This thesis details the development and validation of a laser Doppler vibrometer-based measurement system that is capable of quantifying not only the normal vibration of a solid body but also the component of vibration that is parallel to the plane containing the surface of interest. LDV manufacturers produce various devices that capture 3D measurements in a beam configuration that can be used to decompose the measured signals into not only the normal velocity of the surface of an object but also two orthogonal in-plane components of the vibration. It was a slightly simplified two-dimensional version of this approach that was chosen for implementation in the Wave Physics Lab using individual components to create a cheaper, more flexible system than those produced by companies such as Polytec. The goal of this system is to facilitate the exploration and discovery of areas and applications where 2D measurement may provide a more complete and precise view of the physics of different phenomena. Upon completion of the system development and validation, a study was done that sought to measure the acoustoelastic effect in an Aluminum plate by measuring how increasing loads alter both the normal and in-plane components of Lamb wave propagation in the plate. The acoustoelastic effect is the effect of stress on wave speed caused by non-linearity in the propagation medium.