"Tootsie" Before and After

"Tootsie's" zipper flap had popped loose and the buttons were not evenly spaced.  We fixed all of that. Her zipper flap still doesn't lay completely flush, but we will be with her on her wedding day and we will sew the flap down.   

Sabrina in Luray

This past weekend, we worked a wedding in Luray, VA. I was happy to see our bride Sabrina and a venue I had never been to before.  But, unusually enough, I was also excited for the road trip, because I wanted a photograph of the Luray Volcano.  I know what you're thinking, "The Luray, what??" Yes, there is an ancient volcano in Luray, (possibly many of them?) and no, you can't google image search it to find it.  Thus my desire to photograph it.  So I had my camera ready in anticipation.  As we neared Harrisonburg, the sky opened up and we had a hard, driving rain on 81.  Oh, poor bride, I thought.  It is an outside wedding.  As we neared Luray, the rain ceased and a beautiful, gray hovering mist embraced the mountain range.    It also wound its way around the volcano so that it was shrouded beyond recognition.  Harrumph. 

As we pulled up to Stover Hall,  I took in the charming brick facade with white trim.  We drove deeper down the drive, and the Appalachian Mountains spread her arms in greeting, the garland of fog draping her ancient shoulders.  I drew in a breath.  Sabrina's pictures were going to be amazing.

You guys know about my favorite wedding weather.  It's a morning that is washed and brightened by rain, followed by a full day of partly cloudy skies.  I'm even up for a rain shower or two.  The colors come out in full strut after a rain shower, I tell you.  And you also have no squinty pictures.  Hooray! This is the kind of day that was prepared for Sabrina! 

I did my usual dress prepping.  I steamed her gown and veil.  I steamed the bridesmaid's dresses.  Tacked a few things where needed.  I tightened up the MOG's dress a smidge for her.  

Sabrina took the route of having coordinating dresses for the bridesmaids.  My fave.  <3  Look really close, and you can see a blur of Sabrina in the field to the right of the bridesmaids.  She is approaching the site of her first look photos. 

See the picture on the right?  That's MOG and MOB.  I love their dresses!  They both wore lace overlay shifts.  

Hair by friend of the bride, Devin.  Awesome job!!!  

Gown from Church Street Bridal.  Veil was also from Church Street, but was re-tulled by The Gilded Thimble.  Don't be scared of damaged veils!  You can save a ton and we can swap out the tulle and comb.  No biggie! 

Sabrina's bouquet was a show-stopper! Her flowers were perfectly bloomed lilies, roses and succulents. Vivian's got it right! It's rare to see lilies that aren't creased or in the wrong stage of blooming.

A couple other vendors that I should mention: Planning by James Umana.   Sabrina also had live music performed by loved ones from her church.  

Above, Lindsey from one of Sam Stroud's teams coaches the girls for their picture.  She was super nice and knowledgeable.  So was Meredith and Mitchell.  I had a great day working with that team!  Kaylee, a friend of Sabrina's was doing video.  I can't wait to see her interpretation.

 While I've given you a good report on the vendors of the day, there are many details lacking.  I had to help Sabrina with her dress pretty intensely because of the wet grass.  So all the stunning vistas will be masterfully captured by Sam Stroud's team.  Watch for those breathtaking images! I also would've loved to share a pic of Sabrina's dad and his long-time girlfriend, Jenn.  They were sweethearts.  They accompanied Sabrina on her sewing day at my shop, so we have literally spent a couple days together. Thanks Dad and Jenn!

As I packed up, I hugged Sabrina goodbye and mentioned my missing the volcano picture, (she knew I was going to try to get one that day.) But, Sabrina looked beautiful and she had a glorious backdrop for a wedding day.  ~Sigh~   I'd give up getting that shot again and again if it meant she could have a day this beautiful.  xoxo, Sabrina.  Wishing you many happy years of love! 

Our Contracts are Fun!

Most people dread perusing and signing contracts. Most people are boring and serious. Our brides are the exception!! Check out this fun notation that was included in the contract that came in the mail today. I just love Gilded Brides! <3

September 19th can't get here soon enough.  

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Bride, "Marie" Before and Afters

"Marie"  chose a grass-length hem for her farm wedding.  She's going to love moving around freely on her wedding day!  We also took up the bodice and re-shaped the hips a little.  The skirt of the dress was originally a hot mess.  We spent hours pressing it, grooming it, and stabilizing it with stitches.  (The before picture is actually after it had already been pressed.) You can now see and appreciate the lace work on the skirt.  The patterns of lace are pleasing and the silhouette of the dress is defined.    

Kayla and Sam

We worked a wedding this weekend in the "Wild and Wonderful, West Virginia." Whew!  Try saying that 5 times fast!  While I wouldn't try repeating that phrase again and again, I wouldn't mind reliving this wedding.  It went so smoothly.  Usually the day's events take their cue from the outlook of the bride, and this day was no exception.  Kayla was completely chill all day long and it reflected in the feeling of the day.  

