And Yet More Dresses

bridalboutiquelewisville.com

So Sunday was productive, at least I think. I went to try on more dresses at the Bridal Boutique in Lewisville. This time I found a variety of dresses. I tried on a lot of different dresses, all very pretty and unique in their own right, but only four that struck my fancy. 

My initial reaction when I found this place online was that there were going to be a lot of options. The website made it sound like it was HUGE, the kind of place David's Bridal or Terry Costa's is, but classy. I half expected to walk into a warehouse of dresses. But when we got there, it was this tiny tiny little hole in the wall shop, in the middle of historic downtown Lewisville. I just knew I had made a mistake, picking yet another tiny little shop that was going to have nothing but the same boring, fru-fru fluffy dresses.

So we get there and walk in and there are a TON of women there looking at dresses. I was taken aback by the amount of women looking at dresses on a Sunday afternoon. I was glad to have a reservation. So I walked up to the desk to sign in and they didn't have me scheduled on the calendar! Great, I thought. I have everyone here and these idiots forgot to pencil me in. So I get someone's attention, find out why I'm not scheduled and get it corrected. I get a nice woman named Dee to help me out. 

Dee and my posy scour the racks for dresses that they think I will like. I find many. We start off with 10 dresses and go through about 9 more before the end of the time there. I have decided after trying all these on that the sweetheart neckline is the option that fits me best. So whatever I go with will have to have a sweetheart neckline.

Another thing that impressed me was the prices. I wouldn't have to sell a kidney to buy one of these dresses. Or rather my mother wouldn't have to sell a kidney. :-) None of these dresses were over $1500. And I know I could negotiate them down from their asking price. If there's one thing Heath has taught me is that EVERYTHING is negotiable. I swear that man can haggle better than an Egyptian camel trader.

Anyway, Here are the four choices I've narrowed down to from this location. Let me tell you a little bit about each dress. 

This first one was very flattering. I loved how it made me look good. It had a pewter under layer and silver lace and beading. I loved the empire waist line and the little half bow with the jeweled broach. 

The back was a corset style bodice and the lace went past the train. The lace in the front also went past the dress, which concerns me because I'm not exactly graceful in heels.

It had an A-line neckline but that can be altered according to Dee. I also asked if the front hem can be altered, and she said probably so but of course that would cost the most since it is lace.

The next dress was absolutely gorgeous. This dress reminded me totally of A-list Hollywood movie stars.

My favorite thing about this dress was the color of the dress fabric itself and the pink and gold color of the lace and detailing. It was form fitting and very modern/classy. I love the neckline and detail at the top of this dress.

What I didn't like was the big bow in the back. Though Dee said that could probably be taken off and/or have something else done back there. It also didn't have lace, but this dress didn't really need it. I need more feedback on this one as I'm not sure how well it will travel or fit with the venue. But I do like it a lot. 

The next dress is also one of my favorites. I LOVE the way this dress looks and how it made me feel like a princess. But again, there are things I didn't like about it. 

First, the things I loved about it. I love the neckline and the beautiful satin ribbon at the top. I also love the asymmetrical style at the bottom. The beading is beautiful, and there is some lace overlay around the satin tiered accents.

It moved beautifully when I walked across the room with it. It was easy to sit in and handle. It was slightly heavy though, from all the tooling. 

I didn't like that it doesn't come in the champagne color I love so much. I think it would be much more appealing if it did. And I am worried that it may be too big for me. What I mean by that is that it may swallow me up. Am I too little framed for a dress like this? That's where I need some more feedback. 

And finally, this dress was very classy, simple and elegant. It was also the lightest weight and lowest price of all the dresses I liked.

This dress is a Casablanca dress. I have loved this manufacturer's style since first seeing them oh so many months ago. I love, LOVE the beaded neckline detail (that the pictures just don't show). It has a beautiful sweetheart neckline and the back dips down real pretty, following the same V shape as the front. 

