Wedding dress woes...

I've had some wedding dress issues in the last week. Issues that I can't really get into because Gordon reads this and I don't want to ruin any elements of surprise for the wedding day.

Here are a few pictures from when my sister, Katie, and my friend, Liz, went wedding dress shopping with me. It was a trial run to see fabrics, neck lines, and embellishments that I may want to add to the dress I, at the time, was going to make. We came across 2 dresses during that trip that I fell for. One was out of any kind of price range I'd be willing to spend and was taking away from the dream of making something. The other was similar to what I wanted to make and because it was a bridesmaids dress and therefore more affordable, there was no way I could have made a dress for less. I went for the less expensive, less stress alternative to making my dress. I ordered the bridesmaids dress in a 'wedding dress' color.

These are the dresses that didn't make the cut. Some I tried on just for fun, others were contenders. This was an option if I were going to go with a short dress. They didn't have many options for short wedding dresses so I had to try on a few short bridesmaids dresses. Use your imagination... picture an off white... cute right?

Here is my 'America's Next Top Model' pose. It got some laughs, I think Tyra would tell me not to smile though. Tyra, tell me the last time you saw a bride that wasn't smiling.

This is my Sense and Sensibility option, perfict or a period, English Garden kind of wedding... not at all what we are having.

What doesn't this dress have? There's lace, ruffles, pleats, beading, and layers... a bit too much if you ask me. I look like a wedding cake threw up on me.

This is the 'princess' look. Not at all what I asked for. The sales woman was insistent that "Every bride wants to look like princess". I do not, never did. The worst part about this dress was that once it was bustled my ass looked 20 times larger than it actually is. I can guarantee 'every bride' doesn't want a huge ass on her wedding day.

This one had a nice back, but not a nice front. I have been growing my hair for the last 4 years and I am planning to wear it down for the wedding. It would be a total waste to cover the back of this dress with my hair.

This was vintage inspired off the shoulder dress that would look perfect with a string of pearls. It was just a little big and overwhelming for my taste.

Again, a beautiful back but the skirt was a little too flowy and it said beach wedding to me.

This one was really pretty, fit perfect (made my boobs and butt look awesome), and it was on sale. Downside, it had been tried on by tons of brides. It was filthy and had tears in the lace so it would have cost an arm and a leg to get it cleaned and fixed thus losing the charm of the small price tag.

This was the first one I tried on with a veil. It was awesome to feel like a bride. This was one of the dresses that made me really think about buying one versus making my own.


So many options and so many decisions to make. I'm happy with the purchases I have made... yes purchases, I found a dress on-line that is almost identical to the one I had originally wanted to make and I got it for a great price. Now I have to make one of the 2 dresses I have work. It was fun to go dress shopping I loved all of it.

I'm seeing green.... and navy.

Its like I'm color blind and I can only see the colors green and blue. Everywhere I go, green and blue. Who knew that color could be so bewitching. Reading a ton of wedding blogs doesn't help either. Inspiration boards, dresses, shoes, flowers.... these colors are ALL OVER!!!


I LOVE those green shoes... too bad they're not on the JCrew website. SOOO frustrating! The red dress is cute too... I could see it in navy. And Lord knows I love me some red velvet cake.

The post that these dresses came from says that they are black and white. I see navy... what do you see? The bouquets are cute and very simple.
Whats not to love here? Great shoes. Fun cake. Vintage cake stands. And, that dress would be perfect for an engagement party.

We're not 'bird' people but these love birds are adorable. They would make a great custom stamp for our thank yous.

Where my girls at?!

I've always known I wanted to have a smaller bridal party. Just the few closest people to Gordon and I by our sides that would always be by our sides. Things seemed like they were going to work our perfectly because I have 1 sister and 1 brother and Gordon has 1 sister and 1 brother. But then Gordon mentioned that he wanted 2 of his friends to stand up. I'm fine with an uneven bridal party but 2 girls to 4 boys is a bit much. Gordon kept saying, "I cannot believe you don't have any friends that you can ask to be a bridesmaid." Its not that I don't have friends, because I do, but I didn't want to deal with the potential conflict of asking one friend and not another. Gordon said, "I cannot believe you are letting someone's potential feelings on this matter affect your wedding planning. Do what you want, they can get over it." I went back and forth over this for weeks and finally came to a decision after talking to a dear friend that is married that had a similar issue resulting in a very large bridal party. She said, "If you ask one person, then it turns into 'why didn't you ask your step sister?' and then 'what about friend X, you've known her since the 5th grade?' You gotta know who are your stronger friends that will understand your decisions and who are your friends that might be upset about it. If they get upset, that's their problem. Its your wedding do what you want, choose who you want." I thought about it some more and then made the decision. Once I told Gordon who I wanted to be my 3rd bridesmaid he was so happy. He wanted me to choose her.

Then I went on a quest to find a unique way of asking my girls to be 'my girls'. There were some cute cards at the paper store and then I thought I could make cards and put a special little note in it for each of them. Then I stumbled on this. Super cute way to ask, and a handy info sheet. Since I live in Philly and 2 of the girls are in Chicago and 1 is in Austin I figured this was the best way to get them all the info they may need in one handy little place. So I set out looking for envelopes, cards, ribbon, and stamps to put together my own version of Elise's cards.

Here is what I came up with.

I think they came out pretty good. They're a little different than the ones I found on Elise's site but that's what DIY is all about right? Finding something you like and making it your own. I gave them to each of my girls along with their bridesmaids dresses (I found great dresses at a great price... check back for that post). They all said yes!

My girls include:

MOH: my sister Katie

BM: Gordon's sister Stacey

BM: one of my best friends Maria

I love them each so much and I can't wait for them to share our special day with us.