I've mentioned numerous times that I am not a crafty person. I do have crafty ideas, just not the talent to execute them.
So when I wanted fake flowers in the color that matched my bridesmaids shoes, I wanted to kiss my BFF Amy Stevens' feet for volunteering to make the bridesmaids' boutiques, as well as my own. This was above and beyond her bridesmaid duties.
As if that wasn't enough, I asked her to figure out a way to include a doily my Grandmother had made into my bouquet. My Grandma died when I was 12 and I wanted to feel like she was with me somehow on my wedding day.
Amy didn't think twice and simply said "of course." But this wouldn't be a simple task since the doily was so old it was no longer white, but yellow, and therefore wouldn't mesh well with my all white bouquet.
If you look closely you can see lace coming out the bottom of the wrapping around my bouquet as well as just underneath the flowers. My crafty friend tied the flowers together with the doily and covered the yellow areas with satin ribbon so it all blended, but the doily showed enough for me to show people the part of my Grandmother I had with me.
Most of these details go unnoticed by the general wedding guest, but for the girly girls who daydream at weddings about their future big day or reminisce about the day they married their soulmates, these details are not only noticed, but appreciated.
Another touching detail brought to life by my BFF was my garter. Again, I challenged Amy by giving her my mother's 1970s wedding dress she wore when she married my father, and asked her to use part of it to make a garter.
My mother and father divorced when I was young and when she remarried I was lucky enough to end up with two amazing Dads, but on my wedding day I wanted to wear something that represented the first love that created me.
I described the doily as yellow, but this dress had sat in a box for decades and was more like that yellow newspapers turn when in an attic for years. Again, no easy task to make pretty again and blend with my modern-day wedding dress.
Amy took great care of my mother's dress, removing a small piece from the bottom layer of lace (and let me tell you this dress had layer, upon layer of lace) and washed it by hand multiple times to bring the piece back to its original color. She then took a part another garter and used the lace to make me a new one.
It brought me to tears when I first saw it, as well as when I put it on thinking of the love my mother and father had for each other the day they said "I do."
As many brides plan until their hair falls out, they ask themselves over and over if the work they put into these small details is worth it. I can't promise that everyone will notice, but the feeling it brings inside of you as a bride that day is completely worth it.