The lacing on this dress was accented with beautiful sparkly beads. It caught the light very nicely. The train isn't overly long. It was very light weight and easy to move in. I could get in and out of it without any help and I think it would travel the best to both venues. It's a little bit country, and a little bit destination. Over all, for what I'm looking for it's probably the best choice...but I can't help but love some of the others a tiny bit more. 

So, Let me know what you all think. I can't wait to hear the feedback.

Flowers, Feathers, Fans....Oh My!

So I got to thinking today in my spare time, what should the bridesmaids carry? I researched the internet via my favorite site, Google, and found there are lots of ideas out there for this particular item.

Some brides choose to go with the very traditional flowers bouquets. Some brides break away from tradition a little and incorporate feathers or beads or buttons. Others still get more creative and make pieces like wheat bouquets. I thought those were very cute when I saw them. I even found one bride who went really unconventional and had her bridesmaids carry bibles. That's not my cup of latte, but it was interesting.

Ever since I was a little kid I have always loved my Aunt Grace's Christmas's at her house. She would incorporate themes from around the world each year and have different style of Christmas's for us kids to learn about and participate in. One Christmas tradition in particular stood out and to this day I still love the idea of it.

She told us of the tradition of either the German or Swedish caroling ceremony where little girls of the village would dress up in their Sunday best and carol around up and down the streets for the town. They would carry little lanterns that were decorated in holly and ribbons. They carried the lanterns to light their way at night. After the story, we were told to do the same thing so we could experience the same type of tradition. Though we kids only had to carry the lanterns from one room to another while singing, I still thought how pretty those little hurricane lanterns looked.

Anyway, that image stayed with me. I wanted to incorporate that idea into my bridesmaids bouquets. I Photoshoped what I kind of think they would look like. Here's what I came up with:

There are other options of course. I also like the idea of wheat and feathers, or feather fans. Either one of these ideas works also. I'm sure we'll find something that will look great with the venue.

Strawberries Galore!

Ok, so this isn’t really wedding related, but after laboring 4 hours on my Valentine’s day present for my sweetie, I decided that I may be able to put my artistic culinary skills to use for the wedding. Making chocolate covered strawberries is actually really easy. After doing some research online, via my favorite search engine, Google, and watching some video training on YouTube, I decided to put the ideas in my head to the test.

First, let me give you some background on this project. I wanted to do something really sweet for my wonderful fiancé for Valentine’s day and searched online for something different than sending flowers or cookies. I ran across a website that offers strawberry arrangements. I liked what they had and, after trying to order one that fell through because of their inability to deliver the particular arrangement I wanted by the date I wanted, I decided to make them myself.

I checked out grocery stores and they wanted $7 for a box of 4 mediocre strawberries. These didn’t look very good, and honestly, looked like they had sat on the shelf a bit too long. I can’t believe chocolate covered strawberries sell for so much, but then again, it is that time of year for these sweet confections. Strawberries are apparently out of season which made finding some good ones rather difficult. I did find some good ones and took my prize home to make my creations.

So, into the kitchen I went. I warmed up the chocolate and found that dark chocolate melts so much easier than white chocolate. In fact, white chocolate is extremely difficult to work with. I decided to use Almond Bark instead of white chocolate, which turned out easier to work with and just as tasty.

Since I’m such a perfectionist when it comes to artistic things, I decided to not just make chocolate covered strawberries, but make fancy chocolate covered strawberries. I added things like pecans, coconut and sugar toppings. I even dressed a few up like tuxedo’s and wedding dresses. That’s what gave me the idea. I could make some of these as wedding treats. Of course, 4 hours of labor for 44 strawberries may not be worth it. In fact, it was the tuxedo and wedding dress berries that took the longest, as I had to painstakingly place the little sugar beads one by one to make the necklines and I had to draw out the bows and buttons on the tuxedos.
The final results turned out like this:

Wedding music

Ok, so today I thought about it and was trying to figure out what kind of music to choose for the venue. Should I go with a DJ or a band...or do I just bring my boom box and play old school jams. I think I have a few tapes left from the 80's that would be great to dance too. Who doesn't love big hair band ballads?

