What to do with the dress?

First off, my dress has no garment bag -- it is just hanging in my closet like any other dress. The no garmet bag thing is a fairly long story that I wrote about earlier. I have two major stains on my dress: 1) the train and bottom of the dress is pretty much grey and black from dragging on the floor 2) I did spray tanning before the wedding, so some of it rubbed off on the dress -- mostly on the inside of the dress, but a little at the armpits.

So, the issue is -- what to do with the dress? The dress with alterations and tax ran me about $750.00. It will cost me about $200 to get it properly cleaned. According to Weddingbee, one of the best places for dress cleaning is Wed Clean. I've called around, and their prices are within range of everyone else.

If I keep the dress, I need to get it cleaned. If I sell the dress, I need to get it cleaned. Places like the Goodwill won't take the donation unless the dress is cleaned. Most places that sell dresses online charge a posting fee (about $25.00).

I could keep it and not clean it -- but why? I could just throw it away -- but OUCH! I mean, I've never paid this kind of money for a dress before and it just seems wrong to throw it out.

What should I do? I'm very conflicted by this. If I had an overwhealming feeling to keep the dress for sentiment or possibly my daughter, then this wouldn't really be an issue. But I don't feel that way, but I also don't feel like I should just get rid of it either.

Advice?

My beautiful box...

My card box is done! I ordered a custom card box from Etsy seller SheaChicDesigns and received the email today that the box is finished. I sent her pictures of my flower arrangements and bm dresses, and then let her design it on her own.

Isn't it lovely! I can't wait to see it in person.

Now that summer school is done, I've been frantically completing all of the diy projects that I've been planning for the wedding. Time to stop talking and start working. I will post about them later in the week (hopefully tomorrow), but for now here is a list of what is in the works:

• Finish the Escort Cards
• Finish the Seating Chart
• Make the Table Name Cards
• Finish the Bustle on My Dress (I've decided to do it myself - gasp!)
• Make My Veil
• Make Crystal Hair Pins
• Design and Make Programs

In addition to all of this, I still have a gazillion phone calls to make. I have to order a wedding arbor (I thought I had found a place, but they've stop returning emails and phone calls). My aisle runner came in the mail today, so now I have to decided if I will leave it as is, or try to personalize it. Fh and I also need to do some shopping for the honeymoon.

Today we took our second dance lesson! It was so much fun; I can't wait to do it for everyone.

Okay, that is it for now. I will be posting lots of pics and other stuff throughout the week.

Happy happy, joy joy!

My bridal shower is today! I will post pics tomorrow. I had a diy day yesterday and I can't wait to post the pics for that as well -- but today I am busy, so it will wait. Honestly, I can't believer this shower is for me; this is way better than a birthday party! I drank a glass of wine before bed last night so I would sleep. My alarm went off and I had no problem getting up. After the shower my seamstress bm is going to pin me in my dress so she can begin alterations. It is all too exciting. I must say that today is the first day that any of this has felt real...

Ladies in blue...

First, I have to give credit to Lady T for giving me this idea. The picture is from David's Bridal "dress your wedding". The dress the bride is wearing is NOT my dress, but it was the closest one I could find to mine in David's Bridal. Yes, each of my bridesmaids is wearing a different dress. They will all be wearing silver shoes, and I will be wearing shoes the color of their dresses. The two dresses that are strapless in the picture, won't be strapless for the wedding. One of my bm's is a seamstress, so she is doing all of the alterations and adding straps to the dresses that need them. Two of my bm's are redheads, one is a very dark brunette, and the other a light brunette. Each bm has a completely different body type, not even close to the ones in the picture. Picture them each carrying three yellow gerbera daisies with silver ribbon. My moh will be about 5 months prego on the wedding date and she looks so cute in her dress!

I'll write more later...

Stealth Settings...

