Girls' Night Out!!!

Hello Brides! Gather up your girls and get ready for a GNO! Alfred Angelo stores across the nation are hosting a GNO for brides-to-be tomorrow night. Check out the flyer...

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...or go to their website to get more information. I believe that you DO have to call and register for this event, so get to workin' those phones today for a fun night in a bridal store tomorrow. Personally, I can't think of anyplace I'd rather be than surrounded by my Maids and lots of pretty dresses to try on!!! LOL.

A "Little" Surprise in My Inbox...

I don't know about other bloggers out there, but blogging for me has been one of the most rewarding experiences that I've ever chosen to do. Honestly. But starting to blog was sort of awkward at first. Really, it was. Maybe you've been reading along since the beginning, and if you have, let me send out a big THANK YOU for hanging with me through the growth spurts.

You see, for those of you who don't blog, it's a little weird - this whole blogging thing. It's a creative outlet for your voice, and to be quite frank, it becomes a bit addicting. You don't just read blogs, you write blogs, then you review blogs, and before you know it you're commenting on blogs and stalking people that you don't know left and right, and you actually think that the two of you are friends! Yes, I know. It's kind of like an illness...but one that you're TOTALLY happy to have! LOL.

For me, what was most odd was writing for the unknown audience. No, maybe that's the wrong terminology. Your audience isn't unknown, I'm writing to brides out there, so I know who I'm directing my posts towards. But even if you know the genre of your audience, you don't KNOW your audience, if that makes any sense at all. So you write a post as if you are 100% confident that your blog is read for literally thousands of people each and every day.

And let's be honest, you think that you're fabulous, why wouldn't the rest of cyberspace, right? Right.

But you don't really know who reads it. Not really. At first, you just tell your closest friends and family members. Maybe your sister or your mom. Your bridesmaids probably know about it, and some of them email you back and forth about things that you've posted about, so you know that they read your blog.

Then one day, out of the blue, your inbox mesage indicator goes off, and you open the email expecting to see something from Joan in Accounting about your latest expense report and low and behold - it's a comment notification from your blog. And it's from someone that you don't personally know. Better yet, it says "Anonymous" and things get REALLY exciting. You're over the top ecstatic that someone out there is reading what you're writing and actually liking it. They say they'll come back. You jump up and down for joy and run around like a little school-girl until your fiance tells you to calm down. So you do, but inside, you're still turning cartwheels and doing the happy dance.

Before long, you start to receive more and more comments from internet pals. And you gather some followers to your blog...people that you know are faithfully following you along your mind's wanderings. And that's really cool. After that, you might put a link on your blog for readers to email you with questions or comments - that's what I did. When you do that, you might just get a little surprise in your inbox.

Imagine my enthusiasm a few weeks back when a vendor of men's wedding supplies contacted me saying that he thought their retail line would be a good fit with my blog. He offered me a link to check them out and wanted to know about me doing a post for them. I immediately responded that I liked his line and would email him when I did the post...of course, I haven't done it yet, but it's coming - I promise.

But there might not be many things that tops the email that I got this past weekend. I saw a new message blinking at me, and saw the name Amanda on it...thinking that this was from a friend of mine also named Amanda, I opened it expecting something totally different than what I got. No, this wasn't from my friend Amanda (I do still love you though!) this was an email from an Amanda that worked at Alfred Angelo. She told me that she had seen my post on my blog telling my readers about their sales/contests and wanted to thank me. Then she asked if I would happen to be in New York in October...Alfred Angelo was doing their Runway show and I was welcome to attend.

Wait. Rewind. I was what? Little old me? At a Runway show?

I quickly scrolled down to the end of her email, and can you just imagine my surprise when I read that this was her title - Director of Public Relations and Special Events, Alfred Angelo. O.M.G. Seriously? Alfred Angelo's Director of PR found a post about them on MY blog...I had to sit down and put my head between my knees for a minute. Then that passed, and the excitement hit me like a TON of bricks. It was a good thing that MOH was around to peel me off of the ceiling.

