Tag Archives: rainbow

8

RAINBOW WEDDING DRESS

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You’ve already seen the boots I wore for our wedding at Burning Man 2012, and now here’s more of my outfit.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, Photos by Blake Gardner

When we got engaged in 2011, I really had no idea what I wanted my wedding clothes to look like. I’ve never worn white, and we have no traditions to honor, so I was free to wear whatever I wanted! The main idea was to dress as more fabulous versions of ourselves.

First the skirt:

The body of the skirt is a dupioni silk. On the bolt it was gold with a red tone, but once I threw it in the washing machine to get that gorgeous drape it turned into a pumpkin. Go with the flow, right?

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Alex Finseth

photo by Alex Finseth

Instead of just one circle, this skirt has 1.5 circles to it. It’s divided into three panels (each a half-circle), with a center seam at the back and pockets in the front/side seams. It has such beautiful fullness when I twirl in it, and is delightfully extravagant. In order to get an even hem, I let the cut skirt hang for about 4 days, and then had my friend Danielle mark the hem line while I stood on a table. I usually try to do this myself, but I was not cutting corners with this outfit!

The waist is an elastic band in modal jersey–comfortable against bare skin, stays up fine without pinching into my belly. And no zippers to break! [The playa dust at Burning Man can be very harsh to fine devices like zippers]

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake Gardner

photo by Blake Gardner

The stripes at the bottom are finished with a rolled hem on my serger. Most of the fabrics were random remnants, and my favorite band is the gold stripey fabric that matches Jason’s pants.

The mirrored shisha trim is from India. Anticipating the hanging mirrors to not hang for very long, I restitched every single one of them. It was a nice little project that I could pick up for 5 minutes at a time, and it took about 6 weeks of very casual work. And then… the green and blue dyes bled all over the skirt! I actually don’t mind, although I was kinda stressed when I first discovered it.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Alex Finseth

photo by Alex Finseth

It wasn’t really necessary, but I added a silk charmeuse lining. It does feel so fabulous against my skin! Since it isn’t visible, I made the slip as just a single circle. As a wink to traditional bridal white, I added the lacy fringe that can only be seen when I pull up my skirt.

BODICE:

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake Gardner

photo by Blake Gardner

The original concept for the top was “rainbow bustier,” except it had to be a comfortable bustier! I had to be able to sit, and dance, and breathe all day and all night. The main fabric for the bodice is a metallic lycra, and I don’t mind admitting that I never thought I’d wear lycra at my own wedding. The torso is lined with purple modal jersey, and the bust is lined with black and white striped jersey.

To give some structure to the top I inserted plastic boning, which also prevented the chunky zipper from getting wavy.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake GardnerPink Lion cameo!

The bust appliques were all sewn by hand after I completed the basic construction. I pinned each piece while I was wearing it, then stitched them, then pinned on some more. There’s no way to convey how time-consuming this was, but I had so much fun. I worked on this in private, so Jason didn’t see the top until it was mostly complete. Flashy rainbow boobs, I never would have planned on this but it was so perfect and made me so happy!

Burning Man rainbow wedding, made by Julianne Burning Man rainbow wedding, made by Julianne

ACCESSORIES:

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, Photos by Aleck Gandel Burning Man rainbow wedding, Made by Julianne

I went back and forth on a veil. Traditional bridal white was never a thought, but I like the drama of a gorgeous headpiece. I wound up adapting one of my recycled Mardi Gras necklaces into a headband, adorned with charms I made. The fringe bead is just that: fringe wrapped around a bead! I’ve since worn the headpiece as a necklace, which happens to be irresistible to babies.

Burning Man henna Burning Man henna

Jewelry was simple: glass stud earrings Jason bought me earlier in the year, and a pearl necklace that my grandma gave me (and my lady cousins) for high school graduation. I also had my right hand covered in henna by a lovely lady who was camping next to us (while I was swinging in a hammock sipping juice from a coconut, no less!).

During the parade, I wore a rainbow vest. You can see the front and back in these photos, but I think I’ll do a separate post on it, since I didn’t make it specifically for the wedding.

rainbow wedding dress, Made by Julianne rainbow wedding dress, Made by Julianne

I also wore sparkly silver hotpants, which I have since worn as bikini bottoms. No pictures from the wedding though!

