Bridal Portriat Session

These were taken in February after my hair trial, but I didn't wait to show the world my dress. Now that I'm married I wanted to share. (Photos by Lara Coughlin Photography)

The First Fitting

After what happened over the summer I had a little anxiety about trying the dress on. On top of that, It was made a few thousand miles away and there's been all this anticipation and now it's here. Also, I'm only a few weeks recovered from hip surgery. So, there was a lot going on in my head. I think that's normal though, most important dress you'll ever wear and all that. I wasn't standing on a pedestal with sales people and strangers gawking. I got to be in my very own (very messy) bedroom when I saw it for the first time. So, cool.

I hopped into it with Mike's help, but balancing was tricky. I had to hold on to the walker without setting the tips down on my ivory laced hem. I managed all that just fine, but Mike had trouble getting it zipped. Suddenly, my great fear of it falling to the floor when I put it on because I lost too much weight didn't seem like the worst thing ever. I got more and more worried as I stood holding my top. I could hear all those brides from Say Yes to the Dress screaming "It's not zipping?!? You CAN't zip it? This isn't funny!" It turned out to be an overreaction (aren't they all) because there's a tricky angle in the zipper. Mike was attempting to get the zip over that spot without damaging the delicate fabric. He prevailed.

It fit like a dream. I was barefoot so the hem lace was on the ground, but it'll be just right with shoes. It was light enough to hop around in it so dancing will be a breeze. Pictures just don't do it justice. I'm so happy. That's what a girl in a wedding dress that fits looks like, happy. There are things to discuss with my bridesmaids like what kind of undergarment will work best. The lady at the boutique told me I'd need to have cups sewn in, but I'm not sure. I have or have picked out everything I'm wearing expect earrings. They'll be my something borrowed from my bridesmaid who's been married the longest. It was a good first fitting. I really love my dress.

Bride Meets Gown

When there was a knock on the door I was sure it was Christmas decorations I ordered. Wrong. It was my dress! I can't believe it got here so fast.

It came in a huge white box. Mike cut it open and pushed aside the tissue paper. I don't think I breathed after that until the long white garment bag came out of the box. The long white zip came down in slow motion. There is was. It's real, it's mine. Holy cow, I'm a bride.

I instantly loved the fabric. The champagne color is so much prettier in person. The ivory fabric on the skirt shines through the champagne fabric. It's a really lovely affect. The bodice has an era of 50's glamor about it. The rhinestone belt is exactly the right color green. I really love how simple and beautiful it is. I'm so glad I didn't settle.

She even included a framed sketch of the dress in the box. What a treasure. As my friend pointed out, I have the only dress like this in the whole world. It makes me feel like a movie star. It was such a pleasant experience from start to end I'm so glad I found Pantora by Andrea on Etsy. She did beautiful work. She stayed in contact through out the process giving me her email with Etsy messages weren't getting to her. She finished exactly when she said she would and I received my dress within 48hrs of completion.

It was a fantastic experience, really I'm racked my brain for any criticism and I can't think of one. It was well worth the wait. Excuse me I have a dress to try on.

Dress Denouement

Today was an emotional day. We went to a memorial for Mike's grandpa and my Dad had an accident and went to the hospital. I was exhausted when we got home. So it was a wonderful surprise to find a message from my dressmaker that said:
I'll be done tonight in a few hours
Squeal!!

She sent this picture. I really like my green bling. It's a big improvement over the flower. I'm just so excited that it'll be on it's way to me so soon. I can't wait to try it on! I first found and made contact with my dress maker on July 9th. We discussed changes I wanted to the dress design starting on the 10th. On July 17th I sent all of my measurements. I paid the deposit on the 18th. July 19th she emailed me scanned swatches and mailed some so I could choose the champagne fabric. By the 27th I had gotten the swatches and given her my choice. We conversed all through August while she finished the pattern, bought the fabric and constructed the bodice.

In October she showed me embellishment choices and sent photos. I made the second payment. We decided on an attached petticoat for simplicity. By late November she was just waiting on the ivory lace for the hem. She assured me it would be done by the end of the month. True to her word it'll be done tonight and on it's way to me tomorrow. Merry early Christmas!

If you told me I'd be getting married in a custom dress a year ago I wouldn't have believed it. Now our creation is almost done and my weddings a few short months away. I'm so glad I didn't settle for a dress that wasn't right, now what to do with the one hanging in my closet...

