Mine and Shai's grandparents are very special to us and we were both very sad that none of them would be able to attend our wedding. We incorporated them in a small way by having a table at the entrance with pictures of all of our grandparents on their wedding days.
When I was 11, my grandma gave me her wedding dress. It was lovely and velvet and I kept it in a bag with me as I moved around these last 8 years. When we got engaged I knew that I wanted to incorporate that dress into my special day somehow.
Unfortunately (ok, not really) I am not the same size as I was when I was 11, so the dress didn't quite fit me in the cough chest area. Fortunately I found an amazing tailor who works with vintage dresses who was able to alter the dress perfectly. The dress was originally handmade for my grandma so some of the seams had extra material that the seamstress was able to pull to fit. When I was in there for the first fitting, she found a bag of old Russian embroidered lace that was the exact same shade as the dress - a miracle considering the off-white yellow-ish tones in the dress. When I went back for the final fitting I was blown away at how unnoticeable the changes were. It really felt original.
I didn't tell my grandma that I was wearing her dress and decided to surprise her and my grandpa at my final dress fitting for my real wedding dress, which they bought me as my gift. My mom's friend found out what I was doing and paid for us to have a photographer there for those special moments.
What do you think? Did it work?
There was not a dry eye in the house.
I knew that this time was special because it would be the only time they would see me in my wedding dress since they could not come to the wedding but now that my grandma is gone, those memories are even more sacred to me. I was so blessed to be able to share this with them and so honored to be able to wear a dress that started a 63 year marriage and honor my grandparents that way.
