One Dress. Two Looks.

I stumbled upon this Real Wedding in Knot Chicago magazine back in February 2008 and immediately  began the scavenger hunt for The Dress. I still remember flipping through the magazine as I walked back to my office from the bookstore, seeing it, and screeching. I recently re-stumbled upon the wedding and noticed how differently the other bride and I interpreted the dress. I always love seeing how different people accessorize the same piece. It's my favorite part of spreads like "Who Wore It Best?" in Us Magazine. Check out our side-by-sides.

We both went for real flowers in our hair, but she wore her hair upswept and romantic, while I went with a faux beehive.

Images: The Knot and Sarah Alair

She wore traditional white shoes and I went all Solid Gold Dancer.

Images: The Knot and Sarah Alair

She wore a long veil with traditional pearls. I wore a birdcage veil with moonstone jewelry.

Images: Glen Abog and Sarah Alair

She went with beautiful traditional white and green flowers. I went with bright autumnal flowers.

Images: The Knot and Sarah Alair

Oh, and she had a better tailor than me.

Images: Glen Abog, Sarah Alair, Venus Bridal

That shoddy tailor job will chap my hide until the day I die. It looks like a completely different dress in the back. I should have coughed up the cash and brought my dress back into the city to be tailored. Lesson learned. You get what you pay for.

Has anyone else seen photos of other brides wearing the same dress that they did?

I Am In My Paper Glory!

I just arrived home from my dress fitting and found this message waiting in my Inbox:

I am so happy that I could cry. Jeanne is my girlfriend from high school. She doesn't know that I designed the invitations myself, so I know that her comment is genuine. And she totally got the Frank Sinatra stamp too! Yes! Yes! Yes! Hooray! I love Jeanne! I love Paper Triumph! I love when the USPS delivers local mail in one day.



As for my dress fitting, I L-O-V-E my dress. I feel actual love for my it. My dad cried when he saw it. It's so incredibly perfect. E-mail me if you want to see pix. I don't know if I need a better veil, though. I think maybe.

Yes! What a good day today is. First, I loved my dress. Then, I had a nice afternoon with my parents. And then I arrived home to a little paper happiness. :)

More Ridiculous Shoes

I walked by this Christian Louboutins in Nordstrom the other night. Wouldn't they be perfect for my dress if they weren't nine feet tall and didn't cost $865?

Images: Bergdorf Goodman

Image: Venus Bridal

It's 11:15 P.M. Already?

Holy sh*t, where did today go? I was so busy today that I forgot to call my brother -- who had surgery yesterday -- ON. A. LUNG. WTF? When I picked up the phone to call, I realized that it was too early and then I didn't remember until 9 p.m. I am going to burn. Maybe I'll tell him that I did call and he forgot because of the morphine. JUST KIDDING!

Here's what I did remember to do:

Address Label Maintenance

I received 35 responses to my Alchemy request for someone to cut the labels -- including one from a woman who went to Pratt! Isn't that funny? "Yes, I had a 4.0 at Pratt. As you will see from my resume, my most recent freelance assignment was chopping some chick's ugly labels for her wedding invitations." I spent a good hour declining bids. I always feel mean turning people down and try to look at their shops and say something nice in my decline message. So it takes time.

Anyway, we're down to four missing addresses on Andy's side and two on my side.

Pick Up the Swatch of My Bridesmaid Dress

Although I am thankful for my cheap dress, I so wish that I could have found it at a dress shop in the city instead of one that's 21 miles away. Contrary to what Google Maps says, it's not 35 minutes away. It's an hour away. The Kennedy sucks.

Also, while I was at the bridal shop, I held my gold shoes up against a dress that is similar to mine. They were OK. Definitely not perfect. I think that the texture of the leather is too much. Oh well, if I find something else, then I do, if not, I'm fine with it. I only have two friends that would notice and they wouldn't care at the end of the day. I can't give those gold shoes up. They're too comfortable!

Order Jewelry for My Bridesmaids

Thank God I made it into Sara Lenart's shop today. I haven't been in there in about a year so I didn't know that she's pregnant. I squeezed my custom order in just in time before her maternity leave. Even though I requested a September delivery date, I'm glad to have it over with.

Her new work is so beautiful. There is a GORGEOUS ring that I'm loving. We talked over the color scheme and some ideas and she's running with it. I can't imagine her designing anything that's less than fabulous. The girls will be wearing orange teardrop-shaped sunstones with a mix of gold and smokey quartz and some green accents. The image below is an example of sunstones. It doesn't do them justice though. Ironically, I am wearing moonstones!