Her vendors were awesome to work with!  Everyone did their own jobs, but also pitched in where needed. We are even having discussions about offering joint promos together because we all complemented each other so well.  That is rare!  I'll get to the vendor list throughout my post. Meanwhile, let me step out of the way and get on with the pictures and story of the day... 

Kayla came to me back in April to have her dress altered.  As you can see from the pictures, the torso was way too long for her frame.  We had to shorten the waist, which is a deep alteration.  We also hemmed her dress, put in a bustle, and groomed her gown.  See the craziness in the train in the before picture? That takes hours of pressing and tacking to rectify.

Below, I've zoomed in on her gown to show the difference in the torso length.   

Remember the part about the alterations being in April?  Well, her gown is a delicate lace and is covered in very heavy beads.  We are assuming that the weight of the gown stretched it, because the length was right in the studio months ago, but it was waaay off this past Saturday.  Her dress was 4 inches too long!  She could not walk in it. I'm so glad I was there to hem it on the spot!!!  Seriously girls, this is why we push for either a final adjustment fitting or hiring us for wedding day services.  You just never know.  

Hem on left was so long she couldn't walk.  Hem on right is fixed.  

We had the gems on her dress wrapped in tulle so that they wouldn't put a pull in the lace.  We pressed her gown, the bridesmaid's dresses, and the steamed the suits.  

Kayla was finally aisle ready.  

Here comes the bride!  Kayla's train was orderly and beautiful.  

The middle picture is Melissa Perella, the photographer of the day.  She is incredible!!!  I loved her calm, happy presence.  She was genuinely nice and engaging of the other vendors.  She was humble yet skilled- be still my heart!! 

Kayla's planner had lined up all of the names of the wedding party in the order in which they should enter.  She was super organized and helpful.  Her name was Madison Branham.  She's from Knoxville, TN. 

Above, Kayla and Sam take their vows.  What do I do during the ceremony?  I run back to the bridal suite and pack everything up, except for hand stitching items and things I may need for a bustle mishap.  I unplug the iron so that it can be cooling. I pack away "dangerous" things so that no little ones could get hurt while the things are left unattended.   

Photos by Melissa Perella

Here are a couple of pictures from Melissa.  She did such an incredible job!  Please do take a moment to view her fb page and her website.  You don't want to miss her work. I love the picture with the yellow fluffy cloud.  I was so excited to see something so colorful pass over their day!  

Behind Sam and Kayla is Tamarack, their wedding venue.  Inside, the halls are lined with artwork and they have a gallery.  I'm an art lover, so I was in heaven.  The venue staff was amazing. Everything ran smoothly.  One thing was unmistakable- the happy attitudes.  I had to go in the back rooms several times throughout the day, and even in the back, where workers can be themselves, they were all helpful and happy! That says a lot. 

I must also say that I truly loved this family. They kept me in stitches all day long.  Especially, M.O.B. Sara, "LOVE her!!"

Hope you have enjoyed my take on the day! 


A New Plan

To some it may seem far away, but in the wedding industry -where it seems I'm always mentally living 6 months out, the new year is just around the corner.  Right now, we are starting a shift in the way we blog so that in 2016 we will have ushered in a completely new approach to our blogging. 

Historically, I have blogged in bursts.  The posts have been content rich, often taking hours to produce.  My web traffic reflects this.  I have a steady stream of visitors perusing my galleries with extreme bursts in traffic following my blog posts.  I will still post about the weddings that I work, but the content will be much lighter.  

The other change will be that, as often as I can, I intend to post before afters of our projects.  Here's how it will work. The brides will choose an alias.  I will post the headless before/afters of the brides, then I will give them a link to that post.  They can choose to share their b/a pic with close friends and family at that time and/or do a social media post after their wedding day.  

That will give my blog more sustained traffic without a huge investment in time.  It also shares the love among many of my brides instead of only highlighting the brides whose weddings I work.  

I hope you all enjoy seeing the dramatic transformations that we see here daily!  I know I have a lot of gallery fans out there, but the galleries are really just a drop in the bucket compared to what we do every day. This new approach in blogging is going to share that excitement with you on a regular basis!  

Ashley Got Married!!!

Woah! This dress came a looong way!  This gown was from Celebration Bridal and was to-die-for with the soft pink bridal satin, overlaid with ivory lace.  Unfortunately, it was a wee bit tight!  Ashley spent an evening with us and we got it all worked out for her.  Check out how amazing she looked this past Saturday at the Boxtree Lodge in Vinton.   Cell snap courtesy of her bridesmaid, Jordan Asbury, who also happens to be a Gilded Bride!  

