That title sounds rather awkward, but nothing better was coming to me a moment ago, so there it stands. I wanted to share how we procured my veil, jewelry, etc.
Jewelry was simple! I've known since I was five years old that I would wear the strand of five pearls given to me by Aunt Melanie. It came out of Mom and Dad's lock box once for my high school yearbook pictures and once for my wedding day . . . and, to be honest, Mom opened the lock box a few extra times during my growing up years to peek at it. :-) I wore simple pearl earrings which I already had. John had taken one of them to the jeweler to be fixed, along with our wedding bands to be engraved and my engagement ring to be cleaned sometime during the week before the wedding. I got my engagement ring back at the wedding rehearsal, but didn't manage to get the earring until the day of the wedding . . . at the church . . . after this picture was taken! (Thank you, Marissa, for saving the day on that one!) What a hectic morning it was.
I was thoroughly shocked by how expensive veils were at the boutiques where we tried on gowns. Even a very simple one was over $100! There was a consignment shop near the church (now closed) where I tried on a short, ivory veil for much less (maybe $15-$30; it's been a long time since then!), but I'd always envisioned wearing a long veil, longer, even than the dress itself! When the sales-lady understood why I was vacillating, she exclaimed, "Don't any of you sew?" Of course!
Mom and I each brought 40% off coupons to Joann's fabric and purchased a pattern, comb, ivory-colored tulle, and some narrow ribbon for the edge. The neat part of the story is that I used money which my Grandma Smith had given me as a graduation gift to buy these things, so, in a way, Grandma really gave me my veil. :-) My sweet, humble mother proclaimed how honored she felt to make it herself, and she did a beautiful job. She even sewed a ribbon covering over the comb by hand. When all was finished, I had the very long, ribbon-edged, ivory veil with a built-in second tier which I'd dreamed of. I'm a traditionalist and definitely wanted to walk down the aisle with it over my face.
Besides the veil, I wished to wear fresh roses in my hair, so our florist wired the stems of several ivory spray roses and actually delivered them to the hairdresser on the morning of the wedding.
Shoes. I was planning on wearing satin ballet flats, hands down. They would be comfortable, practical, and in keeping with the time period of my dress. I bought a pair of butter-colored flats at Marshalls in January or February. I wasn't thrilled about the little bow on them and they were a bit tight, but they were a good deal!
Then, in about April, we discovered Treasures, a consignment shop which had just opened in Saratoga. At the time, they had a whole stock of brand new formal shoes. Apparently, a shoe shop which had gone out of business had donated its inventory. And I found these:
Quite possibly the prettiest shoes I had ever seen! The box said the original price was something like $90, but by the time I found them, they had been marked all the way down to the lowest consignment level and were under $15, for sure. As a bonus, the heel made me just tall enough not to need my dress hemmed. Another money saver there. And, thanks to being attached to John's arm just about all day, I didn't even trip. :-D Yet another little detail gifted from God.
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