reclaiming wife

Posts Tagged ‘My Great Dress Search’

Planning: Journeys

What about the dress? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that I didn’t spend weeks scouring the internet for inspiration. Or hours wondering what the appropriate hemline was for a dress code we were pitching somewhere along the “casual—awesome” continuum. Or vital minutes on the day of our dinner celebration snapping pictures of my butt in different light, to make sure my panties didn’t show through. (Yes, at least one butt close-up made it into the photomontage that my mother shared with family and friends. Thanks Mum.)

I thought and I thought and I thought about it. But I didn’t really want to talk about it. Because really, what is there to say? “What about the dress?” was a question put to me at roughly five-minute intervals throughout the wedding preparation. “It’s, uh, short? Pink?” OMG, pink? “Well no, not pink. Peach? Sort of…translucent?” OMG, it’s see-through? “Well no, not see-through. Just, sort of papery. But with sequins.” For a long time, a number of people believed I would be wearing some sort of ice-dancing costume to my reception.

I almost envied women who’d taken the more traditional route and kept the dress hush-hush before rocking up at the door of the Church, to widespread gasps of amazement and admiration. Sure, as Meg points out in her book, they can’t pee alone. But then, I was wearing double Spanx. Peeing was no picnic for me either. And at least they could deflect questions beforehand on grounds that their particular version of the usual white dress would be a huge surprise. Continue reading Madeline: What about the Dress?

I have, up till now, refrained from writing the traditional wedding blog shoe post: because oh-dear-god-why? But all good things must come to an end, so here we go: The Shoe Post.

I, despite everyone's best efforts (which for the record, I really appreciated), wore shoes I already had. Clarification: I wore fabulous shoes I already had. My shoes were broken in, I knew I liked them, and they were shiny. What more can you ask for? Continue reading The Dreaded Shoe Post (Sort of)

So, there is one more story that I owe you before the wedding, and that is the final story of the wedding dress. I've talked extensively about my search for a wedding dress here (and if you are still in the land of looking for a dress, these are all posts worth reading):

My first foray into the bridal salon
My love of vintage dresses
No, you're confused, I want a dress not a car
My lovely but can't afford it brush with couture long and lace
My nice but homogenized trip to David's Bridal
My decision to try to make a wedding dress Continue reading My Wedding Dress: The Final Chapter

So. Recently, I’ve been getting a little anxious about my OUTFIT, and my ACCESSORIES, which is a whole other post. But, some of my anxiety has revolved around wanting a fabulous hair piece (other than my homemade veil, which I’m starting to love). Anyway, I was reading back over Things To Wear On Your Head When You Wed, and looking at amazing handmade hairpieces and getting stressed. And then I remembered that ages ago, I’d decided to wear a real flower in my hair. Ahhhhh, yes. Real flowers. It seems so obvious when you think about it. And the cost? Free.

The one time I was a flower girl (something I had aspired to be since I realized you could get such a job) I was a little disappointed that A) My dress was not spin-ny B) They gave me flowers in a stupid basket and not a gorgeous big-girl bouquet and C) That I didn’t get to wear flowers in my hair. So the next day, when I got dressed for church, I *insisted* that my mom French braid in all of my flower girl blooms into my hair.

But this time, I’m in charge*. So blush Dahlias it will be. It may not be fabulous and feathery, but I suspect no one will be *too* focused on my hair. (And actually, it will be fabulous).

*And you better believe that my dress will be spin-ny and my flowers will not be in a stupid basket.

When I first started wedding planning, I'm not sure I consciously realized how much pressure their was to buy All New Things. I mean, I'm not dull, I was aware that the pressure to spend was unhealthy, but there were things I took for granted. Wedding shoes, for example. Every blog I read, every magazine I read, every thing I read no matter how indie or how mainstream talked at length about wedding shoes. I obviously was not going to wear some traditional ugly-as-sin white 'bridal' shoes, but, considering I was wearing a short dress, I figured shoes would be key. And *everyone* cares about wedding shoes, right?
Continue reading Something Old, Something Borrowed

It's been a while since I've given you an update on our wedding, so here we go. First off: of course the second I wrote a post about the absurdity of pre-fab wedding lists, my real life wedding list kicked into overdrive. In the past two weeks alone: my wedding dress arrived almost completed, we went shopping for lace trim for the dress, I got the materials to make both my veil and my headpiece, we finished our invitation design, we sent our invitations to the printer, we paid the final deposit for our venue, we started the process of ordering our wedding bands, we ordered vases for the flowers, we wrote our wedding service, we've continued pre-marital counseling, and we found a Ketubah to order... and honestly? I'm not even sure if that's it, because I can't remember anymore.
Continue reading Our Wedding Update (The Dress Arrives)