I only bought three wedding magazines. Two for inspiration and one to bring to the dress shop. Since we don't believe in the commercialism of the wedding industry and corporate capitalization of the idea, we simply took what we found from our own inspirations and blogs about wedding planning created by people with the same objectives as us, and then put our spin on it. Once we made a decision about something, we stuck to it. It was never a problem, there was never endless appointments, magazines, or decisions.
We went right to it, got a few fun trades through Etsy, my bridesmaids all took unique roles, and then there were brunches, dinners, and movie dates to see every new bridal movie that comes out. It has certainly been fun.
Robert hosted my first bridal brunch, by cooking omlets for the first time for me and two other of my girls, and set up a mimosa table for us in the back yard, so that us girls could have a private setting to discuss wedding dresses before heading out for the day. Which reminds me...
The dress
I will not go into too much detail about the dress process, but it was fun and I felt giddy the entire day. Kristen and Megan planned for two store visits. The first to Alfred Angelo and the next to David's Bridal. Alfred Angelo was amazing. The salesgirl never put me in a dress that wouldn't have worked. David's Bridal was a waste of time and it is now impossible to get me off the calling, mailing, and texting list from them and their affiliates. I had already made up my mind at Alfred Angelo anyway. But, the dress was only about $1,800 out of my price range.
UC Davis Hospital Weighs In
My mom had a medical emergency that put her in ICU a few days before I tried on dresses. Needless to say, it was concerning for everyone and I didn't feel right continuing on with the wedding planning. She asked me to go to my dress appointments so that she could have something to look forward to while she was in recovery. I'm so glad that I could have provided her a distraction and some hope.
I hung out with her and my dad in the cardiac ward of the UC Davis hospital and we looked through about a hundred photos that Megan and Kristen took of me in all the dresses. I was torn between two dresses that looked extremely different but suited my dual personalities. Knowing that my mom enjoys a laugh, I presented the photos of the dresses to each of the residing nurses that came to visit her that night and asked them to vote.
By the way, UC Davis is a teaching hospital. In two hours that I was visiting, there were at least ten student doctors that came to visit her. We tallied up the votes and found a winning dress!
Buried in Muslin
Do you know how much fabric it takes to make a wedding dress? Let me tell you..... A LOT. I promptly bought a dress pattern with a coupon, that I thought I would use to make my Alfred Angelo replica, and a sea sized amount of muslin to practice with. If it came out well, then I would use it as the lining to my dress.... I was after all on a budget and not too picky so long as the general appeal of the dress was resembled in the final product. I was also willing to be flexible and do a very natural looking dress since our theme involved lots of cotton and texture.
The pattern alone had me in shambles. I'm a pretty good seamstress, if I can toot my horn for a moment. But, I'm not entirely confident that I wouldn't have cried a whole lot while making this thing, let alone keeping the design a secret from Robert. I could see it all falling apart from the moment that I asked for help creating a bust form shaped on my body, using muslin, duct tape, and an old mop handle. *cringe*. See here for a tutorial: http://shannonmakesstuff.blogspot.com/2010/06/duct-tape-dress-form.html
What mine should have looked like:
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| Disclaimer: This is not me, but doesn't she have a great bod!? |
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| Disclaimer: This is not me, but doesn't she have an odd waist? |
I'll try this again another time, and also when it's not 102 degrees in my garage.
Coincidentally, I received an Etsy order that just so happened to require as much of material as I bought for the dress, so I happily reimbursed myself and made a small profit to put towards other wedding investments instead.
IeIe Oooooohhhh!
Wendy at IeIe.etsy.com to the rescue! I interviewed and researched about 100 illegitimate websites for a discounted Alfred Angelo before deciding that it wasn't going to work out. I really wanted American made and I really wanted to support the crafting community. When I found Wendy, I put her through the ringer. I set up a 20 question trap to figure out her ability to design and sew replica and custom wedding dresses on her own, all from her New Jersey home, within this girls budget. She was everything I wanted and more. She went along with participating in my interrogation gracefully, and my dream dress would be made for 88% less than the designer version, and allowed me to make an initial deposit to prove her sincerity. To say the least, she saved me heartache, tears, and money on materials that I would have had to buy on my own.... IF it had worked out.
My next post will begin stitching together all the pieces of our planning adventure.... Stay tuned in.
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