First Fitting

Tuesday was my first dress fitting. Mom, Emily, Mama Peg, Heidi, and I all descended upon David's Bridal to watch women poke me with pins. This was Mama Peg and Heidi's first time seeing my dress.

Emily was official photographer of the afternoon.

It only took three David's employees, but we managed to figure out the awesome bustle that Chrissy showed me when I first tried on the dress.

It got a little awkward towards the end ("Everyone! Stare at me! Stare at meeeeee!") but I had a lot of fun. After the fitting, the five of us went for coffee--and I always love hanging out with my moms and sisters.

Sari Party!

Mama Peg and I finally found my wedding sari! She sent me a link to a beautiful, non-traditional red sari with with green and purple trim and embroidered peacocks.

I'm in love.

Quick side note for anyone who hasn't heard me (or someone else) explain the sari:


The sari is a traditional women's garment in India. You start by putting on a cropped blouse and a petticoat, then wrap six yards of beautiful fabric around yourself:

Because the blouses need to fit like a second skin, Mama Peg had to take many, many measurements. Including some awkward ones:

With my order on its way, Mom, Emily, and I decided to start picking the wedding party's saris.

Like Rus and Heidi, Jay and I decided to have a semi-traditional Indian rehearsal and dinner. The girls will wear saris and have the opportunity to get henna . Jay and some of the other men will be wearing kurta pajama.

So, Mama Peg pulled out as many of her saris, blouses, petticoats, and salwar kameez as she could find. I promptly made a sari pile.

Emily tried on a couple and settled on this gorgeous one that Mama Peg wore on her birthday:

Then I started pulling out other saris  for the rest of the bridesmaids (I took pictures of the pallus--the end that goes over your shoulder--because they have the most detail).

I've known for years that I would have Sara wear this green and pink chiffon one:

And I think Katie Ya would look stunning in this pink floral chiffon:

Since Emily's is so bold, I tried to find a similarly striking one for Nicky and spotted this sheer royal blue:

I'm hoping that Mama Peg's gold blouse and petticoat set will fit her.

Heidi wants to try to wear her wedding salwar again. It's beautiful and she hardly ever has a reason to.

My mom tried a few and eventually picked a deep maroon one. It was a real stroke of luck because the sari still has the blouse piece attached (at the end opposite the pallu is some extra fabric that can be cut off and used to sew a matching or contrasting blouse).

When we have (a bit) more time in the summer, the three of us will have a sewing party so that we can make sure everyone has a blouse that fits.

Spring Break--Making Impressions

...and I'm back! Winter quarter was especially tough on me, hence the lack of wedding planning/posting. I'm currently on spring break and will soon start student teaching which will (oddly enough) leave me with more free time in afternoon than usual--of course, there will be lesson planning and thesis writing, but at least I can in comfy pants!

Anyhow, I've been at my parents house since Thursday and will be staying until Sunday morning. While I've been home, we've really hit the ground running with wedding prep. One of the first things I did was to make impressions for Jay's wedding ring.

Before we even got engaged, I found what would eventually be Jay's ring at an etsy shop called Fabuluster. Jess and Brent Williams make cast impressions of fingerprints and incorporate them into their jewelry. Jay really liked the idea and picked this ring:

I ordered it and received my impression kit in the mail. All I had to do was follow Brent's instructions and send him my fingerprints.

So first: boiling water in a pot and sticking my hand in a hot (but not boiling) sink.

Once the water on the stove boiled, I poured it into a bowl and took its temperature.

When it had cooled to 140 degrees, I dropped in an impression strip.

After thirty seconds, the water had softened the black side of the strip so that I could make my impression.

Then I just had to cool it until the black side stiffened again and peel the strip off my finger.

And repeat three more times!

As a side note, the funniest part of making these impressions was when my brother came home from class starving and started making pizza. Of course, the pizza was ready to come out of the oven at the exact moment my last pot of water boiled, so for a few minutes, we had to dance around each other while holding a variety of very hot objects.

The impressions are in the mail, so soon enough Jay's ring will be here. Cross that off the list!