Presenting:

Wow, I've really been an awful blogger lately. But I have a pretty good excuse, I think - I've been working like crazy trying to get my mom's website up and running for her vintage bridal boutique! And at long last, it's finally up, though it is far from finished! You can visit it here.

I still have to add a lot more dresses, and information and photos for all of them. We're hoping, though, that it will be basically finished in time for the bridal show at DeVos, which is in less than two weeks. Yikes! I can forget about getting much sleep from now until then...sometime this week I'm doing a wedding photoshoot with Matt from Coat of Many Colors, one of my favorite places to be and definitely my favorite vintage store in Grand Rapids!

No outfit posts or anything. But just so that this isn't a completely boring post, here are a few pictures from last week's photoshoot. Unfortunately not pictured is a dress that came in the mail the day after the photoshoot. It's from the 1920's, and is hands down the most beautiful dress I've ever seen in my life - it's covered in beads and the fabric is like gossamer. So beautiful. I have decided that if I get married someday, that's going to be my wedding dress. Someday! Anyway, enjoy!

1920's "Daisy" wedding dress & headpiece - modeled by me

1910's "Rose" wedding dress - modeled by Esther

1930's "Ella" wedding dress - modeled by Esther

And now, some behind-the-scenes pictures! Much less glamorous, I assure you...


Ha! Seldom have I ever looked so attractive. But this gives you an idea of what we're working with.



Showing some scandalous ankle, which quickly dissolved into...


...this.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

So this is the new year.

[wedding dress, circa 1963 - modeled by Esther]

Hello once again, blogging world! I do apologize that Esther and I haven't properly introduced ourselves - the holiday season has been a little crazier than usual - but I do promise that we will be doing a proper introduction post soon, full of pictures and random facts and more than you ever wanted to know about us.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some pictures. These are from a preliminary photoshoot for the vintage wedding dress rental business my mom hopes to start. We're trying to test the waters, see if this is a viable business idea, and we wanted to see what the dresses would look like on actual people. So we headed over to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Grand Rapids (my former church, before my dad started a mission parish), armed with two cars full of dresses, and went picture crazy! In some ways, I guess I never grew up - playing dress-up is one of my absolute favorite things to do. My sister Vera took the pictures; Esther, my brother's fiancee Darcy, and I were the models. I haven't included any pictures of Darcy because when she gets married, she's going to wear one of the dresses she modeled. Can't have my brother seeing that!

These pictures were originally supposed to be just for us, for reference, but they turned out so nicely I couldn't resist sharing. (Picture-heavy post ahead!) Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

[ wedding dress, circa late 1800's/early 1900's, I forget! Modeled by me ]

[ Circa 1930's, modeled by me ]

[ I forget when this one is from, oops! Beautiful draping, no? Modeled by Esther ]

[ Circa 1880's - isn't it incredible?! Modeled by me ]

[ This is the same one from earlier - the pictures got all out of order, sorry! ]

[ Circa 1930's - technically not a wedding dress, but it could certainly be used as one! Modeled by Esther ]

[ Art Deco wedding dress, circa 1920's or 30's, modeled by me ]
I'm in love with this dress!

[ Circa 1930's, modeled by Esther ]
Doesn't she look positively regal?

xoxo, Laura