I’m not someone who had been dreaming of my wedding since I was a child. I didn’t have secret Pinterest board with décor ideas. I had only gone wedding dress shopping once, where my friend ended up finding her dress at a resale shop. So I’m not sure sure where I got the idea from, but I am mad sentimental and all about incorporating meaning into things. And somehow, I always kind of knew that should I get married I would wear my mother’s wedding dress.
Rediscovery
After getting engaged, one of the first things I did was go to my mom’s house and dig around in the attic with her for the wedding dress. Deep in the attic behind old rugs, childhood toys, Halloween costumes and dead roaches, I found the mythical box inside a black trash bag with my mother’s dress.
Having only ever seen it in pictures, it was quite the momentous moment pulling it out of the vacuum-sealed box and seeing it in person for the first time. Somehow this dress survived 30+ years in a hot Houston attic and other than some makeup stains on the dress, it was in pristine condition.
The Dress
My parents were got married at St. Clement’s Church in Chicago and hosted a reception at the Naperville Country Club. The dress my mom picked out for her wedding graced the cover of a bridal magazine in 1987. She saw it, tried it on with her mother and had it ordered that week. The ivory dress was the height of 80s style with puffy shoulders, tapered sleeves that end in a V at the wrists, a sequin/beaded collar, mesh back with cloth buttons, and an embellished bodice. The star feature of my mother’s wedding dress was the handmade lace train that extended for what seemed like miles down the church stairs in wedding photos. She accessorized it with ivory pumps, a 25 foot long wispy veil, an 80s perm and blue eyeshadow.
Initial Fit
The first and only time I tried on a wedding dress was in my parent’s spare bedroom. Knowing my mom is 5 inches shorter than me and very petite, there was no telling how the dress would fit.
I was able to fit into the waist of the original dress and the sleeves, but unable to do up all the buttons in the back. And while the train was miles long, I stand quite a few inches taller than my mom, so the bottom hem hit around my ankles instead of grazing the floor.
The Transformation
Shortly after rediscovering the dress, we made an appointment with David Peck to discuss retrofitting the dress to be a bit more modern and fit properly. David Peck is a Houston designer known for creating elegant custom gowns for debutantes, balls, and weddings. I knew he had designed Ashley Sieppel’s wedding dress with elements from her mother’s wedding dress. So when my mom said she made an appointment with him, it was all truly serendipitous.
During our first consultation, I showed David some dress inspiration and ideas of how I wanted to transform the bodice. He made a sketch of our vision and over the course of 3 months, he brought it to life!
I met with David and his team every few weeks to work through the details of altering the 1987 dress. They were proactively very cautious throughout the process and removed pieces in stages, keeping the integrity of the 34-year-old dress intact along the way.
For the first fitting they removed the sleeves. We then worked through the details of adjusting the shoulder straps, adding support to the bodice, reframing the waist and of course adding 6 inches of petticoat trimmed in organza to adjust for my height. The team did an incredible job of preserving the delicate beadwork through the bodice and on the mesh backing.
Reshaping the shoulder straps 
Reshaping the waist 
The new back & bustle 
Final fitting with the petticoat 
Reshaping the waist 
First fitting without the sleeves 
First fitting without the sleeves
Wedding Day
We got married at Cantigny Park outside of Chicago in the presence of 14 guests (here’s the full post!). On our wedding day, the temperature dropped dramatically from the projected 75 and sunny to low 50s and rainy. Lucky, the rain miraculously stopped for the duration of the ceremony. And the petticoat and fabric (and adrenaline) kept me warm. The dress photographed stunningly in Cantigny’s East Lawn. Both my parents walked me down the aisle and it was so special to give this dress another life with my mom present. I love a bit of drama and having an extensive dress train was such a delightful detail.
Since I forgot to have my mom bring the veil, I paired the dress with a simple beaded hair band and the most fabulous (and comfortable!!!) ivory Camellia shoes from Loeffler Randall. I also included one of her ivory wedding shoe with some cans to our ceremony limo in the ancient tradition to scare of all the bad energy. My grandmother had given my mom her wedding shoes in 1987 for the same purpose.
The wedding dress was my “something old.” The shoes were my “something new.” I wore my mom’s diamond earrings as my “something borrowed” and had handmade blue lace from my aunt around my bouquet as my “something blue.”
Click here to read our full wedding story and some of the pictures from my photographer’s sneak peek!
Wedding Details
Here are some of the details and vendors that helped bring our Cantigny Park wedding come to life!
- My Dress: Vintage 1987, redesigned with David Peck
- Rings: Lindsey Leigh Jewelry
- Shoes: Loeffler Randall
- Hair/Makeup: Pin Me Up Chicago
- Kyle’s Suit: Imparali // Cufflinks: Mizzen & Main
- Photographer: Brittany Bekas
- Videographer: Michael O’Grady
- Venue: East Lawn at Cantigny Park
- Reception: St. Charles Country Club
- Officiant: Jessica Shilakis
- Paper Designer: Hannah Rose Creative
[…] wedding day was filled with meaningful touches that connected us to our greater family. I wore my mother’s wedding dress and walked down the aisle with both my parents. Kyle and I wrote our own vows based on values and […]