Just as I was wrapping up my post she finished the dress and sent me a picture! It's all done. Just like I wanted fitted rusched bodice, green bling, flowy champagne fabric on the skirt, no train, and lace detail on the hem. Sigh... I showed Mike the picture (sue me, I wanted to share my excitement with someone), but I feel funny posting a finished picture of the dress here. Forgive me, but you'll have to stay in suspense.

Rolling Along...

I asked for a dress update today. She said:
Yes, I have updates, in the car can't get to Etsy right now, but your lace should be in my hand by tues, the store had to order some b/c they didn't have enough of the one I liked. But I think the entire thing will be ready to ship out end of this month.
Yay! I'm so excited. I was feeling some serious dress envy for my bridesmaids. My sister got her dress shipped today, but nobody local has said anything yet about picking up dresses. I hope we all love them in the proper color. I wish I could go pick them all up and deliver them, but I'm not healed enough for driving yet. It just occurred to me typing this that they might hate them. I just thought in their actual sizes and with such great fabric we couldn't go wrong.

I also got a message that the flower girl dresses will be here Monday! Fast shipping. I can't wait for the girls to try them on. Hurray! It's always weird to me when I push, push, push and then step back and things start falling into place. I researched, planned, organized and then I let go. Now, things are moving along. I've heard people talk about being bored during parts of wedding planning, but I haven't experienced that at all. I've been busy or less busy planning never bored. More accurately I've been more distracted by life or less distracted. Right now healing from hip surgery trumps all and somehow progress is still being made on the planning. I must be blessed.

On top of that, my cake topper FINALLY came in. It's been back ordered since July! I completely lost faith I’d ever get it. Turns out all I had to do was stop obsessively checking whether it was in stock. Who knew? I ordered it tonight.

I was browsing Etsy's wedding stuff and I found this store that does amazing custom cake toppers (Anna Crafts), but they were $180-200. Which made me think about how lovely (and affordable) my pick was. So I checked and it was in. Such exciting news today.

Women and Children First

Apparently, some time last week my bridesmaids dresses came in. I found the letter in a pile of junk mail. I was told to expect them in January so this a nice surprise. I sent a text out for the girls to go pick them up and let me know when they have them. I haven't seen them in the right color (emerald dupioni silk) yet so I'm so excited.

With the kids attire all done (minus fairy wings) and bridesmaids dresses in it's starting to feel a lot more real. Any minute now I'll be getting married, which is hard to imagine this week with my broken hip. So, that's the women and children. Now we just have to nail down the men and we're all dressed. Woah.

Speaking of dresses I'm going to be making the final payment on my dress and hopefully receiving it right around Christmas. Can you imagine?!? The year is almost over which means the year I'm getting married in will be starting any minute.

I can't wait for all the girls and kiddos (including me) to try on their clothes. I'll probably share some pictures of the kids and the bridesmaids dresses in the right color, but I don't think I want to post any of me wearing my actual dress. Yay!

Wedding Dress Update!

I got some updates from my fabulous dressmaker, Pantora by Andrea. She says the bodice is complete. Hurray! I have a top half. Here's the image:

Isn't pretty? I like it so much better in this color. Next we agreed on some bling rather than the rose from the orginal design. She sent me two options:

This first one is certainly the correct color stones. The green and white stones match my engagement ring and necklace. I'm just not sure about them being in such a geometrical pattern. Not enough chaos for me I suppose.

The second one is a much more free form looking pattern which I like. Obviously the stones in the example picture are blue. If she can find this with green and white stone similar to the colors of the first one, we're golden.

After that the skirt has to be assembled, which is by far the most time consuming (I'm assuming, I have no idea really I don't sew.). It will be champagne layers over ivory. Doesn't that sound beautiful? With lace trim on the hem. She asked whether I wanted the petticoat attached or separate. I felt completely unprepared. to date I can count the petticoats I've worn on one hand (past life as an actress), but I've never had one constructed for me. Neat. I went with attached because it seemed simpler. I hope I made the right call.

I'm about to make another payment on my masterpiece of a fairy inspired wedding gown and she says it will be ready earlier than she thought! I can't wait to try it on. I think I'll invite the bridesmaids and mom's to come see it when I do. Oh! Squeal! I have goosebumps.

I'm so glad I changed my mind. God Bless the talented folks on Etsy!

The Cherry On Top

Here's the picture from the Etsy sellers' listing:
(mignonnehandmade)

And here it is on me:

I think it looks better on me.
Isn't it pretty?