I'm flattered. And honored. You write a blog, sometimes it's not your best effort, sometimes it's a tutorial on how to do something, sometimes it's pouring out your heart and soul to the vast internet...and you just don't know who reads it. Really you don't. Look at me - just another bride, planning her wedding, and the Director of PR for Alfred Angelo stumbled upon my blog. Wow. That's really all I can say. Oh, and Thank You, of course.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So keep the comments and emails coming. And comment on the other blogs that you might be reading. It really does do a world of good for the writer!

Alfred Angelo - Extended Sale

I got this notice in my inbox yesterday, so I thought that I would share it for anyone interested in an Alfred Angelo bridal gown...

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I have to say that my experience with Alfred Angelo was nothing short of spectacular...I would highly recommend them to any brides still looking for their wedding dress or bridesmaids dresses.

Sale - Alfred Angelo – Aug 8th-16th

I just got this notice in my inbox and wanted to share with you all.

Alfred Angelo is running a sale August 8th-16th where you can take up to $300 off of your bridal gown and save 15% on your veil or headpiece.

I LOVE my dress from Alfred Angelo – it was my dream dress with designer quality at a GREAT price. And I cannot say enough about the service that I’ve receive there...including the multiple times that I’ve gone back into one of their stores to re-try on my dress in a different city for my bridesmaids... The above was just the picture off of my email, but you can try to click here for coupon. If that doesn’t work for you, simply email me at the link located on the right side of my page and I’ll forward the coupon to you using Alfred Angelo’s Forward to a Friend service.

Happy Shopping!

And Now for the Veil…

I was a terrible tease two weeks ago and mentioned very briefly that some decisions had been reached regarding my hair and veil. Then I went on and on for several days about other DIY projects and decisions that I’ve been making…just leaving you hanging for more about my hair and veil.

I could try to lie and tell you that I did that on accident…but I’m a horrible liar, as people tell me all the time. Ok, that’s mainly coming from Mr. CC, but I think that it’s a GOOD thing that I’m a bad liar. Seriously.

Anyway, when I last talked about my hair/veil dilemma here, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do about either. My big plan was that while shopping in Dallas with my Maids, I could work with my hair and the veils that they have at Alfred Angelo and play around with what options looked best on me. Because let’s face it…just because you love a hairstyle or veil on one bride does NOT mean that it will flatter you!

Mr. CC – this is your cue to exit and STOP READING this post. Sorry, honey!

Ok, now that he’s gone, let’s get down to it. First up? Hair down with veil. I’d already decided that I will not be sporting the blusher on my veil on my big day. Mainly because I’m worried just a bit about how it will look in pictures. That, and Mr. CC expressed a wish to be able to see me completely as I make my way down the aisle.

Here’s a picture of me with hair down…
And from the back…
Hey notice how well my Work Out Wagon results are showing? This dress that the store had was actually a size smaller than mine, which is why the V doesn't meet at the top...but my back view is improving!

I was really concerned about the length of my hair covering up the back of my dress…even if it might provide some camouflage for any “back cleavage” that hasn’t disappeared by then. The length did cover a bit of the back of the dress, but not so much to be concerned with, but it will grow a bit between now and the wedding. This style is doable, but it wasn’t anything great.

Next, I pulled my hair up into a twist of sorts. Please excuse the ugly twist. I was just trying to get the hair on top of my head (which I accomplished) and wasn’t really concerned about how well it was placed there!
I have to admit that I like the look of having my hair up. A little more formal, and dressy…maybe even more princessy. Yes, that’s a word. There are a few options when your hair is up on where to place the veil. Above is pictured placing the veil over the updo.

Here’s one of the veil being placed under the updo…
Our helper, Brandi, placing the veil beneath my updo as an option. Here’s a view of that same style from the back…
Once again, excuse the updo…and I don’t know WHAT I was doing with my hands…I kinda like this look. Other than it might tend to leave the front looking a little bare…which can always be fixed with the addition of something sparkly. Other than that one fact, I think that I REALLY like this option! Something that I hadn’t even considered.

