What I Wore: Wedding Edition

Finally I can share details of the dress that I worked on for so long! My wedding dress was a cap sleeve, ivory lace, round neck, sheath gown with a sash - to use all the wedding terminology... The store didn´t have my size, so it had to be taken in a little, which I decided to do myself. This was a lot harder than I had thought, mainly because I wanted it to be impeccable. In the end I settled for about 99% satisfaction, and with only a week left before the wedding there wasn´t really anything else to do about it. I loved wearing the dress, it was light and airy and comfortable, not heavy and itchy like many of the other wedding gowns I tried on.

Another challenge was that the fabric was very thin, so I had to add extra lining. I found the perfect silk slip to go underneath, and when everything else was done, I basted it to the dress and plan to remove it so I can reuse it for something else later. I also changed the back of the dress to make a V-neck instead of a round collar, added lace to make tiny cap sleeves, and a ribbon sash around the waist. More on the dress process here. 

I loved my vintage accessories. Early on I knew I wanted to wear the bracelet my grandma gave me. I also wanted to have something borrowed, and was lucky I got to choose between several vintage pairs of earrings from Mike's family. I settled for a pair of white rhinestone clip-ons from the 1950s, but there were some other really pretty ones too.

I was very happy I had a cardigan. Despite the sunny weather, Ålesund was quite windy on June 28th, and because of the sun we had to resort to pictures in the shade. I had first scoured Etsy for hours to find the perfect, fun and vintage cardigan. I found it, ordered it... but it never arrived! So a week before the wedding I went to the closest mall, found a very plain peach cardigan and settled with that decision. In addition, for parts of the photo shoot I was actually wearing long-johns! You can't see it, but it's there.

Matching shoes and nail polish with my maid of honor was the closest I got to a cohesive bridal party look. (Though I did make sure the best man had a neutral colored tie.) But since we were all wearing flowers I think that settled the matter if anyone was in doubt. 

I wore the veil for the ceremony and some pictures, but decided to leave it off for the rest of the day. To be honest, a veil is kind of in the way, especially if there is any wind or lots of hugging involved. The cap and lace matched my ivory gown, but the tulle itself was a very different shade of white. It is more noticeable in the pictures than I thought it would be, but that´s not a big deal.

My wedding garb was really a DIY and budget effort. In total, the outfit cost me around 4000 kr, and a little more than half of that was for the dress and everything I needed for alterations. An added bonus is that with some minor updates, everything but the veil can be used again. Or is there any other occasion than your own wedding that calls for a juliet cap veil?? It would be sweet to use it again.

Dress: A Dolce & Gabbana knock-off from a small dress shop in Tallinn, Estonia
Slip: Else Maries Undertøyssalong, Skien
Veil: Vintage, via Adorned in Grace
Cardigan: Cubus
Red sandals: Esprit
White pumps: Vintage (already owned)
Bracelet: Inherited from my grandma
Earrings: Something borrowed - they were Mike's great-grandmothers
Handkerchief: Inherited. Also Mike's great-grandmothers
Hair and makeup: Anniken at Fri Frisør
Flowers: Blomsterstua Ålesund

Photos: Irene Lovund

2011: Some highlights

2011 was the first year I blogged from beginning to end. It is so much fun to have memories recorded this way. Looking back on the year, here are some of the highlights:

January:

5 years in YWAM and the start of a year of restyles

One of the before´s

February: 

A sisterly weekend in the city and dancing snowflakes

March:

Discovering Sherlock Holmes 

(I was intrigued again this Christmas by the recent movie) 

and my first cape

April:

Visiting Latvia and my first (?) Easter skirt

May:

My very own home! (not much time for blogging...) and seeing Sufjan

Picture by Jordan Sanchez

June:

Family fun on the west coast and home made stairs

July:

Of mountains and stars and a look at my loft

August: 

A good month for restyling and festivals

Restyled table

September: 

Moving in party and a trip to Poland

October:

 Risk all over Europe and a wonderful birthday party

Teammates in Macedonia

November: 

Thrift store shopping and a "new" dress

December: 

A white chair and fun with the family

Thank you so much to all of you who follow, read and comment here on this little blog, I am grateful that you take time reading my stories! What about you, what are some of your highlights this year?

PS. If this wasnt enough, the full archives can be found on your right hand side, where you can browse by date or category.

Snow day

Sneen dalte lett og fin, og strøk blidt mot ruten min
i morgens da jeg drømte på min pute.
Vi tok skjerf og votter på, hastet veldig med å gå,
snart var det tusen barnespor der ute.

(Norwegian winter song)

You never know when you get another snow day around here, so yesterday we put on whatever we could find of hats, mittens, jackets and shoes, and headed out in the snow to play some games. Today its a totally different (wet) story, so we did the right thing. 

Six feet, three hands

Three feet, four hands

Anyone better?

What I wore:

Hat, Noa Noa

Jacket, Vivikes

Mittens, from my mom

Ski pants, vintage (from a closet)

Snow boots, a store in Skien

PS. The striped jacket is from Azerbaijan, in case you wanted to get one too... 

ReStyle Sunday: A grey dress on a sunny day

Before: A rather large dress

After: a few adjustments and alterations later and it actually fits me

I love it! 

Hemming a dress/skirt like this is not done in a second. I will think twice before I do that again... There was a lot of ironing and folding involved, but I am happy with the result.

Lucy and I on a very pretty Sunday stroll.

Thanks for being my photographer!

What I wore:

Dress, thrifted and restyled

Cape, thrifted and restyled

Scarf, from my great-grandmother

Tights, who knows?

