OK, LOL, for those of you who have been following the trials associated with the design and stitching of our youngest DD's wedding dress, here's a peek at the finished product.

FYI, I used a Jacobean Trellis Stitch on the trim, which basicaly made overlapping diamonds in 2 shades of pale blue (lt and med), leaving some diamonds open, where pearl seed beads were attached... Wherever the threads crossed they were tacked down with a blend of gold/silver Japan cord from Kreinik...

So it looked like this - only smaller (remember, these are seed beads, if you want to know scale, LOL):

I did a mock up of the pattern for the top, which some of you may have seen previously... The basic dress was a thin silky under lining, with a shear overskirt, a gathered bodice (she didn't like the pleated one I tried), and this stitched trim that crossed her tummy, wrapped around to the back at the sides, but also climbed around her bosom, to cross behind her neck... got it, LOL?

So I thought we had things under control and the dress was almost complete... then she came for the final fitting... WELL!

First of all - she bought a YELLOW bra to wear with the dress. I know, that's what I said too... but it was the style she wanted, on sale, and they didn't have white or natural... so that's what I had to work with. Also, the dress lining wasn't quite heavy enough anyway (she would have had to wear a slip, which she didn't want to do), so the first thing was that I had to go buy heavier lining... which meant 3 layers to the dress - and the skirt was a bit heavy with all that fabric, LOL, but nothing showed -including the bra!

And I really should have had that bra before I made the pattern, as it sat higher then the neckline at the sides, so I had to add a narrow strip across the top of the bodice, which actually turned out quite well, as it really set the top of the dress off nicely!

THEN she decided the overskirt wasn't as gathered as she wanted at the front waistline (about here my mom asked her if she knew where the wedding dress store was, ROFLOL)... so I looked at the scraps of fabric I had left, and had JUST enough for 2 tapered sections, which I sewed together with the large ends at the bottom, split the front of the overskirt (while I had it off to add the 3rd lining), and sewed the 2 sections into the front of the overskirt... and you know what? The seams all fell back into lovely graceful drapes, and you couldn't even see any of the seams!

What else? Oh yes, from the left-over lighter white fabric I made her a wrap, which was good, as it was quite cool the day of the wedding... also all the bridesmaids had them, so it looked planned, <wink>...

Anyway, here is the bride coming down the aisle with her dad, and my DH of 26 years:

And getting slightly wind-blown, here are both our dd's... as her big sister (by 12 months, LOL) was also her maid of honor...
These 2 are so close they have been living together at University for two years, and have matching tattoos that say 'sisters' in latin on their wrists!

And a quick shot of the bride and groom... Luke is a very sweet, gentle man, and clearly adores her, so I think he'll do!

And finally, my favorite pic of the 500+ that were taken this weekend:

Cause she looks so happy... Hope you enjoyed this quick glimpse...