Winter Weddings

Weddings are no longer seasonal.  They are all year round - why enjoy the fun just a couple of months?!!!  And heirloom veils are such a beautiful special part of a wedding.  They are that tradition handed down from generation to generation that make the wedding so special and of course cause any grandmother and mother to mist!

My latest veil client had brought a piece to me from her future mother-in-law. This is always just a little difficult as they usually aren't as active in the wedding, and so I'm particularly careful about any work we do with a veil like that and am adamant about returning it to the condition in which it was brought to me. 

This one came in a beautiful box, with the date and location where it was purchased.  Included in was an announcement from when it was first worn.  What love this veil has had.  I was impressed before I ever saw the veil, then I opened the box.....

It was gorgeous.  A small mantilla type veil, we could do just about anything we wanted with it.  The bride is getting married in the Catholic Cathedral down town, which has a large sanctuary, and her dress was relatively small and hardly any train, so she elected to have a large, long train for the ceremony.  This veil would be perfect.  She was reluctant to wear the veil during the reception, so we made it so that she could remove it and still have another fingertip veil for the reception. 

Back to the lace.   One of the ways to tell very fine lace from just ordinary lace is to count the different designs on the lace.  This lace was obviously hand made - being before machine made lace, and I counted 9 different designs at one time.

Here you can count 7 designs.  The bottom of the flower was a small pocket, maybe used for some treasure to hold during the wedding.  The original bride wore it with a little rice, a traditional symbol of fertility.

My next project is to create a veil that looks heirloom.  The one thing all the heirloom veils I've worked with have that this new one won't is usually a little discoloration or stain here and there.  I consider this like the fine patina on old silver from many years of polishing - or that warm color that pearls get after having been worn for decades!