This hasn’t happened yet, but my idea was that I’d be able to wear each component after the wedding. Someone’s got a birthday coming up and might wear her wedding dress to her own party!

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, Photos by Dan Hamilton

photo by Dan Hamilton

If you’d like to read more and see more pictures from the day, we have a whole post about getting married at Burning Man.

You can also check out pictures of Jason’s groom outfit.

Most of these gorgeous pictures were taken by Blake Gardner and Aleck Gandel – many thanks to these talented photographers as well as all the friends who both captured and contributed to our wonderful day! K Alexander took the pictures in front of the glass wall at the Abita Mystery House.

2

GROOM’S OUTFIT

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I got married in September 2012 at Burning Man. It was where I met my husband, where we got engaged, and where we feel most free to be whatever we want, particularly ourselves.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake Gardner

Jason and I designed his whole outfit together. We wanted it to be an even more colorful version of what he normally wears.

PANTS:

This in-between short/pant length is a signature of Jason’s wardrobe. I don’t personally think it’s awkward (it’s capris) and I like making them for him. So it was the obvious choice for this wedding pants. This time I made his pants from a metallic striped cotton that my mom got in Jordan a couple years ago. They have a zipper fly and elastic waist; I’ve developed this pattern just for Jason. We added bands of fabric at the bottom to correspond to my own skirt.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake Gardner rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake Gardner

photo by Blake Gardner

Rainbow socks were also a natural choice! We got the Converse right before we left for Burning Man, and I replaced the white laces with a metallic woven ribbon.

SHIRT:

His shirt is made from a weighty linen. I washed the fabric three times to soften it up, as well as to get it fully shrunk before cutting. I found a bolt with about 5 yards of this fabric in our storage unit, and I honestly have no idea where it came from or what it was doing there. Luckily it’s the perfect color to bring out Jason’s eyes!

We wanted the look of our wedding to be colorful, exciting, and exotic, but we didn’t want to be the white people dressing up in another culture’s aesthetic. Inspired by: yes; appropriating: no. With this in mind, I waffled back and forth on the Nehru collar and tunic length of this shirt. But Jason’s wonderful mind never saw the styling as Indian; in his mind a stand-up collar is spacey. Great design, great rational: we make a good team.

The shirt is a modified version of Simplicity 5366, which I had tested a couple months prior and so I knew exactly what changes needed to be made for the best fit.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake Gardner

photo by Blake Gardner

The fabulous J cufflinks belonged to Jason’s dad Jack, who passed away shortly after we met. Two weeks after our own wedding, Jason’s nephew Jack wore them for his beautiful wedding.

rainbow wedding at Burning Man, brass buttons, made by Julianne

Jason picked out the green and purple for the topstitching. We got these awesome ying-yang buttons during my first visit to the Fashion District in 2009! They are heavy and tactile and yes, honestly, a little bit steampunk. I don’t think anyone noticed, but we rotated them all the way down his shirt, so that the gold was on the left, and then the right, and then back on the left.

 

VEST:

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake Gardner

photo by Blake Gardner

I based the pattern for this vest from one he already owned. The front stripe is another Jordanian cotton from my mom–there was just enough to cut both sides on the bias so that the pattern was going the way we wanted. One of my favorite elements from the entire outfit is the back of the vest. This metallic fabric was hand-made in Guatemala in the 60s, and was given to us by a longtime friend of the Siadek family, Valerie Maxwell (thank you Valerie!). It was exciting to work with, and in pretty great condition.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Blake Gardner Burning Man rainbow wedding, made by Julianne

photo by Blake Gardner

The lining is a vintage poly that was in my cabinet. The buttons are aligned so that the top jewels represent chakras (although we aren’t into that, but it seamed as good a reason as any).

Burning Man rainbow wedding, made by Julianne Burning Man rainbow wedding, made by Julianne

Jason was gifted the koa necklace by our campmate Teale right before the ceremony.

I think Jason looked very handsome and very himself! If you’d like to read more and see more photos, we have a whole post about getting married at Burning Man.

