5 1/2 Weeks to go!!!

Today was a very big day. We sat down and talked with our friend Dan who will be preforming our ceremony. We went over everything he would say and what we would say and how it would all go. He is so great and we are so thankful that he will be marrying us.



We also went ring shopping. It was so much fun to look at all the rings. We got everything picked out and I am having some family heirlooms sized so that I can wear them on the wedding day as well. Gordon's ring is 'indestructible' and had a lifetime guarantee so he is going to be stuck with me and that ring for the rest of his life. They will be ready in about 10 days. I don't want to wait that long; I want to wear it right away.

Everything is coming together really nicely. We are getting response cards in the mail every day and its exciting to see that everyone is looking forward to coming to the wedding. YAY!!

Let down.

Way back in November I was surfing Etsy for bridesmaids gifts. I came across a necklace that I loved. It was a lovely engraved locket with a Czech glass flower beads. The seller was having a bogo sale on all of her necklaces so I was hoping I could score a good deal on the gifts. I contacted her about the locket.

This is the original locket. Cute right? I explained to the seller that I was getting married and that I would love to give my girls this necklace as well as wear one myself. I asked her if she could make it in silver and if she could do Kelly green and Navy flowers. A few days later she got back to me and seemed really excited to fill the order. She said that she had to do some looking around to find matching lockets.


She came across these. She wasn't able to get all 4 of them to be the same but we decided to give the girls the smaller matching ones and I would get the larger, slightly different one. I asked if they could be ready by Christmas. I didn't find out till the last minute that they were not ready yet. I was planning a trip home in February and I asked if they could be ready then. She said she would probably be able to do that. Once again, they were not ready. Easter? Nope. She finally emailed me back shortly after Easter with photos of the finished necklaces. The pictures were little thumbnails and I could barely see them. But, from what I could tell they were exactly what I was looking for. I got so excited I emailed her back to find out the price and asked to set up a delivery. I didn't hear back from her. I emailed her again 2 weeks later. I waited another 2 weeks, nothing. And another 2 weeks, not a single response. At this point I have emailed her 4 times with out a response. I know that she has been on her site because she has updated her page, adding new items, posting new sales, etc. It has been almost 2 weeks since my last email.

I asked my friend Kathryn what she thought. I never put down a deposit or paid for the lockets. Kathryn agreed that I should just walk away and find something new. I sent the seller one final email. I explained that I was upset that I was unable to contact her for almost 2 months and that my wedding is about 2 months away. I stressed that I was disappointed I would not be wearing a locket on my wedding day.

Time to move on and find something new. Sorry girls, I really wanted to get you something special and I thought I had found it. I will do my best to make your neckline dazzle.

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.

It's all about compromise

They say that marriage is all about compromise. They should also tell you that wedding planning is all about compromise.

Something that was very important to me was in the wedding planning process was to make my wedding dress. It's something that I really felt like I could do and the only way I would get what I really wanted in a dress. Some of my friends thought I was crazy, and some of them thought it was an awesome idea. I'm pretty crafty, craftier than the average bear. I've been sewing for years. I don't have much experience sewing garments but I felt that given enough time I could practice a few dresses before making THE dress. I found a blog that showed another bride making her dress. If she could do it, I could do it.

I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect dress pattern. I found one that I totally fell in love with. It was a vintage pattern that unfortunately wasn't my size. I bought it anyway. I asked my friend Liz if there was a way to 'make it work'. Liz use to be a pattern maker for a designer before she moved to Philly, so she's got a little bit of experience making clothes for different sizes. She gave me some kind of equation using my measurements in relation to the measurements of the dress. It was totally confusing. Then I found an easier explanation along with pictures here . So, I'm gonna do this. I'm going to make my wedding dress. My mom keeps telling me I'm nuts and that I have no idea how much stress this is going to add to the wedding planning. I don't care what she says, I'm gonna do this.

My sister was going to be in town for a visit and I decided we should go dress 'shopping'. I feel that you only get to be a bride once why not take advantage of getting to try on as many wedding dresses as you want. My friend Liz came with us and we went to David's Bridal. The goal of the trip was to try on dresses and find aspects of dresses that I liked that I could incorporate into the dress that I was going to make. Things like color, neck line, and lace were all things I wanted to make decisions about. I tried on some nice dresses, some ridiculous ones, and one amazing dress. Then sales woman put the veil on me. Katie and Liz had the same reaction at the same time. "Oh my goodness, Sarah........". Now what do I do?!?!? The I got dressed and started talking to the girls. They both went on and on about how beautiful the dress was and how wonderful I was in it and that it made me really look like a bride. But I want to make my dress. This dress was nothing like the dress I wanted to make. Vintage feel, great cut, and beautiful fabric but not the dress I had my heart set on for the last 2 months. I started to cry. The sales woman said that she could give me a price cut on the dress if I wanted to buy it.... she didn't know about the home made dress idea. She gave me the price and my jaw hit the ground. How much? Really, that's your sale price? Yikes! I can't afford that. She told me I had a couple weeks to think about it and then the sale would be over. We talked about it on the car ride home and came to the decision that I would think about it. That, yes, it would be easier to buy a dress but its expensive and its not what I really want.

A week went by and a day before my sister was to leave town we decided to go to one more place to see what else was out there and maybe push me in one direction or the other. We went to the Bridal Salon at Macy's. They were over booked and short a sales person. The only sales girl in the place gave me a room and told me to help myself to the dresses. Katie helped me get them on and Liz took pictures. Every once in a while the sales girl would come by and ask how we were doing or comment on what I had on. I tried some sale dresses, some just for the hell of it, and some bridesmaids dresses. Something interesting happens when a dress is for a bridesmaid vs a bride.....the comma disappears and the numbers get smaller. One of the bridesmaids dresses was very similar to the dress pattern that I had planned to make. It had a lot of the same elements that originally drew me to the dress pattern. It was lacking in a few places but those can easily be fixed with accessories and the dress could be ordered in ivory so that it looked more like a wedding dress instead of a bridesmaid dress. I tried on a few accessories pulled from other dresses to get the full effect. This is it. This is my dress. I can make the things that needed to be added to the dress. The big scale tipper in deciding on buying vs making my dress was that this bridesmaid dress was under $200. Fabric for making a dress would easily cost that much if not more. I looked at the girls and said, "I'm gonna buy this dress!". Then we ordered it and while I was waiting for the sales girl to write everything up I text Gordon and my mom that I had just bought my wedding dress. They were both shocked and happy for me. Yay! This was the first 'its really happening' moment I had in the planning process. I can't wait for it to come in and I can try it on again.

I still feel bad about not making my dress. I checked back in with the bride that was making her own dress and found that she too went with another dress that was already made. I don't feel so bad anymore. I think I will make the dress pattern that I bought and wear it for some other wedding related occasion.