I really wanted to post this last night, but there was just no way around my fh seeing the pictures, so I am being a very bad girl and posting from work! Stealthy... I have the dress... I went on Sunday with my fmil, moh, and one bm to try it on for the first time and it is amazing on me!!! I love it!! I cannot express enough how happy I am. I ordered a size smaller than what was recommended, and I am glad I did because even the size 6 is a little big (in the bust area). I am by no means a small busted woman, but I do have very narrow shoulders, so I am sure that is the problem. The veil I bought won't work, so I am going to have to rethink that one -- there is no way I'm paying $200 for the veil I tried on at the bridal shop. My moh took a gazzillion pictures, and I look very strange in most of them because she never warned me when she was going to take the pictures! So, I will do my best to give a small blurb for each picture posted.




1. Front of dresss (no shoes on) 2. Back of dress 3. "Haute Couture" pose -- this is me making fun of the stupid hunched bridal poses in all of the wedding magazines. 4. Close up of beading detail - if you look closely you can see how the top doesn't fit.

Dress Stress

More on the dress... So, I originally wanted a very non-traditional 1940's Hollywood style dress (similar to Guilty Secret) and when I tried these dresses on they looked great -- but they were not comfortable. So, I had to rethink, do I really want to be uncomfortable for 6 hours? On the next wedding dress try I brought my mom with me, and she talked me into trying on more "traditional" dresses, but ones that still had my sense of style. I was surprised at how many were out there! I eventually fell in love with just about every Maggie Sottero dress I tried on; I think I designed for her in another life. I finally decided on the Maggie Sottero "Colby" dress, it is strapless with some sworovoski beading detail at the bust, slightly ruched at the side, with a long flowing double layered skirt and a corset back. What makes this dress so great is that I can move in it, and similar to the earlier dresses I was looking at, there is no need for a fancy underwear set (I really hate "wedding" underwear -- it is just too much)-- I can get away with just wearing a cute thong and nothing else. Great!

So, then it was time to get measured and order the dress; this is where all of my dress stress comes in. According to the Maggie Sottero sizing chart my bust and hips fit the size 6 dress, but my waist fit the size 8 dress. The ladies at the bridal shop all insisted that I order the size 8 dress (I tried on a size 12 in the store, as they did not have any samples in smaller sizes). Their reasoning was that it is easier to alter a dress from big to small than the other way around. I asked them to leave the room so I could confer with my peeps. First, when they measure you they put two fingers underneath the measuring tape, adding an inch to the "real" measurement. Second, the back of the dress is a corset! In a bold step we decided that I could lose an inch or two around my waist if need be, but there was no way I was going to buy the larger dress and guarantee that I would have to pay at least another $200 (most likely more) for alterations.

So, I ordered the size 6. I have not lost any weight (as I don't really feel I need to), and I have not done any sit-ups to get my waist smaller (as I am lazy). My dress is in and I get to try on MY dress for the first time next weekend, and I am starting to stress. All of the "what ifs" are starting to get to me. Seriously, if it doesn't fit what do I do? The bridal shop made me sign a document stating that I would not hold them liable if the dress does not fit because I did not take their advice. Is there a way to get my waist smaller without loosing weight between now and and August 9th? How do I do that with my complete lack of self-discipline? Okay, I know, I should wait until I try the dress on before freaking out, but all of this is going through my head and I can't stop it. The next fear -- that the added fingers in the measuring tape actually make the size 6 dress too big for me, and now I still have to get it altered anyway! Ugh. In all of my dress trying-on experience I never once got to try on a wedding dress that actually fit me, so it was all just measurments and guesswork. Okay, venting done. Sorry. Hopefully my next post will be the wonderful and positive experience of getting my dress.

My dress...

My dress! I wanted something that would flow and move with my body, sparkle in the sunlight, and flatter my figure. I found the dress awhile ago, I've tried it on a million times, and now I've decided to share it with everyone. I love this dress -- it is perfect for me.

On the right is the back of the dress -- except I won't have a bow on my butt. The bow actually tucks inside so it can not be seen. Also, the panel under the laces won't be there, so my back will be visible all the way down.

On the left is the front of the dress. It is difficult to see in the picture, but there are sworovoski crystals all over the dress and the skirt has "tulip" shape that has crystals all along the edges. Both pictures are from maggiesottero.com.