Wedding Invitations with Lace Ideas?

[rdm]

Hi All-
You come up with the greatest ideas and suggestions... and I would like some help on this one.
My niece is looking towards a July wedding and has asked me to make the invitations. I talked to my sister (her mom) this week to learn that my niece will be wearing our mother's (niece's grandma's) wedding dress... my sister and I wore it when we each married (I think it's so neat that a third generation will wear my mom's wedding dress... and, she's still with us, and hope she will be then, too!) At 60+ years, the lace is fragile. My niece is a fashion designer and will be 'remaking' the dress... removing all the old lace, (much of which is now torn due to age and fragility), and replacing with new lace. The thought hit me that there must be something we could do with the old lace... and how neat it would be if I could work the old lace into the wedding invitations! And that's where YOU come in. I need ideas/suggestions on ways I could incorporate the old lace into the invites. I think it would be a fitting 'end' to the original dress's lace.

[BohoRose]

I'm currently making invitations for a dear friends wedding so I can sympathize with you! Getting ideas was fun but trying to figure out how to incorporate it all into 1 invite ... was challenging! Luckily I'm nearly done with the "design" part of my invites.

Anyhow, just a thought here ... but maybe the best thing to do with the lace is to make a special shadow box or something. You can have pictures of all the different brides that wore the dress along with your niece's bridal photo and maybe some mementos. I think it would make a great gift either a wedding gift or a bridal shower kind of gift. And she could display it in her home after the wedding.

I'm very sentimental when it comes to "heritage" items. And if I were to be in your neice's place I would love something that commemorates not only my own wedding but the history of the dress as well.

I think trying to use the fragile lace on the invites might prove to be challenging. But a memento using the lace would be cherished and preserved.

You could also use the lace on a ring bearer's pillow, or on those boxes for guests to drop cards in, to trim the flower girls basket, or even make a special treasure box for the bride to keep little mementos and memories from her wedding in.

Or if you're feeling really crafty you could do a scrapbook using the lace on some of the pages. Document the dress transformation, the previous brides, etc.

HTH! Sorry I didn't have any invitation ideas though

[rdm]

bohorose, I LOVE your suggestions. It sounds much more practical and I like the idea of commemorating my mom's wedding dress in this way. Using some on the ring bearer's pillow would be nice too. I'll run these by my sister, as she is the "keeper" of the dress at this time. Thank you so much for your thoughts!
-Mary