Finished.

Though we still haven't gone through all the wedding pictures, here are some of my favorites (courtsey of Jonathan, Tracy, and Michelle).

The girls prep the cake on Thursday night.

Cindy and I decorate the cake with about two hours to spare before the wedding begins.

The Ceremony

The Reception

The girls who made it all happen.

The Completed Dress

Ah! The day is finally here! No, not the wedding day, though it is quickly approaching. The day that the dress is finally complete! See Mom, I made the deadline two whole days early! And you thought I'd be sewing right up til 5pm on Friday.

Though at first I thought it would be easier to re-construct a dress (or rather, re-use the shell of a dress), I now know that it is MUCH easier to sew one from scratch. In fact, I could have probably made 3 complete dresses (crinolines included!) in the time it took me to take this one apart and re-use some key pieces. Turns out that even designer label dresses are not perfect, as I discovered several flaws and/or "cover-ups" in this gown as I deconstructed it.

Here we go....

This left pic is of the almost-complete dress, still needing a hem and bustle. The right one is it in it's completed form.

Here I am getting the bustle ready. Instead of using the traditional hook-and-eye method, I made one up with ribbons. Two ribbons through the bottom of the zipper, and two ribbons where the hooks would go. The ribbons hang both inside and out, so that I can do both an overbustle or an underbustle. Cost: $1.79. Tracy, at ten bucks a bustle, you're being overcharged!

Here are pics of both. I can't decide! The good part is, I don't have to.

Ah, and this final one is for you, Vickie. The serged edge. A lot of scrap fabric died in the making of this dress. But the final hem had no fatalities.

The Dress Part II

The most difficult puzzle is not 1000 pieces. It's 7. Seven pieces of polka dot material. Needless to say it's not just hard, it's impossible. So here's my best shot.



Did I mention that the fabric frays as soon as you look at it? Check out my new sergering skills! (Please disregard my red fingers. Spent Friday evening dying fabric pink for table runners!)



Once all seven peices were sew together, they had to be sewn to the lining.



Here's what it looks like in the mirror. Haven't quite gotten to the zipper yet.



And here's what it looks like when I set up my automatic timer and run across the room for a picture!

The Dress Part I

After many months of doing nothing but staring at the fabric, we finally begin construction of the dress. Special thanks to Vickie and Cindy for teaching me their serger techniques. (And shame on Kenmore for making an instructional DVD without instructions instead of a printed manual with diagrams. No matter how many times I watch the DVD, it still doesn't tell me how to remove the damn stitch finger. In fact, it doesn't even mention the stitch finger. Don't worry Kenmore, Singer came through where you fell seriously short).


Here I'm playing around with how the bustle might look.

C is for Chirp & Cain

How many place sets does one register for? I would think 8, cause 6 is just too few and 10 seems like a lot. But at an average of $100 per setting….

Fine china is just too fabulous to only make an appearance on holidays and special occasions. And don’t get me started on those stupid china display cabinets, so you can forget me showcasing the china there. If I’m going to pay $800 bucks for china, you can be damn sure I’m gonna use it everyday that I can.

Plus, it makes me happy. And if eating pizza off of fine china makes me happy, then that’s what I’m gonna do.

Steve and I love Chirp by Lennox. No, it’s not white, and it doesn’t have a platinum band around the rim, and it may not fit into the look of every special occasion. But everytime I look at them, I image using them for pizza and parties and well, just about everything, really. And then I imagine them sitting in the dishwasher with the other dishes cause we’re too lazy to put it all away, and I think, they just belong with us.

Then I look at these monogrammed plates from Potterybarn, and they belong with us too. Along with their coordinating army of serving dishes and cereal bowls. And between the two pair, we should have just about everything covered.

Viva Carolina

Carolina Herrera. While I enjoy extravagance just as much as the next bride (ok, maybe I don't), my dream dress could pay for our honeymoon. And I'm not talking a Carnival Cruise departing from our home port of Tampa. I'm talking a Celebrity Cruise around the South Pacific, and maybe even a dive or two in Bora Bora.

