My Mom is a genius. Example: My sister's wedding.

This is to show my mom just how much we appreciate everything she does for us. My sister and I have grown up learning that nothing is impossible to make if you're willing to learn how to do it.
My sister and her boyfriend, Brian,  met when they were 12 in our cousin's wedding. Brian's brother was marrying our cousin, and they had Jessie and Brian as the youngest attendants. They had a little crush on each other then and saw each other over the years, but our cousin Beth ( Brian's sister in law and our cousin) played matchmaker when they were 19 and set them up. They had been dating for 9 years when Brian proposed at a winery in Lake Chelan, Wa. My sister and I are both very different from most girls. We like the outdoors far better than we will ever like the indoors. So it was only fitting that my sister wanted to be married outside at Scenic Beach State Park in Washington on August 11th, 2012. My sister wanted to look like she was getting married in a fairy glen.  My mom, my sister and I did everything, but serve the food at the wedding. But everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING was ours starting with the masterpiece: my sister's wedding dress. My sister fell in love with a Lazaro gown that was out of our price range, but my sister would never want a dress that was made by anyone other than my mom. So my mom ( being a fabulous seamstress), began my sisters dress 10 months before the wedding because the fabric was heavily embroidered and beaded. My mom spent 4 months just making the fabric for the dress: twice a week she would spend all day embroidering it and then the other days working on other aspects of it. After we embroidered it, we implemented my sister's changes to the original Lazaro: she wanted her dress to ombré from a pale peachy pink blush down to an ivory, and have loose fluttery embroidered roses randomly scattered over the dress. We hand dyed the silk ourselves ( my mom has been an artist and silk dyer for over 30 years). My mom finished the dress about 3 weeks before my sisters wedding and worked consistently all the way up to it on it: fittings, beading, etc. It is truly a one of a kind masterpiece, and quite honestly one of the most beautiful dress I have ever seen. So without further ado, photos galore of the wedding!!! All photos were taken by the amazing Terri Lynn Images in Port Orchard, Wa.

 My sister's bouquet consisted of spider mums, hydrangeas, white roses and a Hawaiian flower called a protea. The bridesmaids consisted of blue hydrangeas, lime button mums, fuschia roses, and dark purple scabiosa flowers that had young curly willow branches woven within them.

A lovely shot of my sister's bouquet with her and her husband's wedding rings.

 

My sister's shoes were made by my mom, and the earrings and headpiece were made by me!

 

The Cake! Fresh lemon cake with raspberry filling out of our garden and buttercream frosting under a marshmallow fondant. The leaves, acorns, mushrooms and ferns were all made by my mom, sister and I out of marzipan and gumpaste. The banana slug was my sister's idea the night before while we were assembling the cake, and I whipped it out right then from marzipan and we hid him in the cake for when she fed it to Brian. Everyone was so in LOVE with my "slug cake".

 

The flower girl!

The wings were made out of pampas grass and the dress was sewed with special holders for them to slide into when she walked down the aisle and could be slipped out later for the reception.

 

My sister getting her makeup done by yours truly.

 

Final touches.

 

My mother helping my sister into her dress. And you can see the details of the bodice of her dress!

 

My sister really wanted to take pictures on this couch. So we carted it into the woods for her. =)

 

She really is so lovely.

 

Another stunning shot!

 

My sister, and the whole gang of bridesmaids! I'm immediately to her left.

 

Every bridesmaid wore a different dress in the same color ( my mom made these too and hand dyed the silk) and a pair of their favorite sandals.

 

Showing off her hand made garter.

 

The big reveal to Brian.

 

They are a super handsome couple.

 

And they have way too much fun together. One of the lines in their vows were to "promise to always be each others sherpa on the mountain."

 

They have been together 10 years almost to the day they were married.

 

I titled this the "best man sandwich."

 

Two of the Groomsmens goofing off on the couch, Strike a pose boys!

 

A toast to the wedding! Mason jars were used by all the guests except for the bride and groom who had goblets.

 

Brian bought himself an engagement ring since he thought it wasn't fair that only girls got one.

 

No forest wedding is complete without an enchanted bridge!

 

Or without a black and white photograph.

 

They have a 5 year old black lab who is like their child. We came up with a shot that I though incorporated him with just how important he is. =)

 

My sister and I played on this swing as a child. Its only fitting that we put the dress on it as her last day as a single woman.

 

Her lovely train.

 

My mom and I hand made the roses for her bustle.

 

The sunset over the olympic mountains.

 

The lovely tables! Burlap runners with handmade tree round coasters with the initial burned into them.

Jessie, I love you to the moon and back.

Mom, Thank you for being amazing enough to make dream come true for us. We come up with crazy ideas and you make them happen through sheer determination.

 

And one more note about my sister's insanity. She wanted to throw her bouquet in a trebuche ( a french catatpult), so I spent 15 hours building her one that could throw an oblong object. If that's not true sisterly love, I don't know what is.