I had the MOST FUN experience this month and I am struggling to narrow down the pictures, so I may just include them all because I love them so much.
Background information: My current favorite author is named Sarah M. Eden. She writes historical fiction/romance and my favorite series of hers is the Jonquil Series. It's just so clever and well-written and fun. Each book follows the story of one of the brothers, but the entire family grows and evolves through each book and it's just so great. Even though that series is my favorite, I love all of her books.
She announced that she would be releasing the final book in her Penny Dreadful series, which I have also really enjoyed, and that she was going to host a themed event to celebrate.
Amy reached out and asked if we could get a group together to go, so I asked Jenna, who has read all of her books, too, and Melissa who has read the Jonquil books. Eventually, Brooklyn got pulled in and we booked our tickets! But then we started to look for costumes. My neighbors across the street are incredible costume designers and I won a custom costume at our ward's youth auction last year. I reached out and asked them if they would consider outfitting me and my sisters in Victorian costumes instead of making a dress for me. They said "We only have Victorian ballgowns, would that be okay?" Umm... yes! We had such a fun time being fitted for our dresses and attending the event.
Dress Fittings
Robin and Roxanne had a rack of Victorian ballgowns and they basically just went down the line from smallest to largest. I ended up in this beautiful pink and cream dress - which is easily the most gorgeous dress I've ever worn, even more lovely than my wedding dress.
I especially loved this dress because Robin herself wore this in one of her Opera Productions and it was just so neat to share this dress with her.
DREAD PENNY SOCIETY
The night of the event, we met up to do hair, then went over to Robin and Roxanne who helped dress us and get us on our way. My ONLY regret of the night is that I didn't hire a professional photographer to take pictures for us. I thought about it over and over but I just wasn't sure what the timing would be like and talked myself out of it. I really wish that I had, though. That aside, we had such a fun night.
The event was held at the McCune Mansion in SLC. Our dresses were amazing and it was so fun to arrive at the event all decked out in our finery. Rubbing shoulders with the Upper Crust of society.
We entered through the front door, receiving a penny bracelet to represent the pennies of the "Dread Penny Society" from the book. Each room had a story and something relating to one of the characters that you had to figure out.
The ballroom was located on the top floor of the home and it was breathtakingly beautiful. That's where we met the Author, Sarah Eden, and she signed our brand new books. After that, we exited the building through a fun back staircase to a garden area where there were fancy refreshments and tables to visit around. As I was walking past, I heard my name and saw two of my friends that I hadn't seen in a really long time. Sarah and Michelle had been in the group right after us and it was fun to run into them and discover a shared love of Sarah Eden.
These pictures ended up being my very favorite, even though the picture quality isn't quite as good because it was so dark outside. I love them.
I loved going to this event with my sisters (all of them). Dressing up, being in a fancy house, doing something unique. This night was completely just for fun and I am grateful that I was able to experience it.
