This is a story about what NOT to do before your brother's wedding.
DON'T decide that you are going to make all of your clothes. Even if you have the cutest patterns for a dress for your daughter; pants, vest & bow tie for your son; and a dress for you...unless you have hours of free time and are able to finish the outfits well before the wedding, it is probably more stress than it is worth.
Before the wedding in the outfits they ended up wearing.
When you plan on taking your sewing machine on the 2-week vacation you will be taking right before the wedding in order to finish the 3 outfits you decided to make & it breaks at midnight the night before you leave. Give in. Buy clothes. DON'T press on determined to make the clothes in the 10 days you will have before the wedding, after you get your machine fixed, while you are also preparing for VBS & a fundraising yard sale happening the week after the wedding. It will probably end up being more stress than it is worth.
Looking down. The flower in Allie's hair was supposed to be an embellishment on my dress...
3 days before the wedding, even when you have the perfect shoes (purchased on clearance) to match your daughter's dress, it is a bad idea to START making the dress. Even if you are able to finish it that night. Because when it turns out to be 2 sizes too big you will not have enough time to do the necessary alterations (and also make the pants, vest, bowtie, and dress you still have left to make). Give in. DON'T persist in making the clothes. It is definitely more stress than it is worth.
Giving each other a hug (notice the shoes on Allie that started it all)
DON'T wait until 2 days before the wedding to go shopping for the outfits the majority of your family will wear. You probably won't find anything in the stores (that, by this point, have completely switched seasons and only have cold weather clothing...which is not appropriate for an outdoor wedding in August...), and will end up having to buy fabric to make last-minute alterations to clothing that you already own. Cost-effective...sure. Satisfying...not so much. More stress than it's worth...most definitely!
And now a kiss...
IF you manage to find a dress, 2 days before the wedding, that you love. That you love even more that the dress you designed in your head and bought the perfect fabric for. DON'T leave said dress at the nail salon after purchasing it. And make sure that you show the dress to as many people as possible when you get home so that if you do leave it behind, you realize it sooner than the night before the wedding at 11 pm. Otherwise, you will accidentally wake your sleeping parents up the night before the wedding when they need their rest only to find out the dress is not in their car. And your mother-in-law will end up making an emergency trip to the nail salon before the MORNING wedding. The nail salon will not be open, and your loving and generous mother-in-law will end up going to the store and buying yet another of the dress you love (thank goodness one of the 2 they had left will be in your size) only to get a call on the way to the wedding that the nail salon does have the dress. And now you will have 2 of this dress that you aren't so sure you love anymore. It will cause way more drama than necessary the morning before the wedding. All because you were determined to make your clothes. And it will be far beyond more stress than its worth!
He pulled away from the previous kiss, so she pulled him in for a decent smooch!
The moral of the story? If your brother...or sister...or anyone in your family is getting married. Know months in advance what you will be wearing and make sure it is all ready to go and laid out days before the wedding!
(alterations made the night before the wedding: Ryan's long-sleeve dress shirt was turned into a short sleeve, the red pocket square on his vest was removed and some cloth matching his sister's sash sewn in, A flower & bow combo cut off Allie's dress & the existing sash covered with fabric that matches the flower, a flower cut off a lace flower garland & glued to a clippie for her hair)
4 comments:
Oh my, Kim!!! Oh my!! But the photos are absolutely darling. They look so precious in their outfits and you looked so lovely and NONE of the stress showed. What a joy to see you. Guess what---Grandpa has ordered a computer with skype!!!! Maybe we will figure out how to skype you once in awhile. Lots and lots of love and prayers, Grandma
I feel like that was a dream :) but it only happened days ago. But like I told Papa it just wouldn't right if we didn't have things like this happened. It took me right back to Nebraska in the middle of the night looking for someone purse so she could get on the plane early in the morning. We just need this drama so when we get together we can sit around and laugh our heads off. Now you know here where else Allie gets that strong will, I was determined that you were gonna have your dress and it was so cool how it all worked out. The stress is horrible and it seems to always happen when we are looking forward to big occasions!! Love the pictures of the twins...so so sweet. They are so much fun now that they can talk to us. Hugs. Nana
For all that drama, I must say you all looked so adorable! I read the post from the actual wedding that has you pictured first - not knowing about all of this drama - so I say this with sincerity.
Oh, Kim. That is SO something I would do. SO so SO something I would do. Thank you for sharing it. And bless you for posting all those darling pictures of the kiddos along with the tragic tale!
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