
A while ago my Mom gave me her wedding dress in the original garment bag and it was rolled up in a ball. She said to me, do what you want with dress, I don't want it anymore {she was going to throw it away}. It sat in my closet for a while and I finally decided to do something with it vs. just hanging on to it. This is where you are probably going say what did she do? After debating for a while on what to do with it, I finally decided to cut up my Mom's wedding dress and made it into a wedding journal. My parents were divorced and my Mom didn't have any sentimental feelings towards it so why not. When Olivia was preparing for her communion, I was going to transform it into a communion dress but we just ended up buying her a new one. With the move from Arkansas to Michigan, my new thought process is, I don't want to hang on to things anymore, I want to use everything. The entire book is sewn together, even the pages of the journal. I only used glue in one spot and I have to say, I just winged it.....I really didn't have a process of how to sew a book together. On the front cover, the satin roses were on my Mom's bustle, the buttons were on her wrists and the the sequined lace was the body of her dress.

I decided to add photos of my Grandmother and her siblings as well as a photo of my Mom in her dress being walked down the aisle by my Grandfather. It is a tribute to all of the lovely wedding photos I am fortunate to have inherited {I used color photocopies so I wouldn't damage the originals}...it just kills me to have these wonderful photos tucked away for no one to see. So, here are the photos in order.

My Grandmother's sister.
My Grandmother and Grandfather, this is how they met...they each stood up for a wedding.
My Grandmother's brother.

My Grandmother {on the right} standing up for another wedding....her bother's wedding.
My Mom in her dress and I used the bridal shop's garment bag with the advertisment on the page.

My Grandmother's brother.

My Grandmother's brother.


Before I cut up the dress, I snapped a few photos of it.


I still have a ton of her dress left and I plan on creating additional journal for my girls when they get married. I will put that on my to do list. Now, if I only had the dresses and headpieces that my Grandmother wore. I hope after reading this you understand that I wanted to preserve my Mom in her dress and this is my way of doing it.