Finished project - husband aquisition, plus self drafted faux fur wrap

It's hard to believe that nearly 5 weeks ago my love and I got married. It was a very low fi wedding - I refused to get caught up in the hamster wheel of excess and consumption that wedding planning can become. We got married in the Victorian Marriage Registry, a beautiful old building in the Melbourne CBD that used to be the official treasury building back in the 1800's. The ceremony was quick and to the point, and afterwards one of our good friends, Bruce Webber, was kind enough to take some lovely pics for us (all photo credit on this post goes to him!). After an hour of wandering around the CBD feeling like celebrities we headed to the Fairfield Boathouse for a champagne afternoon tea reception, and later headed into the city with friends and a few relatives for drinks and late night karaoke. It was such a great day, and everything was just as we wanted it.

I was determined to find a frock that I could wear again, and July being right in the middle of a Melbourne winter it had to have long sleeves. Whites and creams do absolutely nothing for me, and whilst I briefly entertained the idea of making something for myself, my mind was made up when I found a gorgeous stretch lace dress at Nicolangela, a boutique in Armadale stocking locally designed and made dresses. The girls were just lovely there, and I adore my dress - it was so comfortable, and surprisingly warm! The colour was 'Terracotta' and it was a really unusual color - different in different lights. In some light it had a caramel-orangey hue, and in others was a lot more pink. The lace part of the dress was made with raglan sleeves, and french bust darts (I think!) with more standard darts in the back and shoulders. The lining was a stretchy nude fabric. It could quite easily be replicated by New Look 6000 I think, and I was amused at one of my fittings to see that the alterations I needed in the bodice were exactly the same as my New Look 6000 and Peony (excess gaping at the back neckline). The grosgrain ribbon belt I added myself - I like that when I wear the dress again I can make it less romantic and more chic with a patent black leather belt. The belt does help to break up the expanse of lace, and give me more waist definition.

I had my hair and makeup done at my local hairdresser, and loved the beehive! The little birdcage veil I found on Etsy. My flowers were beautiful roses, from a local florist.

And you know I love shoe photos:

I just didn't want the stress of doing anything unnecessary in terms of craftiness or handmade bits and pieces, but I did end up making my wrap, hence justifying plastering all these pics on this here blog! It was self drafted - I did download the free fur collar pattern on Burdastyle but it was just too small - I wanted something to cover my shoulders, so I drafted a rough jellybean shape and made a nice big wrap out of some luscious synthetic fur I found at Rathdowne Remnants. The satin lining and grosgrain ribbon (for my belt and wrap ties) were from Darn Cheap fabrics. I hadn't sewn with fur before, but it wasn't a big deal - I used a knitting needle and a comb to get excessive fur out of the seam and fluff it up! It was a little big, and tended to slide off my shoulders if it dropped too low, but was fine and kept me very warm.

 So thats that done - gorgeous husband, gorgeous day - luckiest girl in the world, really!