Monday, December 17, 2012

Wear Your Wedding Dress: an Anniversary Party

Pretty much the day after I got married I knew I wanted to wear my wedding dress again.

Where could I possibly do that? I didn't want to dye it and wear it to a party, nope, I wanted to have an anniversary party where all of the women get to wear their wedding dresses again.

                           wear your wedding dress again for an anniversary party

And yes, I realize that could als be read as "get to", as in "no thank you I won't wear it/it won't fit/you've got to be crazy".

                         wear your wedding dress again for an anniversary party

Thankfully, my husband let me keep dreaming about this party. After 2 kids, I could fit back into my wedding dress for our 5 year anniversary, but our house was still under construction, the economy was in a massive recession (you remember 2010, right?), and it just didn't work out.

wedding dress and black tie for a holiday party theme


Enter my new idea, a 7 Year Itch party. 3 kids now, and the dress zips. Pay no attention to the back cleavage, you can't expect perfection after this long and this many kids:) Also, we were in Hawaii for another wedding on our 7 year anniversary. This is what we get for getting married on July 4th weekend, it's VERY popular for weddings:)

7 year itch anniversary party invitation

So I just punted, and decided to invent my own party. Come on in!

As you know, one of the very best htings about having a party is that your house gets all straightened/things thrown in closets, so it looks awesome:) 

simple anniversary party decor

I just bought armloads of white flowers at Trader Joes, and spread them around with some candles and 72 shimmery balloons and called it a day on the decorations front.


simple anniversary party decor lots of balloons

For an "activity" I set up a photo booth in the library with a tablecloth and streamers (from Amazon) as a backdrop, and my camera on a tripod with a remote.

                            diy photo booth for a party

diy photo booth for a party with props

I even provided a table of props, for some extra fun.

diy photo booth for a party
                         

Now my sister and I got a picture of the two of us in our wedding dresses together! This would never happen unless we had some sort of Marcia and Jan Brady double wedding.

                           wear your wedding dress again party




                           wear your wedding dress again party

More gratuitous pictures of us:)


wear your wedding dress again party


wear your wedding dress again party


For food, since it was the first night of Hanukkah, in addition to a cheese plate, I made latkes with creme fraiche, smoked salmon and caviar, yummy:) 

latkes with creme fraiche, smoked salmon and caviar

Plus spinach deviled eggs, and little tomato soup and grilled cheese shooters.

                           Tomato soup and grilled cheese shooters

Obviously, since this was my party, there was a lot of champagne, sparkling water, and scotch for the boys. That my boy right there:)

anniversary party scotch tasting station

The next day, most of the balloons were down, which left something fun for our kids when they got back from their sleepover at Nana and Baba's house:)

anniversary party decor

Any other fun anniversary party ideas? 


Jessica



I link to these awesome parties:



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22 comments:

Kaity B. said...

This is SUCH a fun idea!!! When else would you get to wear your dress again?!

Unknown said...

i am so in love with this idea. My dress is all wrapped up and preserved though. Maybe I'll have to bust it out of that box after all! :)

Shannon Fox said...

I donated my dress to Hospice.. but dang girl, what a great idea. How fun and fabulous to get to wear your dress again. Make life a celebration!! Why not? Cheers on your anniversary and Happy Hanukkah.

acasarella said...

Best. Idea. Ever. And I had to pin those balloons. So pretty!

Colleen said...

I love it!! such a fun idea. I loved my wedding gown too!

Jenna said...

Jessica - what a GENIUS idea! My wedding dress has been sealed up in a special moisture/bug resistant box for all of eternity, or at least until my future daughter/granddaughter wants to wear it. Who am I kidding... big 80s sleeves will probably be back in style then and my dress will be SO old-fashioned, lol. What a fun idea for a party though! Love it.

Unknown said...

This is SO fun! What a great idea, I always wanted to do a photo shoot on our 10 year anniversary in my dress again (I ended up hating our photographer) but this is so much more fun. Kudos to you for still rocking that dress - I'm afraid to try mine...

Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication said...

What a wonderful idea! I'd love to wear my dress again one day too! Maybe I can convince my husband to let me do this...

And I hope I can still fit into mine after 3 kids! You go girl!

Karah @ thespacebetweenblog said...

What an awesome party idea!!! And you look so fab in that dress it is ridiculous!!!

Bliss said...

I think that's a great idea for a party, me and my dress just wouldn't be able to attend. I want to send invites out for one just to see the looks on my friends faces thinking about having to either find their wedding dress after 25 years, or actually fit into it!

Bliss

Carrie said...

Oh fun and all of the brides are gorgeous!

Kirby Carespodi said...

How fun! My friends and I had one YEARS ago called "Hell yes! I'll wear the dress again!"
I'm with Bliss on the "even if I can find it...it won't fit" front. Maybe a mother of the bride dress?

Michelle {Jarrah Jungle} said...

Owww you both look gorgeous, love your dress! This is such a fun idea, now I just need to wait for my boyfriend to ask me to marry him so I can do this too!

Kelly said...

ohmigosh. I NEED to have a party like this! SOOO fun! But first: 7 more pounds. *sighhhh.* :) Your dress? STUNNING. I love it! No wonder you wanted to wear it again!

Bethany [at] Powell Brower Home said...

this is the cutest idea ive EVER heard of. i love that you did this!!! and that dress- what a classic. you should be so proud that you fit in it and looked smashing!

Amanda said...

I LOVE this idea! How insanely fun :) I loved loved loved my wedding dress, and even though we're now divorced, I really want to wear it again! I think a party like this would be so fun, although I'd have to come up with a different reason than an anniversary :)

Amanda
www.watchoutmartha.net

Amanda said...

What a fun idea! I must admit, I look for any opportunity to wear my wedding dress again.

The Clay Trowel said...

VERY fun Jessica! I'll stick to my new year resolution weigh loss for at least 6 months before I whip out my wedding dress ;-)

David John said...

You can waer your wedding dress for anniversary. Have a look at it


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melissa@joyineveryseason said...

SO FUN! best idea for a party *ever*!!

Unknown said...

I love this idea! I'm going to have to see if I can squeeze back into my dress and start planning! Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

This such a fun idea. My husband & I just signed at the Post Office so I have never worn a wedding gown. Not even any pics to reminisce on. When we did this we had planned on doing it all over but as a vow renewal.
Unfortunately, we have never been able to do so. Now I'm dying to wear a wedding dress before I turn fifty-one and I would love to copy your idea if my husband would cooperate.

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