What do you think? Hair up or down? Veil above the updo or under the updo? Did you start out with one vision that you wanted, just to find out that it wasn’t as flattering as you pictured in your mind?

Maids Dresses...Part I

I’ll try to wrap this re-cap up today…since most of the people that read my blog were actually in attendance, these last few posts MIGHT have been a bit boring! Then again, seeing the pictures today might actually solidify that we made the right selection…

So there we are, MOH, Maid Britney and myself…wide awake at like 7:30…just waiting for the day to start. We were SO excited to start our day that we couldn’t sleep in, no matter how late we stayed up the night before. And when I say that we were sitting around waiting, we were actually sitting around waiting – our appointment at Alfred Angelo (where we were meeting up with everyone else) wasn’t until 10:00.

Tired of waiting at the apartment, we made our way through to Chick-Fil-A for a quick snack. Maid Momma had graciously offered to bring do-nuts to us, but that wasn’t until 10…and the bridal store actually took possession of them when she walked in – so it’s a good thing that we ate.

The first order of business at Alfred Angelo was letting the ladies see me in my dress. I also wanted to play with my hair options a little bit and work with some veils. I promise, that we did ALL of that and made some great headway on those decisions, but that’s a post for another day. This post is about my Maids!

Once I finished up my prancing and primping and all in front of SO many mirrors – I mean, what girl wouldn’t make a few funny faces, “Britney”? – I quickly ushered my Maids into their dressing room to start trying on the dozens of dresses that we had selected for them to try on. My vision of the wedding was each of them wearing a different LBD. Who doesn’t need a killer LBD in their closet? No one that I can think of! But I was trying to stay open to the idea of matching dresses as well, that looked more like bridesmaids dresses, since I wasn’t sure how the different LBDs would look all together. Just because I think that something will look good, doesn’t mean that it will in real life…

So here are a few options that we tried on…I mean, that THEY tried on…Mama CC and I just watched from our love seat. I had my camera handy and took a snapshot of them each time that they came out…so there are LOTS of pictures! (Left to right: MOH, Maid "Britney" and Maid Momma)

What shopping experience isn't complete until you have the "rock star" pose?

As you can tell, all the dresses are different. I was really only contemplating two colors – black or eggplant. I wasn’t against the eggplant, but knew that if we went that route, that it would mean that they wouldn’t be able to wear the dress anywhere else. Hmmm…

Here they are trying to show me them in the same dress. A lot of the styles that we seemed to have a knack for picking only had two of that dress in the store, so more often than not, there were just two dresses to see side-by-side.

This blue dress was an early front-runner favorite - it flattered eveyrone!

We also played around with the idea of MOH being in a different dress and the other two Maids being in the same dress...

MOH really liked the dress that she's got on in all of these last pics, but was quick to point out that being so tight and fitted would be difficult for moving around at some point.

Hmmm…LOTS to think about, and I’m getting hungry. Let’s move on ladies! You haven’t convinced me to give up the search for a LBD at the mall. I still think that we can find something on sale (because who doesn’t like to spend LESS than $100-$150 on a bridal dress?) that would work within my vision. And since all of the dresses at AA were in colors, it was too hard for me to try to imagine the dresses in black and all different styles. I’ve never been very good at getting images in my head, so I need to pack these ladies off to the mall and get them in different LBDs so that I can either go with it or cross it off the list completely.

But you know what? It was NOON! We had spent TWO HOURS in Alfred Angelo…and the natives (mainly me) were getting hungry! After a quick stop at DSW (Mama CC had NEVER been in a DSW! Can you believe it? She was in a little bit of shock at first, I’m pretty sure…) to glance around for me some funky colored wedding shoes, we headed off for lunch. No, we didn’t find any wedding shoes, but I got some new running shoes at half price and Britney snagged up some nice work shoes as well.

