The Dress

I have been collecting pictures of wedding dresses since I was a little girl. It was fun to look back over them and see what I had imagined myself in. 

I was having quite a dilemma. The thought of wearing a white dress was so frightening. Heck, I don't even own white underwear. So how was I supposed to feel comfortable in something that reminds me of a huge white marshmallow? On the other hand, formal colored dresses felt very "prom" like to me. I wanted something elegant, colored and in my budget. 

Around the time Mr. Ramon and I were engaged we were in Portland shopping, eating and hanging out. We were on the hip Mississippi Ave. and went into a shop called Flutter. We were searching for wedding props - but I always peruse the vintage clothing. I was immediately drawn to a rack of amazing gowns. Now it is hard to explain what I was seeing - but dresses made of tulle, sequins and satin. All looking quite disheveled in a beautiful way. I knew instantly that this was the look I wanted. The big sign above the dresses said "Urchin Re.Design". I took note and knew I needed to find the person that made these and see if they could make me a dress. 

I could not let this leave my mind and upon returning to Seattle emailed Sonia Kasparian at Urchin to see if she could make me a dress. I was sure that this type of service would be out of my budget. After a few emails back and forth we decided to meet at her studio for a consultation. 

To start off I needed to know what style of dress would work best on my figure. I enlisted a bunch of my favorite ladies and my mom to head to David's Bridal to try on dresses for shape only. Exactly as I expected - the experience was really tough on me. Trying on huge white dresses in front of 100 mirrors was a bit scary. But I narrowed it down to empire waist and a fuller skirt. I had pictures and ideas to take to my first meeting with Sonia. The consultation with her was the beginning of what was to be 6 months of back and forth trips to Portland for custom fittings and great conversations. Not to mention she was able to make me my dream dress within my meager budget.

Sonia is unbelievably talented. She makes new dresses out of recycled dresses, tablecloths, vintage fabric etc. She hand dyes, hand embellishes and builds you a custom dress that is one of a kind. She has a house stuffed with fabric, leather, feathers, jewelry, beads and embellishments of all kinds. She also makes veils, headpieces, shrugs, jackets and on and on and on. She made me feel like the most beautiful version of me on my wedding day

Here is an example of her work - another bridal commission. 

Here are some pictures of my dress. Black was not my original intention. We talked about a lavender underskirt and a darker tulle. At our next few meetings the color changed and we moved to black as the top layers. She also found this exquisite French black lace with sequins that she hand sewed to the empire waist and on the bodice. I made quite a few trips as the entire top was fit directly to me. She also made me a shrug out of an old sweater and the same lace on the dress.

Let me tell you I felt like a princess during this process. I also loved that no one knew anything about my dress. I went alone on Mondays to my appointments. I even tried to keep Mr. Ramon in the dark about what I was doing. The night of our wedding I found out he really believed me that I was wearing white and when I came down the stairs in my dress he was in awe. 

Overall - hands down the most amazing experience ever. 

This year Vera Wang and a handful of other designers showed colored wedding dress collections. I think this is a really awesome trend and when done well is so beautiful. 

The pallet gate

I was cruising the parking lot at Lowe's last Saturday looking for a parking spot when I spied an unusually small pallet. We had just finished the fence around our garden and needed a gate to close it up. We spent a morning looking at the salvage yard looking for the perfect "gate" but found nothing. I tried to find someplace to get a basic picket fence style gate and was out of luck. As I sized this pallet up in the parking lot I thought it might make a great gate. 

A quick phone call to Mr. Ramon and I squeezed it in the back of the mini cooper and hauled it home. 

Mr. Ramon was pretty stoked and got right to work on the pallet. He cut off about 6 inches of it to match out 4 foot fence post height and then reinforced it in a couple of places with some scrap wood so it would hang sturdily.

I had picked up hinges, a closure and a handle at Lowe's.

About an hour later we had a gate. Not bad for picking up someone elses garbage. 

Sitka & Spruce

Mr. Ramon took me to lunch today to the new Sitka & Spruce in the Melrose Building on Capitol Hill. Matt Dillon's new space is lovely - open and clean with vintage school chairs and an amazing long butcher block table off of the center island that has 12 seats communal style.

We shared a few plates and I took some pictures of them all - so amazing.  I really recommend that you stop by for a bite sometime.

The seating



Mr. Ramon gets ready for a great meal!



First course - spring vegetables in a light vinaigrette



Scallops with sorrel sauce on toasted bread



Dessert rhubarb with creme fraiche and a cookie



Mr Ramon finishes up with coffee

doors in paris

This post will show my geekier side for sure. I love doors. There was a time when doors were really important design elements - and I love that and miss that. I even have a door in my house that was a gift quite some years ago - it has moved with me all over and just hangs out against a wall in the dining room.

One of things I loved in Paris were all the doors - so old and so beautiful. I took a few pictures of them alone - then decided that Ramon would be a good door prop.

So here you go -

love in Paris!

Paris is the city of lights - and the city of love they say. Well it turned out to be the latter for me. Exciting news - Mr. Ramon proposed in front of the Notre Dame - while guitars played in the background. Lovely, breathtaking and romantic - and I could not help it but say yes!



So look forward to posts about wedding planning - mood boards, venues, dresses, flowers and all that silly stuff.