Now imagine my hair's curly and I'm wearing this:
(Etsy seller: PantorabyAndrea)
Remember my dress will NOT have the rose. We're going to do emerald bling of some sort instead. Also, the skirt will be champagne and ivory so it'll match the flower on the headpiece. I'm so excited. It's so Midsummer. Mike actually commented with sadness "so no veil?". I never really wanted one, but once I started asking myself "what will I do with this after the wedding" something like this is perfect. I'd totally rock this after the wedding. Why is it always boys who lament not choosing a veil? I feel like I've heard quite a few stories about that. Really though, what do you do with it after the wedding?

How much do you love it? I'd love to hear feedback on the bridal ensemble.

I Found "The One"!

No, not Michael. The dress. The dress that filled me with with anticipation and made me never want to look at another wedding dress for as long as I live. I'm head-over-heels this time for sure.

Mine will be champagne not white and I'm swapping the rose for something else. Any suggestions? I though maybe something sparkly and green, but I haven't found anything I like. I'm completely open to suggestions...

I love the top so much better than the other one. It's light and flowy. I think the fairies will approve. It'll be pretty to dance in and I love the little bit of lace around the hem. I can't wait to actually put it on.

I was right not to settle it's going to be amazing.

A Woman's Prerogative

What's that you say? Enough about the boring and practical, let's have a dress update. The status of the dress is complicated. You see, I thought I was all set in that department had a clear idea of where alterations were headed and the ball was rolling. As it turns out, I changed my mind.

I have a long list of practical and emotional reasons for doing so, but in the end I just changed my mind. I no longer want to make this:

Into something more like this:

It's a beautiful dress. It's what I thought I wanted 4 years ago, but not now. It's so formal and heavy. It's conservative and just not different enough for me. The idea of two dresses so that I could keep the original and still use my wheelchair was exciting, but ultimately didn't sit right with me. It's a Midsummer Night's Dream themed fairy infused botanical garden wedding. As I picked out headpieces and jewelry I realized they didn't go with my dress. That is not an outdoor fairy-esque dress. I don't think any amount of alterations could make it something it's not.

I want something light and flowy. Something less restricting and likely to trip me. Something I can easily sit or stand in. Something like this:

I love the messy two toned layers in the skirt. Now this exact dress is well beyond my means and discontinued by the designer. I have been searching sites where you can find used wedding dresses and looking around in general for something similar. The problem is it's so different that there is nothing similar. So, I enlisted help and polled the DIY boards looking for suggestions. I even contacted some costume designers. I'm sure now and absolutely in love so I'll figure out how to have my dream dress (for Waaaaaaaay less), mark my words.

Fitting into the Dress

At the risk of everyone hating me forever I have an atypical weight issue as I approach my wedding. In the time since I bought the dress I've been through a lot. Pregnancy, breastfeeding for 13mo, not one but two surgeries and all the ensuing stress caused my body to change shape several times. I happen to be a small person naturally, but when I'm stressed my appetitive is the first to go. I go into survival mode and become super low maintenance. That coupled with how much work it is for me to get around means I burn a lot of calories.

I accept that most people reading this hate me, but I did some research and I'm not the only one. As a matter of fact I'm in royal company. According to this article the prince's bride had the same issue. I know there are more of us out there feeling guilty for not being stress eaters, but we sit mute and frustrated feeling guilty.

In the years since trying on my dress the first time I've lost weight and apparently my bust. So, being that I'm a commoner who can't afford a nutritionist to advise me on weight gain I am trying to go the common sense route. More carbs, more meals and more rest. That part is tricky. I have a lot going on right now it's hard to be still.

I'm afraid you can in fact be too thin. Here's first time I tried on the dress:

Summer 2008
The dress was a size too big, but it was close. It seemed meant to be that I found it. Here's my dress fitting last week:

Wondering if it was this loose up top before.

Checking to make sure I'm in there somewhere.

Yesterday, Mike asked if I wanted a milkshake and I said "I have to." I'm not gorging myself. I'm just trying to take in more calories so I don't burn them all. I would hate to look like this on the wedding day:

Alterations and proper undergarments will help, but I want to be at the weight I was in 2008 again. I like how I look there. I'm not such a fan of the Olive Oil clone in the other pictures. I just thought it would be nice if someone with this issue said it out loud. I'm not looking for pity, but I will gladly except pie!