For lunch, there was really only one option. No, there are LOTS of restaurants in Frisco to choose from, but there was only one option for me…Babe’s. Babe’s Chicken is a local favorite and I was PUMPED to realize that there was a new location open in Frisco…Mama CC and MOH had never heard of Babe’s much less eaten there. It’s Maid Momma’s favorite chicken place, and she never gets to eat there because her hubby isn’t a huge fan. Britney and I always try to eat there one night together when I’m in town, so it was an easy choice of where to go for lunch.

As always, lunch was FABULOUS! We converted two new fans to Babe’s Chicken, and then had a priceless moment over dessert. We had a very cool waitress, and as we all ordered one piece of pie to share between us, one of the girls (I SO wish that I could remember who!) mentioned something to the waitress about bringing out birthday cake. She asked me if it was my birthday, and I was quick to say not yet, but this is the only time that all of us would be together to celebrate my birthday. Our waitress innocently dropped off our pie and we dug in.

Before I knew it, a long line of waiters and waitresses had surrounded our table, and our waitress plopped a large hot pink hat on my head and asked me to stand up. Being the good sport that I am, I obliged. I was given a cone cup for my “beak” and asked to do a little chicken dance while they sang to me. I think that the pictures speak for themselves…

Yes, it was a good time! My Maids got to embarrass me, my mother was there to witness the event, and a general good time was had by all. Even more so because it was captured on film!

From Babe’s Chicken we headed off to the Frisco Mall in our search for three LBDs. Were we successful in our quest? You’ll have to stay tuned for ONE more post…but there are more pictures, I promise. And a REALLY funny story about Maid Britney strutting her stuff…

REALLY Impatiently Waiting...

So I wrote the other day that my dress was soon to be here…in Austin…possibly in my house! And I was just on pins and needles for the rest of the week. In all honesty, I wrote that post last Friday, and had actually talked to the store several days earlier.

What I didn’t write about was that my mom was coming into town this past weekend. Little CC is playing soccer (only 2 games left!) and she and my step-dad wanted to come and see her in action, so they made the trek down to Austin to visit with us on Saturday. I didn’t tell anyone about my dress being on it’s way from the warehouse heading to the store, because I was hoping to be able to surprise my mom. I was a “bad daughter” and bought the dress without my mom being present back on President’s Day while Alfred Angelo was running the mother of all sales.

And you know, a little voice in the back of my mind told me that they would have another sale, no big deal…I could wait…but you know what? They HAVEN’T had another sale as good as that one. So, although I was in “big trouble” with both Mama CC and my Maids, it was a GOOD sale!

So, since she missed out on the picking OUT of the dress, I was hoping that the store would call me on Friday and tell me that I could pick up the dress on Saturday while Mama CC was here. That way she would be there for the picking UP of the dress…and we could try it on in the store and play with veils and things…

I waited somewhat patiently ALL DAY LONG on Friday. Every time my cell phone rang, I jumped on it to answer it. No calls from Alfred Angelo.

I was seriously bummed. I mean, this would have been SO cool if it had worked out. But I made my peace with things on Friday night, and Mr. CC helped to cheer me up by pointing out that we could still go to the store and try on the floor model so that she could at least see it…it wouldn’t be as good as the real thing, but if that’s the closest that I can get…I’ll take it.

Are you ready for the bad news? Well, maybe it’s not bad news…maybe it’s just ironic. My parents got here Saturday morning about an hour before the soccer game, and just as we left for the game, the bottom dropped out of the sky. It poured for three hours. And the soccer game was called off. Yep. They drove 4 hours to see the rain.

The good news? Well, there’s two bits of good news. First up, we more than made up for a missed soccer game with a trip to the Salt Lick. Now, for those of you not familiar with this Austin landmark restaurant, it’s phenomenal. Literally the best bar-b-que anywhere around. It’s this little hole in the wall ranch-style restaurant in the middle of nowhere about 20 miles outside of Austin. Finger-licking good. I seriously think that they have the best pickles anywhere around…and their peach cobbler? To die for. Yummy. Yes, I got the ice cream. It was REALLY good.

The other bit of good news? While I was in the shower Saturday morning before they got there, I missed a call on my cell phone. Who could it be? Yep, you guessed it. My gown arrived on Saturday morning and was ready to be picked up. YIPPEEEE!

