I decided to start a new blog series this year showing some of my favorite things from each of the weddings I photograph. Since I love to focus on creating a unique wedding experience for each of my couples and pride myself on sharing their personalities in my photos, this blog series has been a great way for me to showcase these unique details. I am sharing something specific that stood out to me from each wedding which I thought was special to the couple. One of the details that stood out to me at Ally & Kevin’s wedding was Ally’s veil and how it was handmade by her family. I thought this was so special that I wanted to make sure to feature it on this blog series! So, I asked Ally a few questions about her veil!
Who made your veil?
My mom, my Aunt Sue (my mom’s sister) and my older sister, Kelly!
How did they make the veil and how long did it take them?
“After falling in love with a veil I had tried on the day I found my wedding dress, I was told the price of it and it was unfortunately way out of my budget. I was trying to think of ways I could make it work – cutting the cost elsewhere/sacrificing something else I might want to spend more money on, etc. but the thought of spending so much money on something that was clearly way outside of my budget never sat well with me. While I was having those thoughts, my mom immediately started taking pictures of the veil and was like, “I can either look for something similar at a much cheaper price point or make it for a fraction of the cost. What do we have to lose?” So as time went on, we never found anything remotely similar at a cheaper price point and my mom was eager to take on a project so she said she was going to make it.
My mom and her sisters are the craftiest people I know and my sisters and I have always been around either helping them with their projects or just admiring from a far so I wasn’t surprised she life-lined my aunt and my older sister to help. My mom reached out to her sister Sue, who is wonderful at sowing, and ran the idea of making a veil for me past her. Without hesitation, my Aunt Sue invited my mom to her home in Michigan the following weekend where they would go out on a fact finding mission and learn how to make a veil. Without knowing as they went walked into a sowing/fabric shop where they would see what type of lace they needed for the veil’s details and what type of material they would need for the veil itself, there happened to be a veil making class going on with one seat available remaining and my Aunt Sue jumped on it! Seriously, what are the odds. During the week following, my mom and sister hand cut two different types of lace to make up all the floral detail on the veil and spent hours doing so – ask our hairdresser! My mom was cutting the lace while at a hair appointment! After cutting out hundreds of floral patterns from the lace, my Aunt Sue made the trip in to Pittsburgh, and all three of them set up shop in my parents basement for three days straight and hand sowed each piece of floral lace to the veil. I think they only took one break and that was to watch the Game of Thrones finale. They identically replicated (if not better!!) the veil I had originally set my eyes on for a fraction of the cost – however I think they would now say that they understand why the veil had cost so much in the first place after all the work and energy they had put in to it! And I would agree without a doubt.
How special was it to knowing family helped create something for you for your wedding day?
Knowing that my mom, my older sister and my aunt put in so much time, selflessly, to help create something so special for my wedding day truly meant more to me than the veil itself. The veil was just the extremely beautiful cherry on top! But the end result was remarkable and I think they could make a business out of it! However, they might charge what the cost was of the first veil we drew inspiration from! It’s a piece that my family – my sisters, any of our future daughters or maybe daughter-in-laws – will be able to use if they chose for years to come and really adds to that sentimental piece that I think every bride wants to have on their wedding day. They certainly did that for me.