You can also see pictures of my bridal outfit.

Most of these gorgeous pictures were taken by Blake Gardner and Aleck Gandel – many thanks to these talented photographers as well as all the friends who both captured and contributed to our wonderful day!

13

A BURNING MAN WEDDING

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rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, photo by Alex Finsethphoto by Blake Gardner

Jason and I met at Burning Man 2009, he proposed there on September 1st in 2011, so the obvious place to have our wedding was Burning Man 2012 on September 1st, which happened to be burn day. The internet has more wedding-planning blogs than it can handle, but there’s not much devoted to planning a wedding on the playa. Basically, I’m writing this so that the top search results aren’t making fun of receptions where some of the guests are nude. [Contrary to my expectations, there wasn’t anyone naked at my wedding! There were some topless people though, and I was mildly disappointed that only one guy was shirt-cocking.]

My target audience is people who have actually been to Burning Man. You know what it’s like out there, how much water to bring, and that jazz. How the fuck do you get married there?  It’s an easy pain in the ass.

THE TECHNICALITIES:

Burning Man has a tiny page dedicated to wedding information, but it’s pretty incomplete, so you’ll definitely need to email BM weddings for up-to-date requirements. Be forewarned that Pershing County wants your officiant’s registration information no later than 1 August, so get this ball rolling sometime in July. They will need to include an affidavit of good standing from the ordaining organization. If you don’t have a friend to officiate, there are volunteer officiants on the playa and you should contact Armadillo at BMorg to make arrangements.

how to get married at Burning Man, made by Julianne marriage license

You will need to pick up your Marriage License from any court in Nevada; the courthouse in Reno is open till midnight and convenient to get to. You need ID, $60 cash, and also you’re both supposed to know the cities and states where your parents were born (I had to guess for mine). After the ceremony, have the officiant and two witnesses sign the Marriage Certificate, and then mail it back to the courts within 10 days. The court will give you all these instructions too. READ THEM. Also, don’t lose the packet on the playa!

rainbow Burning Man wedding, signing the marriage certificate on the art car

We signed our certificate on our art car while the Man burned, ’cause we’re that fucking awesome.

THE ARRANGEMENTS:

For me, the greatest thing about having a wedding at Burning Man is that it doesn’t need much planning. Most wedding traditions simply aren’t possible out there, so that’s a lot less to worry about. No seating chart, no catering, no flowers or favors or any trappings that we don’t absolutely want and are willing to transport out to the desert. Our location gave us the chance to consider what we want our ceremony to be, allowed us to focus on the meaning rather than the material, and kept us from getting self-centered. It’s not just our special day, it’s fucking Burn Day on the playa, and it kept me humble.

Burning Man can be pretty expensive. But it’s cheaper than a traditional wedding. Our wedding didn’t really add anything to our normal Burning Man budget, except maybe a case of champagne at Costco. That being said, it gave us license to splurge a little on some luxuries. I loved justifying little purchases as “it’s for my wedding!” On a side note, it’s generally just awesome to be about to get married and to tell strangers about it. It makes everyone happy (and you can use it to your advantage, as in when you need your sewing machine repaired ASAP to finish the wedding dress). Share your impending joy!

In the spirit of “leave no trace” and “that’s not really us” we made a website invitation that was emailed to our nearest and dearest.

THE GUEST LIST:

There were many people that couldn’t make it—and there’s the cosmic rub with a playa wedding—but there were many surprising people that did.  Among Jason’s grade school friends (a friend he knew since kindergarten happened to be camping down the street from us!) Jason’s brother Jeff made it to the burn just long enough to see us get married, and I had a bridal crew in camp that took care of me.

Of course I would have loved to share my favorite time with some more of my favorite people, but I don’t regret anyone not being there. And there’s no guilt about inviting certain people, or frustration if they actually show up.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, Photos by Blake Gardner

photo by Blake Gardner

But back to those friends who did come: they are adventurous enough to even consider journeying out to the playa. I like to think that our wedding is an opportunity for them to discover new parts of the world and new parts of themselves.