Shoes, Converse

Produce: before the party

I told you about my birthday some days ago, 

and this is what cooking for a dinner party looks like: 

Bread in an early stage.

I love cutting, cooking and eating vegetables.

Here with carrots, turnips, beet, garlic and thyme.

"See, THIS is a rosemary twig. Now what about that twine..."

 Tie a pretty bow and repeat.

(I actually really like the colors going on in the picture above.)

Sadly, I have no pictures of the finished result, and we ate it all. 

What I wore:

Vintage dress, some store in Oslo

Apron, vintage fabric, made by me

Bracelet, from my grandma

Matching orange knife, a gift

More updates on my life over at Kristins blog. 

(I guess thats what happens when you live together)

Faith, fun and fellowship

The mantra for this year....

Well, today we tackled a couple of minor challenges in our little household, like this one:

This, my dear friends, is not a challenge, this is a problem! 

We had already discussed it and had a master plan that included at least one tall man. 

But then something came over us, the tools came out of various drawers and shelves and for a little while there was a lot of activity going on. 

Kristin rocked the ladder and ladle, braver than most people I know! 

I had the ungrateful task of catching the mess she made before it dropped onto the courtyard a couple of floors down. A little skeptical at first...

But oh, so happy to get this job done!!

And that was not the end of it. After hosing down the courtyard (my job wasnt as easy as it looks...) we finally hung curtains and even a lamp found its right place in the kitchen. 

What a wonderful day of practical work in Prinsessegata!

What I wore: 

Thrifted and restyled sweater

Jeans, Bik Bok

Apron by myself

(I came right from the kitchen, and an apron seemed like the right thing to wear at the time. 

It will go straight in the wash, I promise)

ResStyle Sunday: Preppy skirt

A thrifted pleated skirt was found on an adventure in Latvia. It was too long to look good, so decided to hem it. The sewing project started a little late and was finished even later due to a wonderful lamb roast family dinner, and by the time I was done, darkness covered the earth... 

Result: Short skirt and horrible pictures... 

At least you get the idea of what it looks like, right? 

Wearing:

Shirt, thrifted

Skirt, thrifted and restyled

Belt, thrifted

Tights, H&M

Shoes, my sister´s

Nail polish, Isadora 

PS. Did you notice the change of layout and addition of more pages? What do you think?

ReStyle Sunday: Zipper skirt

I got this skirt at the second hand store, and loved the color, the zipper and the pockets, but not the length. Perhaps it would work if your legs are supermodel long, but I have more of an average height, and this was not an option. 

I cut it in half and hemmed it, and now it is a skirt I can dig, haha. 

I liked it so much I had to wear it at once!

And here is an attempt of an outfit photo. 

I think I need a tripod... or an assistant.

What I wore:

Skirt, thrifted and restyled

Belt, thrifted

Shirt, H&M

Polkadot cardigan, American Eagle

Shoes, Primark

Flower earrings, Gina Tricot

Gypsy style

This is what I wore to work today. 

I work in an office and usually I sit in front of a computer or in meetings all day. 

Not today though.

After lunch, one of my co-workers comes over and says

"Do you have 10 minutes? Can you help me?"

Me: "Sure, what do you need help with?"

Him: "We just need to carry some things."

Im thinking "Uh-oh..."

Me: "Okay... what is it?"

Him: "Just some boxes."

Me: "I am not really dressed for this"

(Note: Ive NEVER worn a maxi skirt to work before)

Him: "No problem"

So we walk down the stairs, up the street and into a building where people are carrying lots of trash and loading it on a truck. Note: They are dressed for what they are doing. We come into the room where the boxes of garden furniture is stored. Mind you, this was not cheap stuff, but real, heavy wooden furniture. And I, I am wearing warm woolen mittens that gives you hardly any grip at all. As we carry boxes, chairs and tables down the walking street we get lots of strange looks, and I figure we look like: 

A) gypsies 

B) crooks  

C) homeless people

or if you have 1st hand experience with the work I am involved in on a daily basis you might guess

D) YWAMers (It is not the first time Im walking from one building to another with some random object in my hands.)

I think I will count this as todays workout. That stuff was HEAVY!

What I wore:

Vintage skirt, gift from a friend

T-shirt, H&M

Cardigan, Terranova

Vintage belt, thrifted

Black Dr.Martens shoes that give me blisters (not in the picture)

Prepping for spring

There doesnt seem to be an end to the heavenly storehouses of snow

 (check out my roommates post. Someone has to document the fun, right?), 

but today the sun is shining, and I am off to Halden to see good friends.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Wearing:

Shirt, vintage from Birkelundsmarkedet

Cardigan, Mango

Jeans, thrifted

Necklace, gift from a friend

Watch, Skagen

Pearl earrings, thrifted

Flower, Claires

A weekend in the city

One of the many cups of coffee I enjoyed

A garage jammed packed with lots of old stuff!

Raiding my sisters closet

Many overpriced vintage shops with pretty things

Typewriters. Sigh.

Three sisters and a pretty lamp

Also included was a great concert, theater, coffee dates with wonderful girls, a lot of food, a vintage market, Mary & Max and soaking in impressions from the streets of lovely Oslo.

What we wore:

Mari:

Coat, thrifted

Scarf, vintage (from our mom)

Gold belt, thrifted (mine)

Andrea:

Hat, DIY

Coat

Jeans

Shoes, Converse

Me:

Shoes, i dont know (Mari)

Socks, a hand me down...

Tights, H&M

Skirt, thrifted and hemmed

Coat, H&M (Mari)

Scarf, thrifted (Mari)

Leather gloves

Hat, Forever 21