Saturday, August 18, 2012

Our Daughter's Special Day!



Wow!  These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity!  From sewing my daughter's wedding dress (make that dresses!  more on that later!) to making the bridesmaid's dresses and flower girl's dresses, to creating their cake topper, and my daughter's one-of-a-kind vintage brooch bouquet, to attending bridal showers and receptions!  The big day finally arrived on August 11th, and all the hard work was worth it when our daughter texted from her honeymoon to tell us that everything had been "perfect!".  Our original plan was to make the wedding dress using a vintage pattern I purchased on Etsy, with a few slight alterations.  After many hours, and a few tears, neither my daughter or I was happy with the fit or the overall look, so we decided to start all over from scratch!  I'm so glad I did! Seeing her looking so happy and radiant on her special day was priceless!
Here you can see Devine's vintage brooch bouquet.  We included  brooches that had belonged to both her grandmother's and to some very dear friends, as well as favorites from our personal collections of vintage jewelry.
The bride arrived in style with her dad driving her in his 1957 Chevy Nomad! 
Annalisa and Suezette Rose were completely adorable flower girls, don't you think?

Since we are a family that loves vintage, we used lots of vintage items in everything from the fashion to the wedding and reception decor!
Here are a few more photos from our daughter's special day!  Enjoy and let me know if you have questions about how we sourced or created any of the items you see!
Devine's necklace and earrings had belonged to her paternal grandmother.  Her blusher veil was vintage and had belonged to a dear friend that passed away this last Winter.

Three beautiful antique doors in jadeite green and ivory formed the backdrop for the altar.  Wrought iron arches decorated with toule, ribbon and flowers framed the altar.
A collection of vintage bird cages equipped with candles hung from the oak tree branches above the cake table.  Another pair of antique doors provided a backdrop.  The groom's cake was styled to look like a vintage record player as a tribute to the couple's love of music and the fact that the groom own's a recording studio.
The wedding cake complete with a custom cake topper featuring the
bride & groom and the groom's daughter!



The bride and groom had their own designated vintage lawn chairs at the outdoor reception complete with handmade "Mr. & Mrs." buntings.  The reception tables were covered in vintage table linens with bouquets of gerbera daisies and vintage blue mason jars fitted with votives.


Can't believe our little girl is all grown up!  So proud and happy for her!
We wish her and her wonderful husband every happiness!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Getting Started

I'm a bit of a procrastinator.  Why?  Because when I do things, I like them to be just so.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist, too, I guess.  So sometimes I find myself waiting to start something that I really want to do because I'm not quite sure how to do it.  Sometimes I find myself waiting because it just doesn't feel like the time is right.

Like this blogging thing.  I've been wanting to do this for over a year now.  But I had so many questions about it (what to name it, what it should look like, what I should share, yada yada).  And when I'd try to think about starting, it just didn't feel like it was the time.

But, here I am.  I'm finally STARTING! { That "finally" sounds negative.  I'm not fond of negatives.  So let me try, again.}

Yay!  I'M STARTING!!!  I'm actually taking the steps necessary to do this thing I've really been wanting to do!  Go me!  (There - that's a bit better, don't you think?)  And it feels good to get started!

So, if you're reading this - I'm glad you're here, witnessing me breaking free of procrastination and perfectionism!  Maybe there's something that you've been wanting to do, and maybe - just maybe - this will be the little *spark* you needed to get you going!

My name is Teresa.  I'm a busy wife and mom and I'm the proprietor of gloryBdesign.etsy.com.  I love all things cheery and bright!  I'm incredibly sentimental and it makes me sad to see items that were once loved be tossed aside.  So, I have a lot of collections...I guess the first thing that I collected was buttons, then dolls, then stamps (my dad is a retired letter carrier).  Now I collect vintage mixing bowls and pitchers, and frozen charlottes (or penny dolls) as they're sometimes called, and sea glass.

I love to roam through flea markets, estate sales and thrift shops finding items that need a little bit of love so that they can be valued, again.  Luckily, my incredible husband and my two grown children love to do this, too!

In fact, we just returned from our vacation which consisted of us caravanning over 1000 miles one way, with my trusty utility trailer in tow, stopping at any place we found interesting, and finding items to rescue.  I was amazed at some of the wonderful items we found!  Before we headed back, we spent several days on our favorite barrier island (which gave me a chance to collect some Sea Glass - yippee!).  It was the first time that we've had a family vacation where each of our children brought along their significant other.  We rented a great house, right on the beach, and everyone had a fabulous time!  We swam, and ate, and fished, and ate, and beach combed, and then we ate some more!  Why is it that food tastes so much better after a good swim in the sea?  The highlight of our trip was when our daughter's suitor proposed to her!  He had asked my husband for permission the night before.  He proposed by the historic House of Refuge, which is now a museum, but was once a refuge for shipwrecked sailors.  It was very sweet and romantic.  We are all very happy for them!  Below is a photo of the House of Refuge taken from the deck of the beach house where we stayed.

So, we have a wedding to plan!  I am going to make our daughter's wedding dress from a vintage pattern that I purchased from MissBettysAttic.etsy.com.  I'm also going to make her bouquet using vintage brooches.  Some belonged to her grandmothers and others we've collected over the past few years.  I'll keep you posted as we go along.

I guess that's it!  For now, at least!  I'm a blogger.  I have blogged!  Yay, me!  And Yay to you for sharing it with me!