So it all worked out. Yes, it was a long drive for them to make for lunch. But, Mama CC was SO happy to get to see me in MY dress, and we took little CC along with us, since she hadn’t seen it either. Little CC gave me tiara after tiara to try on, and she loved the veils that we tried on…she wanted to go home and put her dress on and “play princess” too!

It really meant a lot to me to have Mama CC there with me when I picked up my dress. It wasn’t the same as her being there when I picked it out, but I was tickled pink that it all worked out.

Now, I know the question that you’re all DYING to know the answer to…did the dress fit?

You’ll have to wait to find out! That’s another post…

Patiently Waiting...Not So Patiently

Mr. CC, I'm sorry, but you can't read this post. Nothing personal, but this one involves my wedding gown...and you KNOW that's off-limits!

Bye, sweetie!

So, rewind a few months back to when I put down the deposit and ordered my bridal gown. It was President’s day, which puts it mid-February and the sales lady politely informed me that when the dress arrived in 8-10 weeks that I would receive a phone call telling me that it was in the store and I could come by and pay my balance and take my dress home.

8-10 weeks was actually a little faster than I was expecting to hear that it would take…

Or so I thought at the time…

The first few weeks went by SOOOOO SLLLOOOOOW…it seemed like each and every day I was checking to see how many more days until the dress was supposed to be here. (Yes, I marked the expected week on my calendar that I carry around with me!) So every day I would check it expecting time to have magically passed while I slept, I guess. Never happened. It was taking forever to get to my magic “arrival” date. I use quotes because they couldn’t say if it would be 8 weeks or 10 weeks with any certainty. So I marked down 10 weeks out and waited…

Did I mention how slowly the time passed? If I didn’t, consider it mentioned.

And then I waited some more.

But then the funniest thing happened. I got busy. Doing wedding projects. Working on other things – I DO have a job after all! Taking a quick little vacation to NOLA. I guess that you could say that life happened. I got so wrapped up in other things, that I didn’t even think to change my marker in my date book for a few weeks. So imagine my shock and excitement when I was updating my date book with some new appointments and realized when moving my marker that the week that my dress was supposed to be in passed two weeks ago?

How FABULOUS is THAT?!?!? (I have to be honest here, and admit to doing a little happy dance right here in my cubicle at the thought of my dress being “almost” here!)

Then it hit me. Wait a minute. That was two weeks ago. I didn’t receive a phone call. Did I? Did I get a phone call and not recognize the number so I didn’t answer it (which I’m famous for doing)? Since the dress coordinator (Amy) that I had used when I ordered the dress has since quit working at that salon, did something get messed up with the order? Worse yet, did the bridal salon leave me a message about coming to pick up my dress and I didn’t listen to the message (which I’m ALSO famous for doing!) so maybe they’re almost ready to send it back as an un-received dress? Yes, ok, I can admit that the last thought was “slightly” overboard, but hey, I’m just relating the thoughts that went through my head…

I immediately flipped over to the phone number in my planner and started dialing. I explained the situation to the associate that answered the phone and she put me on hold. Then she came back on and asked if she could put me on hold again. Then a different associate came on and asked me some very worrisome questions regarding my order. (And of course, this is the ONE day that I don’t have my wedding planner binder at work with me!) Then the last lady came on the line.

By this time I was a nervous wreck!

She apologized for the time that it took to find my order, but that it had been found. “Miraculously” the dress had “just arrived” at the warehouse THAT day, and she was able to request an ASAP shipment to the store. If you’re not picking it up that well, I really have serious doubts about it arriving on the very day that I realize that it was past due…but whatever.

I assured the associate that I wasn’t in any huge hurry for the dress yet, but had just realized that the time it was supposed to be here had passed. She double reassured me that when the dress does come in that the store does repeated calls to make sure that I don’t want the dress before they would ever send it back as being returned. Whew. That solves my little phone fears. So I hung up the phone feeling VERY relieved that all was well again with my little wedding world.