Image: http://www.limabeads.com/

Print and Cut the Coat Checks Tags

More on this tomorrow...

Dress

I had a nightmare last night that the store ordered the wrong dress, so I decided to nip it in the bud and bite the bullet. I popped out to the 'burbs to check out my dress.

Oh.

My.

God.

I.

Love.

It.

It's perfect. Absolutely perfect. And it's TOO BIG! Hooray! I am telling myself that it's because I've been working out like a champ. Hopefully, it will be much, much bigger come time for alterations.





Here's the 4-1-1 on all of my accessories:

• Veil: LOOKS AWESOME without the feathers. The feather clip just doesn't work with my dress.


• Ivory J. Crew Shoes: They aren't the best selection. The color's off and the design doesn't work too well with my dress. I think that I might look for some gold shoes.


• Orange J. Crew Flats: AWESOME.

YEAH!

I Need To Check My Voicemail More Often...

...because apparently, my dress arrived on Tuesday! OMG! That's four months ahead of schedule. My first reaction was "Oh man! I could have gone out there today!" But then I realized:

1. I don't have any room to store it and neither do my parents.
2. I am afraid to try it on. What if it doesn't look good? What if I am still too chubby for it? (I ordered it for my current size, but still.)

So, I might drag out the pick up process for as long as I can. We'll see...I could decide in the morning that I can't wait to see it.

I just went for a bike ride along the lake. SPRING IS FINALLY HERE! I originally planned to ride from Irving Park to the Shedd Aquarium, but I was riding into the wind and barely made it to Fullerton. I stopped at Fullerton and relaxed for awhile. On the way back, I realized that I was riding in eighth gear. I am such an idiot. An out of shape idiot, though, because I am beat! I have to say, sitting in the sun on the lakefront was just what the doctor ordered for my vacation day!

If I Were a Rich Girl...

Sorry for all of the accidental posts. My Internet Explorer kept switching between Blogger in Draft and regular Blogger. Hooray for Microsoft products! They're stable.

I was browsing my Martha Stewart Weddings when I came across an advertisement for this gorgeous Vera Wang dress...it's a couture version of my working (wo)man's dress. Isn't it gorgeous?

Images: Vera Wang and Venus Bridal

This has nothing to do with Martha or my dress, but how cute is this etsy find?

Image: kaicreations's

See? I am like an accessories schizophrenic! I seriously can't pick a look. Maybe I should just buy something in each category and have hourly costume changes. Other girls get two dresses, right? Ha, Ha.

Thanks!

Thanks for all of your compliments on my dress! I really do love it. And what a relief to have that decision out of the way. I owe my "virtual planner," Mimi, big time! I had read that you should order your dress six months before the wedding date. I wasn't going to start shopping until April. Thankfully, Mimi and I had been exchanging e-mails after we participated in the Brooklyn Bride Christmas Card Swap and she urged me to shop sooner. Seven shopping trips later, I am thanking her a million times over.

Also, I agree wholeheartedly that bridesmaids should be comfortable. Especially in situations like mine, where each bridesmaid has a body type that is polar opposite to the others, but also a very distinctive style. And I can't make my HOT 25-year-old sister wear the same thing as a 34-year-old.

I've been a b-maid seven times, so I have squeezed into many different dresses through the years. I haven't had to wear anything ugly though...no sailor collars or hats for me! And all of my friends picked very affordable dresses.

Here are a few of my dresses. (All of my photo albums are in storage, so I don't have any pix of bridesmaid dresses 1-4 handy.) And if you don't like any of them, don't make fun of them in the comments. People might laugh at your selections too! (And my friends read this.)

BTW, I want to be a minimum of this skinny by the wedding. Only 34 weeks to go -- I better get on the stick. I was working out like 4-5 days a week back then.

My Dress

A few people have asked what dress I ordered. I originally didn't post it because Andy's being a freak about not seeing it, but then I realized that he doesn't read this anyway. (He said that he "sees it come alive." Dork.)

I purchased the Venus gown that I found last week:

Photos: Venus Bridals

The photos do not do it justice. It's so perfect. I couldn't love it anymore. I can't stop thinking about all of the shoe and jewelry possibilities!

I know that some Type A Brides may scoff at the fact that it doesn't really complement the bridesmaid dresses. At the end of the day, I am just happy that the four of us found comfortable dresses for our very different bodies. Beggars can't be choosers, purists be damned.

I Got a Dress!

I've ordered a dress! After all of that drama, I ended up buying a dress in 15 minutes while Andy waited in the car. The women at the shop were so nice and funny. The one dropped an F-bomb while ringing me up. Rock on.