At seven-thirty, I went to the makeup artist, and spent two hours there, getting my face painted and my hair done up.  The process was far more complex than I’d expected – first a primer to make the makeup last longer, then concealer, foundation, and powder.  Then some slightly darker makeup to slim my face and make the cheekbones more prominent, and to darken the curve of the jaw.

After that, she applied blush, which looked too heavy to me, but she explained that the blush powder would fly away over time, so she needed to apply more to make it last.  Then on to the eyes – first a special primer, eye makeup foundation, powder, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and false lashes.  I watched, fascinated, as she transformed my face completely.  Truly, artistry!

The hair proved a little awkward.  The florist’s headpiece, a wonderful confection of gardenias and orchids, turned out to be way too large – we really needed a single flower, not an entire headband.  So we did the rest of the hair, drawn over to the left side of my head, pinned with the gold double-happiness pin, and cascading down in soft curls down the front, and agreed that I would stop by the supermarket on the way to the wedding and buy some flowers there.

Mike and I finally left at 9:30am.  We arrived at the ceremony site a little later than anticipated, and many guests were already there.  Thankfully, most of the wedding party had already arrived, and as soon as I arrived, they fanned out in all directions, setting things up and freeing me to focus on my own preparations.

I had planned to have my mother help me into the dress, but she was unfortunately ill with food poisoning, and (much to my disappointment) was unable to attend the wedding.  So instead I chose my dear friend Lena, who had moved to India some five years ago and had flown in for the wedding.  She helped me fix a few makeup smudges, fix a single gardenia bloom into my hair, and step into the dress.  I was terrified that I was going to rip the hem or something, but she settled me down and got me into the strapless bra, the shoes, and the dress.

Finally, Lena took down the coat, held it for me, and carefully fastened the three hooks and eyes in front.  She handed me my bouquet, a beautiful confection of white lilies and roses, accented with pale gold roses and feathery ferns, tied with a gorgeous gold ribbon – and turned me to the mirror.

I gasped.  As much and as hard as I’d worked on the outfit, I was totally unprepared for the vision in the mirror…the beautiful, regal bride in the mirror couldn’t possibly be me.  Could it?

I could have gazed in the mirror all day, unbelievingly, but the guests had taken their places, and my friend Herve, who was officiating, had started speaking.  I scurried over as the others started their procession.  First Mike’s parents, then Mike, then my father, brother, and mother’s husband, then…

…me.

Walking down the aisle was indescribable.  Momentous, glorious, and yes, triumphal.  A year’s labor for the wedding ensemble, now shown in all its glory, and a wonderful tribute to love and to Mike.  The harp played “Trumpet Voluntary” as I made my way slowly down the aisle and turned to face the man I love.

Friends and family spoke, but I hardly heard them, being too occupied gazing at the man I was about to marry.  My friend Lena, who is a Tibetan lama, blessed us with holy water.  And then it was time for us to read our speeches to each other, and exchange vows.

Mike’s words to me were beautiful, heartfelt, and romantic.  I started misting up as he said them to me.  Then I read my words for him – a free verse poem – and by the time I reached the end, I was crying tears of joy.  Then we exchanged vows, and rings.  Finally, our officiant read out the words that bound us, and we kissed for the first time as husband and wife.

After being presented to the guests, we departed down the aisle to the joyous strains of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”.  We had a lovely lunch –  old friends and new, family meeting family for the first time.  The wine was wonderful – my brother, a vintner, had brewed four different wines for the occasion, and my sister-in-law, a graphic designer, had created beautiful custom wine labels for us.  We spent time at each table, receiving congratulations and visiting with the guests.

Too soon, it was time to leave the reception.  We stopped by the hospital to visit my mother –  collecting stares as the newly wedded couple in full bridal regalia sailed through the hallways – bringing the wedding to her, since she wasn’t able to be at the wedding.  (Fortunately, she was feeling much better, and was discharged shortly thereafter.)

After a dinner with family and close friends, the day drew to a close.  We said farewell to friends and family, collected a few last well-wishes, and headed home to get some sleep before heading off on our honeymoon in Vancouver.  We were exhausted, triumphant – and married.

I can’t resist sharing some photos of the winning pieces.  The ribbons, which are amazing, were woven by the equally amazing Lillian Whipple, Mistress of Fine Threads:

"Black Jewel" shawl - first place, accessories division

"Ocean Sunset", second place in the accessories division

"Lava Flow", second place in the neckwear division

I am very proud of having won ribbons with everything I entered, and of course “Best in Show” for the dress.  More important, I think people really appreciated the dress…I saw a lot of people oohing and aahing over the exhibit, reading my little one-pager about the dress, or reading the photo book on the making of the dress.  And at times it felt like every single person at the conference had stopped to compliment me on the dress!  I must say, it was wonderful (if a little overwhelming) to get so much positive feedback on the piece.

The curator of the San Jose Quilt and Textile Museum was also at the show – I asked the folks at the SJQT Museum booth to ask her if she’d be interested in the dress after the dust settles, haven’t heard anything, may try to find her at the show tomorrow if she’s there.

