Of Corsets and Secrets and True, True Love

First of all, I totally stole that title from a "Road to Avonlea" paperback book I loved as a kid.

Second of all...I am a horrible, horrible procrastinator who isn't really much closer to having anything decided about her wedding than she was six months ago.

I have my dress pattern, but I STILL haven't picked out the fabric. I've had the pattern for six months. I've even splurged and bought a corset to wear under the dress (from here). The main reason for the corset is that no matter how sturdy those undergarments you see in stores are, they never seem to stay up on me or offer any actual support. My friend Laura got married last August and wore one of those white bustier things you get at bridal shops, and she swears it held up well, but I just don't trust them. Plus I practically have to special order anything like that. So...I got a corset because they actually hold me up, and because I like corsets. Here's what it looks like:



Of course I took the green ribbon off the minute I unwrapped the package, because a) I don't much care for green and b) it would probably show under the dress.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I still haven't done any work on my actual dress. And because I've put it off for so long, I'm beginning to doubt my choice. Which is silly; I LOVE my dress pattern, it's exactly the kind of dress I've always, always wanted to wear. I've dreamed of this dress since I was a little girl. But recently I keep thinking...am I going to look too old fashioned, even for me? Is the big skirt going to make my already ridiculously short frame look even shorter? Or worse, is it going to make me look fat? All silly questions, really - I should wear what makes me happy, appearances be darned. But I won't lie; I WANT to look pretty on my wedding day. I want to look pretty in a dress that suits me.

...and you know what? I just stopped mid-post to go put on my dress mock-up (a rough version made of cheap muslin and by-the-pound curtain lace) and see how it looks again. And I still love it, and could probably just wear this dress that I made in a couple of hours out of scraps sitting around my basement for my actual wedding dress. I won't, of course, because I really really want something a little more satiny for the bottom layer and something a little more flowy for the lace, but still.


(The sleeves aren't actually going to be like this - I just didn't finish them since it's a mock-up and not the real dress).

You know what else? It DOES make me look short. Then again, I am short; the dress just doesn't do much to camouflage that. And it DOES make me look kinda fat. But then again, I'm a pretty buxom girl. And it IS incredibly old-fashioned. But then again, I wear made-by-me 1950's style sundresses every single day of the summer.


In the end, it isn't about the satin or the lace. It isn't about how perfect the dress may or may not be. It isn't about the fact that we bought Scott's awesome suit jacket for $5.50 at the local community theatre's rummage sale last Saturday. No matter how much or how little we end up spending, what matters is the marriage.