Anyone else wearing Mom's wedding dress?

ktelizabeth86

I'm having my Mom's wedding dress (from the 80's) redone. Anyone else doing the same? I'd love to see how you're doing it. Mine is still in progress. Here is a pic of my Mom on her wedding day (old pic, hard to see - sorry)!

bandjwedding2012

What a sweet idea. I was going to use parts of my mom's wedding dress to do a photo album for her. She loved the idea only to remember a few hours later that she had given her dress to good will a few months ago. I'm bummed out about, still going to make the album though. You should post pictures of the dress when it's done. It sounds like such an great idea.

mbishop7

I am most likely displaying my mom's and my FMIL's dresses at my reception. What great display and converstation starters at the wedding!

ElisabethJoanne

I was supposed to try on Grandma's wedding dress for Mom to see over Christmas. Thanks for this reminder. I did try on Mom's veil. She and I just have totally different styles when it comes to formalwear, though.

Avion22

Wow, that's pretty.  It's kind of like Kate Middleton's dress with the lace sleeves -- very pretty.    

colstj1

That is so sweet that you are wearing your mothers wedding dress! I am excited to see how it turns out for you! I am not wearing my mom's dress, but we are taking lace from my mothers wedding dress, using the tulle from her veil and creating an entirely new veil trimmed in the lace from her dress.

AurorasEnvy

I've heard of girls doing this, but my mom got rid of her dress a long time ago.  She doesn't even remember what she did with it!

And it looks like you have something great to work from =]

susanv85

I tried on my moms wedding dress, but she was teeny tiny when she got married. My chest is much bigger than my moms was, and it was way too short for me too. It was a sweet idea though, but I don't think I could alter the dress enough to fit me.

OliveOilsMom

I love that idea!  So cute!  My mom dyed her wedding dress green for my parents' first anniversary and wore it out to dinner with my dad!

ktelizabeth86

For those not wearing but incorporating small pieces of the dress - I love that idea too!

My Mom was smaller than me when she got married, but luckily the change to the top of the dress releases some of the pressure it was putting on my rib cage.

I'm not going to touch the bottom of the dress, because I love the lace and the long train. The sleeves and high neck have already been removed, but we still have a ways to go.

This is the progress so far . . .



Front before any alterations . . .



Back before any alterations (love this train - not touching a thing) . . .



Dress after removing the sleeves and high neck. Still need to add lace (which we're taking from Mom's old sleeves) to my now smaller sleeves/straps. Also adding a belt. Bird cage veil is being made out of my Mom's hat/veil (it is not finished in this pic just threw it on for effect).



Back so far . . . needs lace from Mom's sleeves added to my now smaller sleeves.

It's hard to imagine at the moment, because the top is in shreds but I think it will be amazing when it's done. My next appointment is January 29th.

NOLAbridealmost

The alterations look incredible! I LOVE it.  Seriously, just gorgeous. 

achiduck

What an incredible transformation! I am not going to wear my moms dress, but I'm thinking of using some of the material to make a bouquet wrap.

firsttimersluck

WOW. 

this is just so stunning... !!!!!!

I absolutely adore your gown (and I don't compliment unless I truly like). 

I wish my mom hadn't let my father spill red wine on her gown on their wedding night... fail. :P Or I would have worn hers too :] 

Grits8812

That is going to be gorgeous!  I would have worn my moms, but she was much smaller than me when she got married, so it would have taken a lot of work, and I didn't really want to redo her dress just for me to wear.

ktelizabeth86

Thanks all. I've been a little nervous throughout the process because you don't know what you're going to end up with, but I'm learning to really trust the lady who is doing it. I'm getting more and more excited to see the final result!

Meghannsix

It looks beautiful!  I really wanted to wear my mother's mother's gown, which I had tried on 15 years or so ago when I was engaged (to someone else, never got married), and it fit and was in amazing condition.  Now that I'm engaged again, my mom "can't seem to find it" and I am disappointed.  I think it's great that you can share this with her!

Michellea86

I was definately considering wearing my moms wedding dress, it had been in the back of my closet for years. My mom passed away last year, and when I got engaged I went on the hunt for her dress and we can't find it anywhere. My dad thinks she threw it out. We do have her veil though, so I will be wearing that for sure.

Love the alterations you have done to the dress, it looks fantastic already. And I LOVE the open back, thats what I am looking for

ktelizabeth86

I'm glad you have the veil! How special. 

bandjwedding2012

Wow that looks amazing.

palrmt

I would have loved to been able to do something like that even if it was just sewing a piece into my dress or using a piece of hers as a bouquet wrap.  My mom's dress was almost all lace and gorgeous.  Unfortunately she lost it to Hurricane Katrina   One of those things the insurance can't replace

I love what you have done with the dress.  Plus you will always know that you had a one of a kind dress. 

SomethingSouthern

Your alterations look lovely! The back is beautiful! Congrats! I had been thinking about wearing my mom's as well (with lots of alterations: she was an eighties bride too, but unlike you mom's classic style... well, it showed! my mom's dress is poufed out!!!). I'm not quite sure how to go about finding a good person to help me with the changes. There will be several of them, and I'm rather picky. Any suggestions? Also, just wanted to share: My mother is one of the least emotional, sentimental people I have ever met. When I mentioned the idea of wearing her dress, I expected a "well, I suppose you could... whatever you want, dear," because of her, let's say, history of apathy when it comes to herself and things that may matter to her. Anyway, (jeez, I don't mean to be so long-winded) when I asked, my mother burst into tears, said that she thought I would look amazing in her dress, and that she thought it was a beautiful idea. Her wonderful response has me scrambeling to make sure I use her dress, and do it well. I'd love to hear how you foud a reliable seamstress/designer (?). Thanks!

ktelizabeth86

My Mom was excited that I was going to wear her dress too. She's the one who actually found my seamtress.

We both were searching online for people near us, and my Mom came across this lady with an e-mail address "weddingdressdoctor". I just sort of took a leap of faith and e-mailed the lady pictures of me in Mom's dress and explained what I wanted to do. She e-mailed me back and said it was all do-able and would cost around $300.00 (SAVE!). I honestly didn't have a lot to go on. She doesn't have a website or anything, but when I met her the first time she sounded like she new her stuff and told us about her past experience.

So far I'm really happy with her and she actually comes to my parent's house to work on the dress.

My best piece of advice would be to start the process as early as possible. I figured that if something happened and the dress looked horrible I would still have time to get a new one. Luckily, that hasn't happened and I'm really happy with the dress thus far.

Good luck! Post pics!

SomethingSouthern

Thanks for the advice! Also, gotta say, love your screenname! I"m Katie Beth to my family I'll do that then, take some leaps of faith. 

ktelizabeth86

Good luck!