Sneek Peek: New Homepage Images

We will have new homepage images soon.  Yippee!!  We had a shoot yesterday with a model that will be used in our new homepage images.  Here's a sneek peek of how the shoot went.  

Try not to get confused.  This model's name is Noa, (pronounced the way we commonly pronounce the name of the Prophet with the Ark.) The following picture is not of me.  I repeat- it is a different person, not me.  I know, I know, it's hard to tell us apart.  Her eyes are green, mine are brown.  That may help you to tell the difference. ;)

Tutorial: Hemming a hanky hem, baby hem, or rolled hem

From time to time I get emails asking me how to do certain things, sewing-wise.  I wish I had time to write tuts on all of the questions that I receive.  The question I was emailed today is, how do you mark a floor length gown for hemming?  Well, there are lots of types of hems.  There's no way to cover all of the bases, but from her description, I'm assuming that this person is asking about a hanky or baby hem on a light chiffon or georgette gown.  The bulk of the fabric really matters when estimating how much fabric to leave for your hem allowance. The bulkier your fabric, the more length you need to leave.

While I illustrate how to mark, I'm going to go ahead and give a few cutting and hemming pointers as well.  

Lets say the client wants a 1/4 or 1/8 inch rolled hem.  This is straight-stitch, not serged.  I would take that number and multiply by 3 to get 3/4 inch.  I would have the client stand on a 1 inch magazine in the shoes that she plans to wear with the gown.  (The magazine will compress slightly when she stands on it.) I would mark to the floor all the way around.  The more marks you have the more accurate.  Have her look straight forward, she's not allowed to look down.   That picks up the back of the dress. I use a sliver of bar soap to mark.  Make sure that you do not stretch the dress as you mark.  Mark it right where it naturally hits the floor without being pulled. 

Excuse my crude, silly sketches! ;) 

Cut on the long side of the marks, (always err long on every decision, you can always shorten a bit if needed later.) When you approach a vertical seam, swoop down a little bit. The extra bulkiness will gobble a little of your length. (see my blue marks in the 3rd pic)  

As you sew around the hem, snip those seam allowances on the vertical seams.  That will make them less bulky.   

One huge tip to note when sewing the baby hem:  It's not just about the right hand holding a tight little roll. The left hand needs to pull to the left while the right index finger pushes down and pulls slightly to the right.  (see gray arrows) This pulling from both directions keeps the feed dogs from causing your roll to pull extra fabric into it. -That would cause the roll to be bigger and less tight, (yuck!)

Hope this helps! :) 

Mark and Carly

Here is the long awaited blog post!!  Let me just preface this by saying that normally, when I do a blog post, I average about 12 images.  It is my purpose with this blog to market my business with the power of social media.  

I use my blog to give credit to other vendors and to represent the resulting beauty of my work.  The most effective way for me to *show* beauty online is with photography, (Note: I'm giving the stink-eye to the rare photog that is insanely jealous and feels they should be the only ones allowed to take pics or do a blog post about a wedding. :P )  I've been a photographer for longer than I've been a seamstress, but I'm not trying to compete with wedding photogs with my images.  Everyone has a different vision that they take away from a day.  I also always make a point to not take shots of anything that the photographer has composed.  And I will never, repeat, NEVER shoot over their shoulders.  

Anyways, kudos to my many sweet, non-competitive photographer friends.  Jenny Clark is one of them.  She is a great photographer.  She works with children especially well, (the hardest part!!) and is very skilled with what she does. She and I talked about this day and she kindly permitted me to take pictures.  I am posting many more pictures than usual, because this was a family event for me and this post serves, not just as a business post, but as a personal family record.  

Jenny shooting

without further ado... 

The site was at a family farm.  Unbelievably beautiful.  Some of the pics have a foggy effect to them.  That's not a dreamy filter that I used, it was just very humid, so I kept getting fog on my lens. lol 

Here's the bustle for the reception.  It's a triple traditional.

To Mark and Carly:

May God give you abounding love, patience, and wisdom.  May you never be selfish.  May you war against anything that tries to come against your marriage.  May you always remember that you are on the same team.  May you grow closer to God and deeper in love.  And I pray that one day you look down at your aged feet and see how close you still walk together. 

With love, 

The Other Suters <3

Sneak Peek!

I'm working a double today, so no blog post yet.  But, I had a little break and just had to edit this one.

(See also, post below.)  This is a pic I took at the wedding that I worked Saturday. A very different day for me!  I was the seamstress, and attended as a guest and relative, (That guy below is my brother-in-law).  As a photography enthusiast, I also had to take a few pics of my baby brother and new sissy!  Jenny Clark from Don't Blink Photography shot this wedding beautifully and obliged me a minute to capture this.  I can't wait to tell you more about her and all of their other wonderful vendors.  Oh, and the wedding site... gasp.  This here's God's country.  Just wait til you see!!