Trendspot! My Wedding Dress in InStyle!

On a whim this week, I picked up InStyle magazine. I'm not a Taylor Swift fan, that wasn't why I bought it. However, I am really into fashion, though I am one to pick and choose pieces I like. I find I often like things before they're popular, or long after they're out of style. I do choose for myself what to and not to wear, but I also love some popular trends. Anyhow, I was curious.

While flipping through the magazine, my jaw nearly dropped when I found my wedding dress listed on page 132 as #34 of InStyle's Style 100. Now, I shouldn't necessarily say that it was the exact same dress. The one in the magazine was a one-of-a-kind, custom-made dress by Burberry Prorsum. However, my dress is a fantastic reproduction of it, by Jasmine B2!

I just thought it was neat, and I wanted to share! :)

While I was looking around on InStyle's website, I found Style Me Pretty, a wedding site that features DIY projects!

Dress Details

The dress deposit is paid for. Thanks, Luz Bridal! I want to give a big thanks to my Bridal Consultant, Kim. She was extremely patient, and really attentive to what I was looking for. The dress I chose was actually one that she suggested. She made it more important for me to find a dress that I would love, that would look great on me, that fit into a truly modest budget. I likely would never have thought of those options without her.

If you ever need a prom or grad dress, or something for a wedding (be it your own, or someone else's) or you just want a nice evening gown, I truly suggest Luz Bridal. Luz is in the store most days, ordering, steaming and tailoring, and she has a staff of truly great women who treat you with great respect and care. Their store is beautiful, with a showroom full of current dresses at fairly reasonable prices. I definitely preferred that over the unaffordable couture dresses offered at the competing bridal stores.

The dress I got was the one from the last blog entry (B2). I was pining over an Exclusive Bridal dress with an empire waist and a grecian cut, but it was far more than I could afford. As it turns out, the part I loved about it was fairly easy to recreate with tailoring and extra fabric. I've ordered 2 extra metres of chiffon with my dress, which will be applied as a second layer over the skirt. It will then be hemmed with an a-line, square cut. A train will also be added with extra fabric, underneath the chiffon, that will snap-in and be removable. So the skirt will look something like this:

I should be expecting the dress sometime around March, when it will then be tailored. The hem is being modified, and some beading around the bust is being added. The nice thing is that this dress will come at a price tag under $400 CDN, after tax.

Another entry will be following soon. I've been looking around at different hairstyles, and shoes. My current accessories are pin-in white flowers with crystal accents, and a magnolia pendant necklace with pearl accents.

We Have Dress!

...well, almost.


First order of business is as follows:
The wedding is on June 26th, 2010, at Filberg Lodge, and will start at approximately 2pm. Invitations with final, solid details will be mailed as soon as possible, so the time may change, but the date won't. The following reception is about a 20 minute drive to Black Creek at the Boyes' property, Baerental. The reception itself is running until 10 or 11, before moving outside so the in-laws can sleep. We will then be having a bonfire/campout for anyone who decides to stay. I expect most people will be driving home or staying in a hotel.

Now, back to the dress. It finally came down to making a real decision, because on average, it takes 4-6 months for a bridal shop to order in your dress. Our wedding is in just over 7 months. That gave us roughly 30 days to make up our minds, and come up with the 50% downpayment. We could have hoped we'd find a pattern we liked and have one made in that time frame, but ultimately, the crunch was coming down, and I was getting pretty frustrated. Now, we went to a place called Luz Bridal Boutique, which we've been past several times and never had time to go in and take a look at.

We went in and were helped quite efficiently by Kim. She let me pick out 2 or 3 dresses that I liked and used that as a starting point to suggest others that she thought I might like. I found a few that I liked, one that I loved, and then we got realistic. The prices at Luz's were a lot more reasonable, but at even half the price of the Maggie Sottero dress, I was still biting my nails. The dress I loved was A $630 Venus dress, with a long, flowy skirt. What we're going with is about $400 cheaper than that, and it isn't even really a wedding dress. It's a bridesmaid's dress.

