Bustle and flow

Before you read this you should know that I HATE bustles. I know they are meant to serve a purpose, but to me they just don't look pretty. It looks like someone took a safety pin and pinned a bunch of tulle up on the ass of the person wearing the wedding dress! I can't tell you how many bustle styles I looked at or how many alteration ladies I annoyed before deciding on the type of bustle I would get. I originally tried to find a dress with only a little sweep train just so I wouldn't have to bustle it, but the dress I fell in love with has a longer train so it would have been a pain to try to navigate through our reception hall with all that fabric not being out of the way. David's Bridal was originally doing the alterations for my dress but they didn't do such a good job of impressing me with their bustle options and were rude when I made any sort of suggestions. So I took my business elsewhere and found a little mom and pop shop to sew my bustle for a lower price still thinking that I wouldn't really dig what they were going to do to it. Well surprisingly, I LOVE it. I actually think it improves the look of the dress. That sounds crazy coming from the girl who earlier said she despises bustles altogether, but it really looks pretty. Here are just some of the many bustle designs we toyed with before deciding on the final one in the picture at the bottom. The first one just hung funny, the second one was too fancy and didn't fit the style of the dress, and the last two pictures are of the bustle I ultimately decided on. It is an under bustle or "french" bustle and I find it funny that DB originally told me the fabric on my dress wouldn't work for that type and yet the seamstress who did it had no problem altering it to look that way.

Thanks sis!

I'd been needing to find an appropriate dress for the formal dinner on me and FI's honeymoon cruise, but I kept putting it off because money has been tight here lately and all the dresses I really liked were upwards of $100. My sister recently went to prom, however, and wore a little black number that's actually a David's Bridal BM dress that I thought would work perfectly. Only problem (or so I thought) is that she is a size 4 and I'm a size 6. It doesn't seem like a big difference but I'm wider in the hips and have a little more on top so I didn't place my bets on being able to borrow her dress. Well let me just tell you all that I fit into that sucker. It's a little snug, but breathing is overrated anyway. I'm going to rock it with some silver heels and it didn't cost me a dime. I love having one less thing to buy! So thank you, sister/MOH of mine. It's nice to be able to borrow from your closet in true sibling fashion just like old times :)

Who really looks at feet anyway?

I took a trip on down to Rack Room today and picked up all the BM's shoes. Rack Room was the only store that I found had a decent selection of dark brown dress shoes! The girls are wearing pink dresses with brown sashes so I figured brown shoes would work well and maybe, just maybe, they can actually wear them again afterwards. Of the five maids, three picked the Fabulaire "Ava" shoe, one chose the Maripe "Brittany," and the other will be wearing the "Kensey" by Maripe. The heel on the Kensey is probably higher than you're supposed to have for a wedding but it's a sexy shoe so whatever, right?! I went against the advice of numerous others and let the girls pick their own shoes so long as they were dark brown. I wanted them all to be comfortable and I don't really see it as a big deal as long as they (and their feet!) are happy. Who really looks at feet anyway? I have pretty bridesmaids so I doubt anyone will be looking at or caring about the fact that their shoes don't match. The colors look like they vary a bit on the monitor but in person there's not a noticeable difference. I guess we'll see if the world comes crashing down as a result of my brazen lack of respect for uniformity on the day of.

Kitten heels are sexy too!

I ordered my shoes for the wedding today after having my first fitting. It's the Coloriffics Carmen, which is just a smaller heeled version of the Sierra that I originally wanted. This pair works for two reasons-one being that FI is the same height as me and didn't want me towering over him, and the other being my dress fits perfect as is and if I have anything over a two inch heel it's not going to skim the floor like I want. I really love the ankle detail! I wanted something pretty without being distracting when I'm walking down the aisle, and these are perfect. I'm looking forward to showing them off during the garter toss. Ooh la la!

I want these ties!

There's nothing else to say. I simply must have these. I found them on knottie redshoegirl's bio. The colors are perfect and would work so well on the groomsmen and FI! Unfortunately they are no longer on the Charles Tyrwhitt website. This makes me incredibly sad :( Guess I'll just have to stick with the dotted watermelon ties our tuxedo rental place offers for now, but I will be searching high and low for some like these because I have tie envy really bad!

Shoe possibilities

The wedding dress I bought is simply gorgeous. It is, however, more ornate than I thought the dress I picked would be since I went into the store looking for something more simple. Because of all the embellishments on the dress and the fact that it is fitted so every step I take my shoes will be peeking out from under the material, I'm not going to be able to pull off the pink shoes I'd wanted to wear. The dress just has a lot of designs on it and the pink shoes absolutely clash and are a bit much with all the beading and draping going on. I don't want my shoes to be competing with my dress and the colored shoes just stand out too much. If it was a poofy dress we wouldn't have this problem! But I'm unwilling to change my dress simply to satisfy my desire to wear pink shoes to my wedding since the gown I picked is absolutely perfect, so it looks like it's back to the drawing board. I'm okay with wearing white shoes as long as they are not particularly 'bridal' looking. I don't want plain, boring shoes since I'm a bit of a shoe whore. The other problem I'm encountering is that the size dress I got fits me perfect...but because I'm so tall the length is only right when I'm wearing below a 2 inch heel. All the shoes I had in mind were at least 3 or 4 inches! FI and I are basically the same height essentially so when I wear heels I'm towering over him a little. But I LOVE wearing high heels all the same and with the shoes he was wearing having a bit of a raised heel and inserts, I figured the height thing wouldn't be a problem. Well now I'm having to find cute shoes with barely any heel and surprisingly, it's quite difficult. I refuse to wear flats so that's not an option here. I found some shoes that would work so I'm making plans to get to a bridal store to try them on. I want something fabulous on my feet even if they don't have a heel and aren't hot pink!

