the prettiest dress of them all

Braeden and I drove to Sturgis, Michigan today to meet up with my friend Emily and her boyfriend Levi at a stake center there. You know, just for fun: it's only 5 hours away, no big deal. But actually we met up there because it was half way between Iowa City (where we live) and Pittsburgh (where Levi lives and Emily is visiting him for a while).

[Side note: On the way to and from Michigan Braeden read to me periodically from the book An Abundance of Katherines by John Green. It was so lovely being read to! Generally speaking I am the read-er, not the read-ee (also known as the listener...), and I had forgotten how great it is to be read to by a good reader. We're about three quarters of the way through the book and I am loving it! Also Braeden...]

Emily is in the process of making my wedding dress for me (since she is a pro) and, as she just finished the mock-up of the dress, we needed to get together for a preliminary fitting to make sure the pattern she made up for me was right and fit well and all of that before she went to work on the real thing. Talk about dedication.

For my inspiration for the dress I asked her if she could do the skirt from this dress:

This dress is made by designer Christos and while I found it randomly somehow on the internet, Emily saw the actual dress in person at the bridal boutique where she works about a month before I asked her if she could make it for me. Meant to be.

With the top similar to this dress, but with longer, elbow-length sleeves:

This is the top of one of Emily's own dresses from her collection.

This is what she came up with DISCLAIMER: keep in mind that this is a fitting with scrap fabric just to test out the pattern. (TRANSLATION: it looks a little bit like little kid dress-ups right now. You've been warned.):

I put it in black and white to make it easier to image what the final product will look like. The real thing will be in all white.

Here it is in all it's colorful glory. The train is still unfinished—there will be more layers to flesh it out in the final product and they will all tuck up into the skirt as a bustle to make it easy to walk around and not worry about it.

Here are some of the things I love about this dress:

1. It is versatile: the fluffy skirt is separate from the rest of the dress and it had detachable long sleeves so that it works as both my actual wedding dress and my temple dress. Clever!
2. The skirt is puffy and flowy and fun but also super comfortable and low-maintenance.
3. I don't have to make any alterations because the dress is already modest and temple-appropriate so I know exactly how it will look and don't have to worry about adding sleeves or front inlay.
4. Emily, whose family is one of my family's oldest friends, is making it. Not only is she so talented but it means even more because I know her and she is great.

Looking at these pictures I really feel like they don't do the dress justice. When I put it on—even though it's just the pretend pre-version of the actual thing—I just felt comfortable and pretty and just right: exactly how I think a wedding dress should make you feel. I can't wait to see the finished product in March!