So I called upon my second two favorite designers. I love their work first and foremost because they are wonderful seamstresses. (How can we forget that fabulous clown costume, a custom peice designed specifically for me as I laid down spread-eagle on a peice of material while my mom traced around me. Elastic on the arms and ankles and voila! If that doesn't just scream couture!)

I also love them because they are free labor. And while one sewing machine is good, two is better. And a surger is just the icing on the cake. (Hmmm... interesting. The one that owns the surger IS actually the one who will be icing the cake. Like how that works out?)

Let Us Make Cake

Why buy cake when you can make the yummy deliciousness yourself? If Martha can do it, then so can we. Cindy and I attempted our first-ever fondant cake. And it won't be our last. Though we're still working out the formula for the exact shade of pink. We're thinking polka dots. Lots of them. And other things too.

White cake. Yellow cake. Chocolate cake. Lemon cake. Red velvet cake. That cake with the funny little sprinkles in it. Why pick one when you can have them all?

So what if it's been a month and the kitchen is still coated in a light layer of confectioner's sugar? We made cake! And we're pretty good at it, if we do say so ourselves.

Let Them Eat Cake

Ah cake. Wonderful wonderful cake. I love them all. I want them all.

Think Pink

The inspiration board of all things pink. Yes, even Restoration Hardware bed linens made the list.

Steve Selects the Theme

Back in August, Stephen got a hot tip from one of our engaged coworkers that Michael’s had Martha on sale! We strolled on over around 8:30 on a Friday evening, and by the time the store closed at 9, we had not only the complete Martha Stewart Water Lilies Wedding Collection, but a color and a theme as well. All selected by my wonderful groom. What can I say, he has good taste.

The Venue

Tackle the hard-to-get things first. In this case, the venue. I honestly can’t even remember how we stumbled across the Lake Mirror Complex in Lakeland. Somewhere on the internet in one of my zillion venue searches. I do know that it wasn’t easy to find, and it isn’t highly publicized. Steve and I drove out there one Saturday and knew it was the place (It was actually the only place we visited). Turns out, it’s a lot more popular than theknot.com would lead you to believe. When I called to book it, they were all filled up – for every Saturday for the next TWO years. I said how about a Friday, they said how about April 3, I said where do I send the check? Venue: done.

Welcome

I adore Martha Stewart.  She is a woman of many options, and I love options.  I find it delightful that if one of her products at Michael’s costs $19.99, the very same item costs a mere $9.99 at Walmart.  And if you’d prefer an even less costly route, simply buy the materials at Michael’s OR Walmart for $.99, and make the item yourself using her downloadable instructions from her website free of charge. (How have people not caught on to this?)  The woman is a genius. She’s marketed the very same product to three different audiences: the women who pay to say “It’s Martha Stewart”; the women who wish they could afford Martha Stewart; and the women who want to be Martha Stewart.  (I’m in the last category, for those wondering.  And let’s face it. You are too. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.)

That being said, welcome to The Sugarcain Project, otherwise known as “Kate & Steve: The Wedding”, otherwise known as “The Second Largest Craft Project of ALL Time.”  The first largest project being my Junior Prom, of which I was Co-Chair.  Basically the same essential requirements (theme, colors, decorations, food, etc…), except I had to either sacrifice the integrity of my ingenious ideas for the sake of committee “compromise” or waste my invaluable time convincing others to go with my superior décor ideas (as if their beauty didn’t speak for itself!)  It will be much easier this time, as I retain complete creative control.  Not to mention a smaller scale venue and a tenth of the audience.  (But let me just say that the wall-sized sunset behind the 10 foot silhouette of the Taj Mahal was totally worth the three days it took to dye the 100 yards of muslin to various sunset hues. Ah, memories!)