Mosquito netting

FI thinks veils look like mosquito nets. If it were up to him, I wouldn't be wearing a veil on our wedding day. But the way I see it, my wedding day is the only day I'll actually be able to pull off a veil...and I'd imagine I wouldn't feel very bridal without one. I'm not wearing a blusher since I think they're a little too old fashioned for my tastes, and it's not like I'd pick some horrible, multi-layered, fru fru nightmare so he can't complain that much. I initially thought I would buy one of those long, plain silk tulle veils because I think they look so elegant. For some reason though (maybe subconsciously to appease FI) I ended up purchasing an elbow-length veil with a beaded edge. It's very pretty but I'm having second thoughts now thinking I should've gotten a longer veil. I hate second guessing decisions...urgh! I was a little upset at my normally frugal self for spending $140 on a veil, but I justified my purchase by reminding myself how perfectly it went with my dress since the beads used on the edges are the same type as the ones on the bodice of my dress. Being matchy is important to someone as OCD as I am, so that realization helped me deal with the shopper's remorse lol Below is a picture of the type of veil I originally pictured myself wearing, and below that one is the actual veil I purchased from David's Bridal.

Ladies and gentlemen...I think we have a winner!

After only one weekend of rummaging through what seemed like hundreds of dresses, I have found my wedding dress. As in THE dress. The one I will marry my wonderful fiance in and look back on in pictures adoringly for years to come. It is simply gorgeous! I know everyone says that about their dresses, but mine is truly awe-inspiring =D It made my mom-who is not known to be a crying person-break down in tears. Just the reaction I wanted! lol I found my dress at David's Bridal and had looked on the website prior to going to my appointment in order to pick which ones I wanted to try on. What's funny is that I never even noticed this dress because the picture on the website just does it no justice. The dresses that I had picked out just didn't look right on me even though I thought they'd be perfect when I first saw them, so my consultant grabbed one from the rack that still didn't appeal to me until I tried it on. I really just tried it on because I didn't want to hurt her feelings or insult her taste, but it ended up fitting so perfect and being the one! I got to buy it directly off the rack since they already had it in my size and it needs no alterations. It's almost like it was made for me! Now FI is usually good and doesn't try to ruin surprises, but just in case he decides to get sneaky and look through my blog I'm going to post a picture of not only the dress I chose but the "contender dress" too. Both gowns I narrowed it down to were organza with lace-up backs. One is a draped pick-up style with a beaded, strapless, sweetheart neckline. The other is a halter with a trumpet fit and ruched asymmetric bodice. Both were beautiful but ultimately one was more "me" and won out. I guess I'll have to make you wait until August 2nd to see which one I picked! You can click on the links below to see the fronts and backs of both dresses.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49995498&currentIdx=39&subCategory=-49999486|-49995498&catentryId=1000066

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49995498&currentIdx=49&subCategory=-49999486|-49995498&catentryId=1000064

Bridal party attire

I have done it. I have finally figured out what kind of dresses to get for the six lovely ladies that will be in my wedding. I thought I had figured it out before, and then David's Bridal decided to discontinue the dress I had my eye on! I wanted all the girls to be able to wear a dress that made them feel comfortable since they're all different body types. More importantly I wanted them to like the dress I picked seeing as how they are paying for it. I was pretty set on having them all dressed the same since I like the 'uniformed' look, but my bridesmaids like different styles and I wanted to make sure they all looked good in a style that complimented their figures. With my OCD nature, obviously this presented a problem haha Fortunately I have an even number of bridesmaids and together we decided that three will wear a dress with a halter neckline and three will wear a strapless style. The colors and length will be the same so I think it will coordinate nicely. I got the pics below from the DB website. The dresses will be in azalea pink with a truffle brown peek-a-boo skirt and sash. My maids will also be carrying bouquets of orange flowers to tie in all three colors I'm using. I just wish they offered the sashes and skirt option in espresso brown instead since it matches better with my color scheme, but I guess you win some and you lose some right? As for FI's men, he has decided on chocolate brown suits with tonal pinstriping details. I would never have considered dark brown suits before, but it actually looks really good! They will have orange bouts to match the girls bouquets and we've opted to just do a pink tie without a vest to avoid pepto-bismol overload and ruining the boys' masculinity ;)

If the shoe fits...

Every bride has that one detail of her wedding that she just has to have her way, no matter how many people advise her against it. For me that detail is pink shoes. I love shoes, and I refuse to compromise and wear something plain white on my feet on the greatest day of my life. That's why I will be wearing pink shoes when I walk down the aisle. Yes you read that right - pink shoes. Pink heels to be exact. It matches my wedding decor anyway, so why not? Just thinking about a pair of bright pink bejeweled slingbacks under that white dress of mine makes me smile :) It's so unexpected! I love how unique it will be. I'm sure some people who read this will think my choice of footwear is highly odd, but it just seems so 'me' to wear something like that on my big day. (And after all...it really is all about me, right? lol) I personally think they will make for some fabulous wedding photos. Darn me for being an unconventional bride ;)