And then it hit me. My dress will be here any day now…and yes, I did another little happy dance around my cubicle at this realization. Here's a reminder of my dress selection, in case you need it to do a little happy dance FOR me!

YIPPEE!!!

Did anyone else go through all of this anxiety over receiving your wedding dress in? And be honest…you did a happy dance when it finally got here too, didn’t you? I know you did!

Resting Easy on Dress Decisions...

I did something SO fun tonight…I went back to Alfred Angelo and tried on my dress again! Yep, you read that right, I’m now stalking the bridal store…patiently waiting for my dress. Or not so patiently, since I’m trying on the dress at random…LOL! I have this picture in my head of the lady in the Mervyn’s commercials who waits not-so patiently for her favorite store to open…

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While I am serious about trying my dress on again last night, I will admit that I’m joking about the why. Let me explain. There are at least three ladies out there who feel like they got cheated on the whole “bridal shopping experience” since I bought my dress without their help…so I graciously (with no benefit to myself in the forefront of my mind) told each of them that we could go back to the store and try on my dress so that they can agree with me on my selection. Heck, I even told them that I would put all 4 or 5 that I considered before on so that they could AGREE with me on my selection, if it made it more fun for THEM…yeah, or more fun for me!

So last night was the first of these moments. I mentioned yesterday that I’m out of town this week with work stuff. Lucky for me, I’m “in town” for two of my trusted ladies, and Lady C and Lady B are getting put to work this week! Well, Lady B gets to work and Lady C just gets to do fun stuff…but I promise that I will even this out eventually…Anyway, back to my story. So Lady C met up with me at an Alfred Angelo store that was between her house and my hotel. I called ahead to the store to make sure that they did have the style in a size comparable to my size. Lucky for me, they had the dress in store, and I did not need to make an appointment for this.

I get to the store first, and get everything ready for Lady C. She arrives and I commence to get into my dress. Since a girl needs a bit of help with these things, a VERY helpful (you’ll understand why I like her so much in just a minute) sales associate, Laci, came over to give me a hand. At the point where she’s closing the back of the dress, she tells me to “suck it in!” While I’m not really shocked to hear that statement, I have to admit to being a little scared since this dress was two sizes LARGER than the size that I ordered my dress in.

If you need a refresher course on the drama that was my dress size, click here.

So I primp and preen properly in front of the mirrors and Lady C and we check out all of the angles. She, of course, agrees with my choice in gowns and proceeds to detail what all we like about my dress. The discussion soon moves to veils and we try several tiaras and veils on just for fun. At some point, I mention to Lady C my concern about the comment made while putting me into the dress and my whole size ordering dilemma. Now, me being me, I’m just fretting over the whole thing. Lady C being Lady C, she says “why don’t you ask her what size gown she would order for you?”

Brilliant idea, I tell you.

So, once back in regular clothes, I proceed to ask said question of Laci. She gets the “deer in the headlight” look and knows that there is only really one right answer here. She knows that I’ve already ordered my dress, so I’m really only going to appreciate ONE answer here. So I give her the background for the reason of my question, and she seems to relax. This is easy – she’ll just have to measure me to answer that question.

I agree to be measured again, even though I’m really not sure that I’ll like the result of this measuring any better. I mean, yes my work out is working, but it’s not working that quickly, right? There’s no dramatic improvement or change since the last time that I was measured. But I’m a good sport, and I have to admit to riding that high of having “your dress” on…so I move on over to be measured. Laci whips her tape around my bust, waist and hips…then does my waist again to double check herself…and then she says the words that are music to my ears…

“She actually told you to order a 14? Because I’m coming up with a size 8.”

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I feel vindicated. I assure her that Amy, my first sales associate in the South Austin store, wanted to order me a size 14 wedding gown. To which she proceeds to turn the tape measure over and read my measurements back to me. My waist was an inch UNDER the size needed for size 8, although my hips were two inches OVER the size of 8…but with the cut on my gown (not mermaid style or form fitting below the waist) it doesn’t matter what size my hips are.

YES!