And then there are the campmates: I’ve only known these people for a few years, but they truly are my Post Nuclear Family. In fact, we only met Mary and Eric 8 days before the wedding, and Eric signed as witness on our marriage certificate! In true playa-magic fashion, we were serenaded by a friend-of-a-friend who had attended the wedding. All week long, we were surrounded by friends who were excited, supportive, and super helpful. They are always that wonderful, but I felt like it was more intense as the wedding got closer. Old and new friends, they have been with us through some magical moments, and I couldn’t imagine getting married without them.

THE LOCATION:

A lot of couples choose the Temple as their location, and while it’s always filled with love and beauty, the Temple doesn’t speak to our us-ness. Instead, we held our ceremony at the Bottlecap Gazebo / Lotus Pavilion, which we picked once we arrived on the playa. It’s a good idea to check with the artist before inviting 100 people to show up (mostly to make sure that the art won’t have been burned before your ceremony!).

Even though it was perfect, we kept our eyes open for another location, just in case there was a place that was perfecter.  But the Lotus Pavilion kept coming back to us at all times of day.

And dusk.

Bottlecap Gazebo, Burning Man 2012, made by Julianne

And night.

Bottlecap Gazebo, Burning Man 2012, made by Julianne

We were lucky to find the pavilion along the spoke that led to our camp, so it was easy to get to.

TRANSPORTATION:

We had all guests meet at our camp (conveniently most of them were camping with us). Jason made sure to register our camp and ourselves with playa info near center camp, and we coordinated our marriage to be at the same time as our radial camp location: 4:45pm.  (We camped at 4:45 and “E”).  That way when we saw people along the day, we could tell them “4:45pm on Saturday.  Meet us at 4:45pm and E.”  Not everyone will get this lucky, but if you plan for luck it seems to happen.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, Photos by Aleck Gandel

photo by Aleck Gandel

In true Burning Man / New Orleans fashion, we paraded to our wedding site. Our camp happened to be filled with musicians, stilt walkers, yogis and yoginis, and wonderfully strange mutants so our parade was awesome.  Best Man Cosmo drove the Sensatron with Rev Shawn T-Bone Taylor riding shotgun. A trio of drummers played on the back, while Jason and I rode alone up top. We were surrounded by a procession of our entire camp and many new friends on foot and bike. Some straggler strangers joined in, but for the most part our parade was comprised of old and new friends, and all loved ones filled with lovey love-love love love.  Love.

A couple friends rode up ahead of us to prepare the Gazebo before our arrival, so that there was a space for us to stand and everyone already hanging out there knew what to expect.

THE CLOTHING:
I’ve written separate posts on my “wedding dress” and Jason’s awesome alternative to a tuxedo. There are couples who adapt traditions to suit themselves and the playa, but more important than wearing the “right thing” is to wear what’s right for you (just like wearing any outfit at Burning Man). This is one of the most radical opportunities for radical self-expression!

Another benefit to a wedding on the playa is that everyone isn’t dressed up in the same drab fabric.  We told our friends to wear their favorite color and we all made a brilliant rainbow.

rainbow Burning Man wedding, Made by Julianne, Photos by Blake Gardner

photo by Blake Gardner

After Burning Man, we held two receptions to celebrate with our entire crew of burners and non-burners. One was held in Los Angeles a few weeks after the wedding, and then we drove to New Orleans to celebrate with more friends and family who weren’t able to travel cross country. Because we’d already been married for weeks, there was little pressure on the receptions, so Jason and I were able to relax and enjoy the parties. This is a great opportunity for burner couples to follow any traditions that maybe didn’t make it out to the playa, like caterers and wedding bands.

Because we were responsible for making our wedding, and responsible for whatever we want to happen on the playa, we only made what we wanted to happen. A wedding at Burning Man can be liberating, exciting, and mostly stress-free.

If anyone has questions about our wedding or advice about your own Burning Man wedding, go ahead and email me and I’ll try my best to help. If you’d like to see more of our wedding, you can watch Jason’s awesome movie about it.

Maria Mango – Oh My! from Jason Siadek on Vimeo.

Psychic (Black Rock) City – Yacht from Jason Siadek on Vimeo.

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