that fall feeling..

I got a phone call from one of my besties yesterday and she told me that it was nearly 120 degrees where she is in LA! It is the exact opposite here in KC (well, not opposite, but much much more pleasant, like 72 degress)

Thats one of my favorite things about this town.... Fall is always amazing, there are sooo many trees that all turn bright reds and yellows and oranges (growing up in Colorado, the only fall colors were yellow)

all my bling! Ive been wearing TONS of bangles lately, you can hear me coming from a mile away!

the air feels crisp and the evenings are beautiful and breezy. Lately, during my nightly dog walks I've been loving crunching through fallen leaves and collecting acorns (like a little squirrel!!! I've been drawing them...) The sun was shining bright today and making me feel giddy with fall excitement and apparently fairly goofy for these photos...

outfit details: jeans & blouse: Urban Outfitters, shoes:Target

Mrs..... if you please!

photo by John Taylor

thats right folks! it's official! this gal is a MRS!!! and a week into marriage and I am still loving it/him, more than ever! I can't describe how fun and great the wedding was, but it was really magical. We were surrounded by family and friends all weekend, in a beautiful country setting, celebrating ...US (me and Ryan, that is) what could be better?!

so, now that it is all over and I've had some time to recover (honestly I just slept and slept when we got home) I am excited to share all of the hard work/ craftiness that went into the entire wedding extravaganza! ( I feel like I have all this free time now that I am not constantly stressing about wedding planning!)

photo by John Taylor

So, the thing that I am most excited to share with ya'll? why my wedding dress of course!

As I am a professional seamstress I was fairly adamant about not spending ridiculous amounts of $ (those things are like THOUSANDS of dollars) on labor that I could easily do myself. So, I knew that I wanted to make my own dress.... I lucked out when I found a vintage 1940's wedding dress at a local boutique that fit me perfectly....

the original dress! long/rotten lace sleeves and all!

but alas there were some problems with the old dress. First off the lace overlay was rotten, so I took it off!

stage 2

and I changed the hem length ( I added about a foot...yup, Im that tall!) and ....added a new lace overlay, which I patterned and sewed.

I bought 5 yards of this gorgeous lace!

WHEW! I, (of course) finished only the week before the big day... but I was very pleased with the result! I felt retro, and elegant and like the best version of me ever! it was a great dress and a great day!

the final result! photo by John Taylor