My dress WILL fit whenever it does arrive. I can rest easy and sleep with happy wedding dress dreams tonight. I can’t tell you how much of a weight has gone off of my shoulders…

Can anyone else relate to wedding dress sizing issues? Did you drive the sales ladies a little crazy at various bridal stores like I did to make sure that it was right? Please tell me that I’m not the only one…

Dresses for the Maids...Part II

Now for part II of the Maids dresses…

Yeah, there’s more. You didn’t think that I’d stop there, did you?

To be fair, I also went online to trusty Alfred Angelo to take a sneak peek at their bridesmaids dresses. They have a great selection, and the prices are about what I would expect at a bridal store. And as a bonus, my bridal lady gave me coupons for my maids to use if they purchase their dresses at Alfred Angelo. To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember how much of a discount it is…it’s either $20 or 20%...about the same either way, since most of what I liked fell into the two flower or three flower price range.

For those of you who haven’t ever looked at prices for dresses online – Alfred Angelo rates their costs in ranges, showing bells or flowers for groupings of price. So one flower is the cheapest, and 5 or 6 flowers is the most expensive. Then they give you a range decoder – two flowers is under $150 and three flowers is under $175…

Here are some options that I saw on Alfred Angelo that I liked…

(The really cool thing is that I was able to change the colors on their website for the most part, so you can see them in all black!)

















Short, sexy and sassy!


















A softer, romantic flowing look that I LOVE!


















Now, SHE looks sassy! Looks like a great salsa dress…


















LOVE the rusching…very flattering and it combines short length and long…


















Also a flattering style, but does it look too much like a bridesmaid dress?


















VERY fun, flirty…looks like a great New Year’s dress.


















I like this look, since it shows the ivory ribbon/sash…but not sure that the style would flatter me – you’d have to have the perfect body to pull this one off? I’d have to see it on.

Now, on this one, the color changer thing would only let me change the color of the dress. The sash and hemline didn’t change from the original. But it would be ordered in black and ivory…I like the flower, but once again, it looks a little too much like a bridesmaid dress.

That’s all that I saw at Alfred Angelo. Maybe this will help give my girls some of my vision that I’m seeing for their dresses. Once again, with the coupon, some of these dresses aren’t any more or less expensive than a good LBD from a department store. So it’s another option that we have out there. But then again, I saw so many of the dresses here that I picked out that greatly resemble a dress that I had already found at Dillard’s.

So there. Ladies, you have some things to think about. I know that David’s Bridal also has a LOT of good choices on the maids dresses, so I’ll check out their website too…just for kicks and grins.

So what do you think?

Bridal Dress...CHECK!

Yep. I felt SO good about my choice of gowns. I really hated to even take it off. But when Megan/Hilga undid the corset closure on the back of it, I have to admit that it was NICE to take a deep breath. LOL. So although a little bit sad to remove the dress that made me feel like a million dollars, it’s nice to breathe too.

I slipped back into “regular clothes” (sigh) and headed on over to the counter to finalize the deal. This is where I ran into a slight snag that I hadn’t expected. Megan is taking my information and inputting it onto the order form and we get to the size portion of the form. She tells me that since the dress that I tried on was a little snug, she would order a size larger for me, and that should be fine. OK, Megan, whatever you think is best, right? Well, then she told me that she would order my normal street size, which is an 8. I have to admit to a moment of shock. When Amy had measured me earlier that day, she had recommended that I order a size 14 in my wedding dress. So I promptly told Megan that, to which she gave me a look and then said “But the dress you tried on was a 6, so one size bigger should be perfect.”

I have to admit to some shock at this point. All the other dresses that Amy had me trying on were all in size 14. I remember that this was the one dress that she told me was too small for me, and she didn’t even attempt to lace it all the way when she put me into it. I asked Megan if she could double check the size of the dress that I tried on. She looked into the dress and on the tag and said that yes, it was a size 6. I was floored. And then the next thought that hit me was COOL!

