My DIY Elegant Redneck Wedding

Before ~ I was preparing for my wedding, my Aunt Mary gave me her 35 yr. old wedding dress & told me, "It's yours, do whatever you want with it." I had a really hard time with the thought of deconstructing it, this was a $400 dress in 1978, it's absolutely BEAUTIFUL & fabulously vintage, I hadn't sewn since I was in high school, I'm a newbie at deconstructing & reconstructing & the thought of ruining it just absolutely broke my heart. 

Then I tried it on & realized she was about 100 lbs. when she wore this dress, I don't even remember being 100 lbs. It's beautiful, but not exactly my kind of style. And it dawned on me... Do I want this dress to continue to yellow, get fragile & eventually fall apart in a box where all it will do is take up space & never be used in all of it's glory? My answer was, Heck NO, I have enough stuff in storage!!!

I used Rit Fabric Whitener trying to get the yellow out, wasn't white enough to my liking so I used bleach. I figured if it fell apart I might still be able to use the lace for decorations if all else failed... It whitened up some, I managed to get the yellow out & it didn't fall apart, YAY!!! So, I got out the seam ripper & as carefully as possible I ripped it apart... 

Around our parts we're proud to be Hick Chic Rednecks, I knew I wanted a Redneck theme with camo dresses... I laid the pieces of her dress on my Realtree AP camo material that took me FOREVER to find & almost cried at how beautifully it went together. I changed my theme to Elegant Redneck...

After trying the bodice on my Baby Girl/Flower Girl, Janeya, I decided it should be on her dress... 

Flipped the bottom piece of the bodice upside down & used it as the waistband. Ripped the wide lace that wrapped around the entire bottom of the train off my aunt's dress & used it as the bottom lace trim of my niece, Maranda's Jr. Bridesmaid dress. 

Maid of Honor & Bridesmaid dress waist ribbons were the long strips of lace that ran the length of the train, every few inches apart. I had A LOT of this lace...

Used a scrap of the wide lace, flipped upside down to doll up the neckline of my dress & covered the straps with the long strips of lace I had a lot of. Restrung my Grandma's old pearls & used a few of them to put in the flowers of the lace to doll it up a bit more...

Made matching $1 flip flops for all 6 of us girls by gluing the lace over the straps...

Here's a pic of the wedding party... My Best Friend, Jane made her own dress & Janeya's dress. Thank you Jane! I was feeling a bit overwhelmed to say the least... I made the other 4 dresses, my husband's vest & all the ties... This was the 2nd wedding dress I made a week before the wedding because I gained some weight & the 1st dress no longer fit. The underlay of my dress is the train overlay of my aunt's dress. I turned it into a skirt so I could just slip it off when the party started... Cut her cathedral length veil off, made a camo ribbon & trimmed it. 

My sister & Maid of Honor, Lori...

My best friend & Bridesmaid, Jane...

My newly inherited children, 

Best Man & Bridesmaid, Devin & Nicci...

My niece & Jr. Bridesmaid, Maranda, daughter & Flower Girl, Janeya & her best friends, Jonnie & Lila (My Best Friend, Jane's daughters) Janeya refused to walk down the aisle without them, so I said, "Girls, you're in the wedding."

My sons & Groomsmen, Austin & Dylan

 walking me down the aisle... 

Husband & Wife, FINALLY!!! I've been in love with Beez (Brian) since I was 12 years old... Waited 25 years, hoping & praying for him to come back to me & it finally happened... This truly was my dream come true! My uncle, Calvin carved the buttons for Beez's vest out of deer antlers & carved wooden, morel mushroom tie tacks for the guy's ties... My cousin, Tiffany used scraps of camo fabric to make my flowers. Thank you so much Uncle Calvin & Tiff! 

Beautiful, baby girl, Janeya...

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