My Mom and My Wedding Gown...

My sisters and I were very fortunate to have our mom create, draft and bring our wedding gowns to life.

Growing up, it was common to say, "...Mom will make it for me and it will be done in a few days."

When my wedding came along, I knew what gown I wanted.  As I found several "kind of, sort of" gowns, the price tags increased to well over $2000.  I just wasn't happy with any of them.

This is where my mom comes in...

I looked through dozens of wedding magazines and came up with a combination of several photos:  the bodice of this gown, the sleeves of that gown, the torso of this gown and the bottom of that gown.  Oh and I want my wedding train to be able to come off after the ceremony so that I don't have to drag that heavy bundle of material all night long.  I didn't want my gown to cause me to itch and I didn't want it to make me too hot (we were married in Hawaii).

To me it was a small order.  To others it was asking for a miracle.

I sent the magazine pages to my mom and she told me how many yards of material to get.  I bought the satin, lace, thread, sequins and pearls.  I sewed the sequins on every single rose on the "umpteenth" yards of lace and mailed the entire package to my mom with my measurements.

Approximately three weeks later, my gown came back to me in the mail.  PERFECT FIT!  All I needed to do was put my wedding shoes on, adjust the hem and mail it back to my mom.  I left the accessory decision up to my mom.  The next time I saw my gown was a few months later when we flew into town the week before our wedding.

Total cost:  $300 and absolutely, positively no stress.

Over the years, I've seen friends and family members get married and always wondered about their gowns.  It's at those times I am truly grateful for what my mom did for us. 

Twenty years later, here is what I still love and adore knowing my mom made it.  She's an amazing woman, an amazing seamstress and a wonderful mom.