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Something Old, Something New

  January 2

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Happy New Year! And, speaking of something new… how’s about that old wedding adage “Something old, Something new.” I mention the old and new because I tend to love items that have sentimental value. Having something vintage is great, but if it belonged to a family member, it’s that much better…..

So, after some long and careful thought, I decided to wear my mother’s dress on my wedding day. My mom truly exudes class and elegance each and every day (you should see the fabulous clothes she wears to work). So what better way to honor her than to carry on the tradition of wearing her dress? She was sweet enough to give me full range to recreate it. I love finding items that are one-of-a-kind so we had a blast carefully taking apart her dress and building it back up to one I absolutely loved.

Our best Ebay find ever just took a simple search of “Venetian lace.” My mom found these really amazing lace appliques that were incredibly gorgeous and thick. The sellers listed each piece separately, so my mom e-mailed them to ask how much for all. Yeah, they sold us an entire box of lace from Venice for $20.00. Each piece looked like this:

Here’s a before picture of my mother on her wedding day almost thirty years ago:

Her dress was very simple and elegant. We decided to remove the illusion lace at the top to reveal the sweetheart neckline. We also took off all of the lace on the rest of the dress which had yellowed over time…. did I mention the box survived Hurricane Katrina? Yea, it was meant to be. 🙂

Here is the old/new dress in progress…. My mom added all those little pearls on it, which I know she’ll want me to mention I didn’t like at first. Ha ha, but it turned out beautifully if I do say so myself.

Here is the finished product:

and just for kicks, how’s about a little side by side comparison?

So what do you think? Anyone else wear a family heirloom on their wedding day? Or since you know I love all things vintage, how’s about spilling what your “Something old” or “Something borrowed” was on your wedding day?

14 responses to “Something Old, Something New

  1. ohmygosh I had no idea! I love your dress even more now! =) The little changes really modernized the dress and it’s just so darn gorgeous with all that luxe lace!

    My something old was my great grandmother’s vintage crystal clutch and my something new was a pearl bracelet from the hubs.

    xoXOxo
    Jenn @ Peas & Crayons

  2. Wow how beautiful. I’m not married yet but as soon as it happens I promise I will let you know!

  3. The stylish blogger award was given to you from Moon Walk! Congrats! Visit my blog tomorrow to see the award! Keep up the good work. I just love your blog.

  4. Cat,
    You were beautiful in “our” dress. I also like it much more now with the
    new lace and updated look. I wish you had included the picture of you
    studying yourself in the dress and pronouncing “Too Many Pearls!” while
    asking if we could Google how to get pearls off a wedding dress! That was the ONLY stressful moment for me in the entire year of wedding planning. Thankfully, every moment after was wonderful. Happy First
    Anniversary! Love, MOM

  5. Oh wow … that is so amazing! I love that you updated your mom’s dress … and it just makes the dress that much more special. Maybe one day you’ll be updating it for your daughter 🙂

  6. It looks so beautiful on both of you! You and your mom must have the exact same figure. =)

  7. Happy anniversary! It’s been a fun ride to follow your anniversary week, you looked SO BEAUTIFUL on your big day!

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