Seriously though, I got to thinking about it and since the venue will be held locally at a ranch, I was thinking something kind of country but fun...like Jimmy Buffet style music. Actually, the idea hit me when I thought about a co-worker of mine who's in a band that happens to sing Cajun country rock in good ol' fashioned Buffet style band. Of course, I have no idea what kind of music it really is or if it would be setting appropriate, but I'm interested and want to see, so I asked him to give me more info. I'll have a cd to listen to soon. 

Picking out music is just one of the facets of planning I'm facing. Though I kind of like this task. I'm probably doing this whole planning thing way out of order. I'm not an in-line kind of thinker anyway. Planning ahead was never my forte. Thank goodness there's a Google app for that! According to this new online Google planner someone suggested to me, I'm doing it all wrong.

For now I'm happy to just have picked out a date and a venue. Well, two, but we'll get to that later! What I really need to do is sit down with myself and start going over the guest list. Then I need to get some addresses and start sending out "Save the dates" or whatever they are. Maybe I can do it all electronically. I like that idea a lot. I hate writing out addresses. I'll use my computer prowess to send out the informal dates, and good ol elbow grease to send out the formal invites. I may have to incorporate a few friends to help write those out!

I think I'll start looking at color themes and invitations. Guess I had better get to work!

Ok, so today I locked down a date with a venue. September 10th, 2011. I have scheduled the time from 6pm to 11pm. This way I can have it at sunset next to the creek and then party into the night! I go and sit down with the facility event planner this Saturday to work out details. The venue is quite cute. It's called Storybook Ranch and it's in Frisco. It's fun and quaint. It will be a great time!

There's still so many things to sort out though, like catering, decorations, tables, invitations, and so much more. and I still have to find a dress!

After last week's adventures in bridal wonderland, I tried on several, and found that lace seems to work best on me. I can pull off fun and cute dresses too, but it seems the elegant, simple and contemporary dresses just look awkward and horrible on me.

Here are a few I tried on. Since these are way out of my price range and I won't be getting any of these, I'll at least share them and get some feedback on them.

There are many people out there who find someone who is compatible with them, who is willing to share their experiences with them and carry on a happy existence together. But fewer find someone who so completely understands them, someone who loves them for who they are; all their flaws and mistakes and cherishes them unconditional anyway.

I have found such a person who completes me and is willing to put up with my antics, tantrums and wild ideas. Together we are a team that can do anything. In July of 2010, my soul mate asked me to marry him and I said yes. We now being our voyage together into that rite of passage known as marriage.

I am not the kind of woman who has dreamed of her wedding since I was a child, so having to sit down and plan out dates, venues, dresses, colors, invitations, cakes, et cetera, et cetera is proving to be daunting. 

My original plan was to have the wedding in Belize on a Mayan temple. The date I wanted was September 10th, 2011, or 9/10/11. Since America is the only country to use the date format of Month/Day/Year, and September is a high rain season in Belize, I changed my date to October 9th, 2011. This way it is still 09/10/11 according to the date format of Day/Month/Year that the rest of the world recognizes. 

I have a few venue choices set up and have travel agents working out the details for hotel stay and the ceremony, but due to unforeseen family circumstances, I've decided to have a local wedding here also. I plan on having the local wedding so that my family can be there with me, which is more important to me than having a Mayan temple wedding, but I still want the mystical experience of the temple wedding, which to me is very spiritual, so I will also have a ceremony there. That one will be much smaller and mostly for me and the groom.

I am still looking into venues at this time and recently started the process of dress shopping, though I know I need to hurry up on that. I've found several I like, but what I don't like are their price tags. I know what I like now though after trying on different types and what works for my body. I will continue my search for the perfect dress and start working out venue details. 

More to come!