Good morning!
This post might be a bit longer – you might want to grab a cuppa.
Last year, when I wrote about finding all the wedding suits for Big Boy, Small Man and Pete at Potts Point Vintage, I promised I’d fill you in about my outfit after the big day.
At that stage, I actually didn’t have an outfit. It was starting to look like I’d have to buy something new. But then, one fortuitous afternoon, as my friend Anita the Style Goddess and I were browsing together at Salvos Tempe, she pulled a strappy Anthea Crawford silk chiffon dress off the rack.
“Try this on!”, she commanded.
I protested, arguing that I didn’t like to have my arms bare.
“Stop arguing and try it on anyway!”, she said.
It was breathtakingly beautiful. I’d never owned such a gorgeous dress in my entire life. And it fit almost perfectly, although I had to take it in two inches around the bust (ever try hand-sewing silk chiffon? It’s not for the fainthearted).
It was fully lined, silk on silk, and we think it would have retailed new for over $800 – I bought it in near new condition for $55. And we were off!
I was keen to get a shawl to cover my shoulders, so the following afternoon, I popped into Salvos Croydon.
There I found a magnificent embroidered sari in exactly the right shade of deep pink for $10, and an Olga Berg white handbag for $20. The sari was five metres long, so it required quite a bit of alteration. Thankfully my beloved friend Dan arrived from San Francisco two weeks before the wedding and spent hours helping me unpick and restitch the flimsy tulle into a two metre shawl. It turns out I love wearing pink!
So….that just left shoes.
Ahh, now they were a challenge. I couldn’t wear anything too high. It was the middle of summer, and my girlfriends had specifically banned me from wearing my cowboy boots. The shoes had to be comfortable enough to wear all night. I scouted secondhand shops and friends’ shoe collections, trying on dozens of options.
Then, a week or so later, Pete and I walked into UTurn Recycled Clothing in Marrickville. And there on the $10 rack were these shoes, in a size too big.
“Buy them anyway and we’ll make them fit”, Pete said. So we did and with a stick-on insert and an extra hole in the strap, we got away with it. Pete cleaned them for me with his special leather and vinyl polish and they came up like brand new. The shoes matched so well that friends at the wedding thought I’d had them made to order!
If you’ve been adding up along the way, you’ll realise that my entire wedding outfit – head to toe – cost $95. I honestly don’t believe I’d have done better for $1,000! Best of all, the entire outfit was sustainably sourced from the secondhand market!
As you can tell by the photos, I was pretty happy. And I think we all looked most fine! ♥
PS. My heartfelt thanks to my darling girls Anita, Jen and Dan for getting me past the finish line outfit-wise. It was touch and go for a while there!
With my styling gurus Anita and Jen!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 