Finally, I got a chance to see Kati Meek’s new printing of “Warp with a Trapeze and Dance with Your Loom” (an excellent book, incidentally).  She had asked me to write a blurb for the back cover, and I was of course honored to do so.  But I didn’t realize she’d actually printed it!

"Warp with a Trapeze", with my blurb on the back cover

Finally, here’s a gallery of (a) my little wedding-dress exhibit (amazing how much better the dress/coat look when properly mounted!), and (b) the many amazing pieces at the show.

[Show as slideshow]

Got the appraisal back.  You ready?  Replacement value for the coat is $9,900 and the dress is $16,800.  (The actual value, of course, is “priceless”.)  That’s time and materials only, no retail markup.  In this particular case there is no retail equivalent, so T&M made sense.  Total value, $26,700.  That’s as much as my CAR cost!!!

The other good news is that this is automatically covered under my renter’s insurance, without the need for a separate rider.  I bumped up my coverage to $50,000, so I’ll be fine if (heaven forbid) anything happens to it.

Meanwhile, I have not been idle.  I spent four or five hours creating a photo book about the dress, showing interim stages from start to finish.  Did you know you can now create a custom photo book, have it printed, and pick it up within an hour, for only $30?  Just google “photo book” and one of the places that has a retail outlet (I did mine with Ritz Camera).

At any rate, the book came out beautifully.  It’s for the exhibit, and I intended it to be short enough for someone to flip idly through while browsing the galleries.  It’s very heavy on photos, with short and simple text, and you can read the entire thing in 5-10 minutes.  (It’s only 20 pages long.)  I’m glad I spent so much time blogging about the dress, though – I have a lot of great photos of the dress-in-progress, so there was plenty to select from when I made the book.  I wish I could share it with y’all, because it’s a great little book, but unfortunately there’s no option for viewing it online.  I ordered four copies – one for me, one for Sharon, and one each for my mom and future-mother-in-law.  I may order a fifth, for my sister-in-law, who I’m sure would love to have it.

I also got together with some wonderful friends who are visiting from India.  They brought me a beautiful silk sari (with the instructions that I should cut it up and make something beautiful from it, and not feel guilty about it!) and some lovely 3/15 nm silk yarn, which I will have to use in a special project.  We spent hours chatting and I wound up getting home quite late, so I will have to catch up on sleep tonight!

Anyway, I sold my spinning wheel to them, because they needed one and I hadn’t used mine in years (except for skeining yarn).  With the money from that, I just ordered a Triple Electric Skeinwinder from Crazy Monkey Creations!  I debated long and hard about whether to order the 1.5-yard or 2-yard version, and finally decided that I needed space much more than I needed 2-yard skeins.  So I bought the 1.5-yard winder.  I am breathlessly awaiting its delivery – they are custom made so it will probably be about 3 weeks before it arrives.  Can’t wait!!  I suspect it can also be used as a vertical swift, which I’ve also wanted, so this will be very interesting indeed.  If it does work out that way I will probably sell my Goko swift, which is a vertical Japanese-style swift.

Now it’s just about time to finalize my display for CNCH, so I should scurry off and work on it.  I’m going to have a table with the book, a set of short flyers with a summary of the project, and a business card holder with my business cards, in case people are interested in my website.  The book and the business cards I’ve got.  The one-pager, though, I still have to write, along with the text for the announcer at the Fashion Show.  I also have to select music to go with the ensemble at the Fashion Show, probably some harp music from the harpist we’re hiring for the wedding.  And, I need to put together a list of the many things I’m taking with me to the Fashion Show setup tonight.  I’ll be leaving work a bit early to put all this together.

The Fashion Show will be Friday evening.  Don’t be late!!  I’m the first number.  They’re rolling out the red carpet for me, complete with scattered rosepetals, so it’ll be quite the deal.  If you’re going to be at CNCH, come and see it!

(But if you miss it for some reason, the dress will be on display in the galleries, 10-6 on Saturday and 10-4 on Sunday.)

That’s it!!  I been busy.  Sometime after CNCH is over I’ll drop into bed and sleep for a week!

Some words  of thanks seem in order:

• First, to Sharon.  Her help has been invaluable, both in fitting and in  sewing the dress.  The perfect fit, the flow, and more complicated sewing are her work, and she provided the guidance to me as I did the bulk of the work.  Without it, I could never have completed either coat or dress a tenth as well.
• Second, to the handweaving community for helping me through many technical issues as I sampled, studied, and eventually learned how to weave the fabric for the dress.  Without you, the fabric would have been much poorer, and the path at least twice as difficult.
• Third, to my mother, for teaching me fiber arts as a child.  If not for you, I might never have gotten into fiber arts, and none of this would have been possible.
• And, finally, to YOU, my blog readers, for cheering me on through the difficult parts, and celebrating my successes with me.  Your support meant a lot to me, especially in the days when I wondered whether I’d EVER finish this thing, or if it would be a tenth as beautiful as the dress of my dreams.  It is, and I’m grateful for your support along the way.

I realized today that you’d never seen Sharon, despite all her invaluable work, and so I leave you with a photo of my co-conspirator and sewing mentor, and the two finished garments:

Sharon with the finished coat and dress

Now, on to the next adventure!

Yes!!!  The dress is finished.