked me to be her makeup artist for the day. Originally, I had offered to do her makeup as my wedding gift to her back at her kitchen tea. She declined, saying that she wanted her friends to be able to enjoy the day without stressing over work. About a month later, I got a call. She had been for two makeup trials already and they were not appropriate. The first one had terrible coverage in that her pores were very visible. The second decided that “Natural Makeup” was to use dark browns and greys. In the end, we did a makeup trial, and she was over the moon with my work. I actually ended up doing the bride, her bridesmaid and matron of honour as well as the mother of the bride. After they were all spruced up, I was left with about 45 minutes to toss on my dress, brush out my pin curls and whack on my own makeup before the ceremony.

The ceremony was later in the day at 2pm, followed by a 5pm reception. I didn’t take any photos at the wedding itself, as it’s just not my style, and I didn’t want to destroy any of the professional photos by getting in the way. I snapped a couple at the reception though and made sure to get a shot with both the bride and her sister, the bridesmaid. It was a lovely wedding and I was so glad that I made the trip up.

As for my outfit. There were dramas aplenty. I had originally planned a 1950s gown made of a light-weight peach taffeta, topped with white spot netting and a built-in white velveteen bolero. I busted my arse to get it made, slaving over my machine each night after work. Finally, by Wednesday it was at a stage where I could try it on entirely. And, I hated it. It was too big, too froofy and it made me look bulky. No proof photos, as I really hated it and have since cut it up to salvage what fabric I could. I panicked. Barely got any sleep that night as I stressed over what I could wear. I didn’t really have anything “cocktail” appropriate in my wardrobe. I dragged myself into work, exhausted, and stewed over what I could do in my lunch break, mentally cataloguing my fabric stash. I raced home that afternoon and tore into it. I had decided to use the pattern from the dress I made for the Gangsters Ball as I knew it fitted well and would be simple to make up. But what fabric to use?

After such a big failure, I was very indecisive. I was second-guessing myself and umming and ahhing over what I could do. In the end, I came back to one of my first choices – a very lightweight silk tartan that I originally bought for a regency dress. The only changes I made to my pattern was to cut the front of the bodice on the bias to work with the tartan, and to shorten the skirts to a more cocktail suitable length. All in all, from cutting out to finish, it took me under 3 hours. It was complete Thursday night, and I didn’t have to stay up into the wee hours of the morning to do it. I even had time enough to wash and pin curl my hair. I love how it turned out in the end.