John and I recently saw My Best Friend's Girl, which I've seen before. I remember really loving the dress that Kate Hudson wore, which is this Amsale dress, in Cranberry. It was long, and flowy, even with sleeves, they were off-the-shoulder, which gave the illusion of a strapless, and it was long enough that when she moved, it had a lot of flattering movement and a slight train. It was a showstopper. I remember considering the design when I first saw the movie, and then forgot all about it. Anyhow, today, Kim found me a dress that was very similar!

It's the Jasmine B2#08 dress. It isn't a "wedding dress" per se, but it is a within our budget, and in white, nobody would be the wiser. We're looking at adding embellishments to it. I have some white lilly hairpins with rhinestone accents in them to put in my hair.

We are returning tomorrow to pay off the first half. I am very excited! Things are really starting to come together!!

Too Good To Be True?

So, Blush Bridal got back to me on prices. Blegh. The Alfred Sung 7089 is $1200, and the Maggie Sottero "Reese" dress has gone down to $1380 from $1440. These prices include storage, a garment bag, steaming and a matching garter.

However, my searching online for discount wedding dresses, or formal dresses suitable for a wedding, I stumbled onto inweddingdress.com, and they had the design for the Reese dress posted for $199USD. Now, it isn't a Maggie Sottero dress, it wasn't made by Maggie Sottero, it is a knock-off, essentially. However, the site custom makes your wedding dress for you based on the specs you give them (they'll pretty much make any dress you want). They can make it in under 30 days, and they ship internationally, tax-free. There may, however, be duty.

Anyway, here is the listing:

Anyhow, I've been googling, and I have yet to find a negative review from this site. Apparently their service is very reliable, and their workmanship is high-quality. I'm seriously considering this option at the moment...

The Wedding Dress Hunt Continues...

Hello everyone!

So, the quest (or mission?) to either buy or make the Reese dress has grown increasingly difficult. Apparently, drafting those two patterns together is impossibly difficult due to their complexity, and the search to find a single pattern that is close enough has been painful and fruitless. However (!) I was looking around on Bridal websites for Bridal stores in the Victoria area, and found Blush Bridal. On their site, I found a dress that is virtually identical to the Reese dress, save for the back. And the truth? We prefer it.

Alfred Sung Paradise 7089

It looks virtually identical in the front...

Only the back piece doesn't consolidate into a single strip like it does
on the Reese dress. It falls down the back, open, and the back falls lower.
This dress also retails for somewhere in the ballpark of $500 less
than the Maggie Sottero dress.

I am waiting to hear back from Blush Bridal, they will be calling me back on Monday. Apparently they have also had some problems with selling the Maggie Sottero dress due to the price, and have been special ordering it from an alternative supplier. They may be able to get me that dress for cheaper as well. I will keep you posted!

Wedding Date Update

So apparently some unexpected complications have occurred with the date we originally chose. There is a large scale event going on at Filberg Gardens on the 19th, but the Legion is available that day. As for the 26th, the coordinator seems to remember booking a wedding sometime in June and can't remember the date- and they have a policy: only one wedding on the entire grounds at a time. We may be looking at changing our date.

If anyone has booked time off, prepare to change it. Unfortunately, we may be forced to do so.

THUNDERCATS ARE GO!

This last weekend myself, John and his parents went to Filberg Lodge and Gardens in Courtenay. It is November, so at the moment it doesn't look like much, but come summer, it will be full of flowers, and green. It is an enormous waterfront property, surrounded by grass fields. On the water there is a winding staircase that leads down into a small, private Japanese Garden. If you turn the other way, it opens up to a lawn that approaches a beautiful summer cottage. Above the cottage there is a long field split in two by a path covered in ivy-covered arches. There are rows of trees on either side. It definitely reminds me of Snow White. It's very beautiful.

We're looking into reception space. But we have set a date. We don't know yet what time it will start, but clear your calendars for June 26th, and join us on our big day!

In other news, John's Mom and Sister are recreating the Reese dress I fell in love with! I am very blessed to be entering such a supportive family...