Cordially Invited

This has to be one of my favorite posts. Some of you may have met one of my very best girl's Laura. She's the sweet, little nugget that lives out in Lala.

Over the years her family has grown near and dear to my heart. Heck, I even lived with them for a blissful yet brief moment out of college. Her oldest sister Caitlin is getting married to a real gem named Dan. It's one of those marriages that just makes you giddy thinking about the wedding as I'm sure all those invited shamelessly have a countdown until the party starts.

Laura and I have been putting these two up on a pedestal for quite some time as they epitomize the perfect balance of love, fun, and friendship. Speaking for myself, I couldn't be more happy or excited for a couple than I am for these two. I can only hope that one day I have something remotely close to their relationship. 

Okay enough sap! I wanted to give a bit of a glamorous behind the scenes viewing of a stellar wedding in the making.

Some of you may ask why all the black and white…Lucky for you, I am prepared and have an answer to that question. Black and white just seems fitting. Once you start scrolling I think you'll agree. 

Meredith and I happily obliged to be Cait's little minions. We properly prepared with a little lounging before we got down to business.

Animated

We are easily bribed with pizza and wine.

It was the best unplanned weekend Mere and I could have asked for. 

xo,

Bee

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My Fair Maiden: Finale

Fiiiiiinally I'm getting around to giving you a look at the final product of my summer-long bridesmaid dress project. I made it for my dear friend Aly's wedding that was held on a beautiful fall day in Southern Indiana.

I managed to snag a few of the beautiful wedding photos, but first I took a couple boring pics at home for some close-ups of the dress. Ta-da!

 The open back was one of my favorite design features of the dress.

Shout out to the brilliant Lexi Arielle Photography who captured Aly and Will's big day perfectly. While I'm at it, Aly has a pretty sweet photography business herself, check her out at Alyson Naville Photography. The rolling hills of Southern Indiana, or "God's country" as Will likes to call it, was the perfect setting for the rustic chic wedding. 

Aly and her girls. We all got to choose our own dresses and they ended up going together perfectly! It was meant to be.

The bridal par-tay....ignore my cheesiness there.

These were all taken in Will's grandparents' back yard. Hello photo op!

So so happy that I got to be a part of this big day for two of my favorites.....and that my dress turned out to actually be wearable. I had my moments of doubt on that one, and I won't elaborate on the fact that I didn't actually complete it until two days before the wedding ;) But alas, it came through for me!

After the beautiful ceremony we danced the night away with friends and family. An all around perfect day.

XO,

Lo

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My Fair Maiden: Update

Time to play a little catch-up with my main goal for the summer: completing my bridesmaid dress for my friend Ally's wedding. My first round of bridesmaid duties is just around the corner. We're at a month mark on the countdown to the big day and my dress is still in the making. Think I procrastinate much? It's ok, I work well under pressure...I think. I'm getting more and more excited as we've started talking details of the day like hair, makeup, and our morning mimosas. 

Just as a refresher, here's my plan and what I've already worked on.

This is my first mock-up, it's sorta like a rough draft. In fashion design it's super helpful to make a mock-up to help figure out any fit issues before you get to the actual fabric. I also like that I can just mark or draw right on them to make things look they way I want.

Well, clearly this doesn't fit me, so I'll have to make some adjustments.

After several (and I mean several) fittings and some re-drafting of my patterns, it's FINALLY time to cut out my pieces in my dress fabric. The rule of thumb is to measure twice, cut once, so lots of planning goes into the project before you even get to start on the actual garment. The layout of your pattern pieces is really important so you don't waste fabric, but luckily I bought tons extra just to be on the safe side. I could almost make two dresses with what I have. Better safe than sorry!

Warning: spending hours on end at a sewing machine will make you delirious. I've experienced this a few too many times throughout all my design classes. Working on this project has brought back lots of memories of college nights spent hovering over my sewing machine at my little work station in my apartment, sewing furiously away at a project that was probably due the next morning. 

Here's a little sneak peek. A few more finishing touches and the bodice will be ready for me to attach to the skirt. Then there's the lining, the zipper, and lots of pressing. Geez, I better get to work. Stay tuned for the final result!

Don't worry Ally, if all else fails I'll at least show up to your wedding in a cute navy top ;)

XO,

Lo

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Chicago

Wedding season is upon us, at least in my friend group. This summer is full of weekends of wedding-related activities. This past weekend I ventured to the windy city for my friend Alyson's bachelorette party (she's the wedding i'm making the bridesmaid dress for). After a relaxing Friday night in her new apartment in the 'burbs, we headed into the city.

First things first, we have to get coffee.

Foggy morning in the city.

We spent the afternoon roaming the Andersonville area. It's full of hip shops and cafes. We stopped for lunch at Kopi, an eclectic travel themed cafe. I was in heaven.

Dying over this light fixture

I had the baked mozzarella bruschetta. It was so delicious and only re-enforced my theory that mozzarella is one of the best foods on the planet.

A doggie food truck? Genius.

We're all dog lovers so of course we had to stop and love on Humphrey, the Newfoundland.

All our meandering really wore us out, so we had to stop for a wine break at Acre.

Saturday night we got all dolled up and headed out on the town in Wrigleyville. But first we stopped for sushi at Agami.

The bachelorette and her MOHs.

Now normally I just want my sushi to have spicy mayo and maybe some crunchies on top, but setting it on fire is bringing it to a whole new level.

Sunday morning it was beautiful outside, so we enjoyed our hike through town to the train.

XO,

Lo

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