Until we get to the part where I have to initial the order form next to the size that I’m ordering. Megan patiently explains to me that should the dress come in and not fit correctly, that it was my responsibility to re-order the dress and pay full price, that there were no refunds or exchanges. This gave me a moment of pause. FMIL Cotton Candy and I questioned Megan about this, as we were only ordering what THEY were recommending to us, so if it came in wrong, why was that MY responsibility? At this point in the evening, Megan got a little pissy with me and told me that that wouldn’t happen. “If it did happen, which it won’t, we would have to work something out.” But wait a minute, you just told me that once I initial the order form, there’s not refunds or exchanges for ordering the wrong size, right? I’m SO confused.

So I again hesitate over the form. I understand Megan’s frustrations with me, but at the same time, this is a big deal to me! Amy clearly measured me and told me to order a 14, and now Megan is telling me to order an 8. I asked her if she wanted to re-check my measurements to see if maybe Amy made a mistake. She pulled out her handy sizing chart and after a few minutes, said that 14 was right. But she would still order the 8. WHAT?!?!? Now I’m beyond confused and just want to get it right. Megan is clearly agitated at this point, and she kind of rolled her eyes at me and said “Look, you tried on the actual size 6 dress. And it was a bit tight. So a size 8 is right, no matter what the sizing chart says.” I could see her point, so I initialed the paper and paid the 50% down to order the dress.

After finishing all of this FMIL Cotton Candy and I stepped outside to talk about other wedding stuff, and the sizing thing just kept bugging me. FMIL talked it over and we decided that in order for me to have peace of mind and be able to sleep that night (I tend to run towards the obsess-much side of things) that we should go back inside and look at the size on the tag ourselves. You see, somewhere along the way, I had started to worry that she looked at the wrong tag. Or the wrong number on the tag. I know, I know. Obsessive. I get it. Thanks.

So we trot back into the store and find the dress and opened it on up and checked for ourselves. Sure enough, Megan was NOT dyslexic and the size is a 6. Great. Problem solved. FMIL and I stand outside talking for a few more minutes and then go our separate ways for the evening.

But on the way home….yes, you got it. I started to worry again. I called Mr. CC, but he was next to NO help. Then I activated my trusty girl-advice-phone tree. But the branches were apparently not working appropriately as I could get a hold of no one…so I called the store again. Next best option, right? Very careful not to talk to Megan, I explain what happened to the girl unfortunate enough to happen to answer the phone and get her opinion on the whole drama. She asked if I was the one with the great hair trying on style #1136. Thank you for the compliment and yes, that was the dress. She proceeds to tell me that if she were the salesman in that case, she would have ordered one size up from the size that I had on…just like Megan advised me. And then I explain that I would probably be ok if the difference in sizes to order was just one size. Like if Amy told me to order a 10, and Megan said an 8 – I probably wouldn’t think a thing of it. But we’re talking about 3 dress sizes here…a much bigger difference of opinion than I was really comfortable with. To which unknown-name-girl confides to me that Amy tends to order dresses a little big.

Whew. Welcome the HUGE wave of relief. Ok. In that case, order the size 8. I guess I’ll worry about it if it doesn’t fit right when it gets here in 10 weeks…then Megan and I might have to go a round or two. In the meantime, I’ll do my part and start that workout program and get back to my healthy-eating regimen…I have to do my part too, you know? I can hardly WAIT the required 10 weeks…which means that the dress should be here no later than the end of April…

Bridal dress…CHECK!

Was finding your wedding dress as simple as my experience was? Did you fall in love with a gown at the first place that you looked? Did you luck out (like me) and find that the dress of your dreams in the magazine actually worked for your body and your budget?

Putting on THE Dress!!!

*OK, Mr. CC. If you’re reading my blog, this is the last post (for a while) that you CANNOT read. I’m serious here. The other posts all had choices, but now I’m going to talk about my bridal gown and you know how much this means to me to have this be a surprise for you….Seriously, stop reading NOW!

Ok girls, now that he’s gone, I can tell you all about my final appointment with Alfred Angelo. When we last left off, I had four gowns waiting on me in the dressing room and my FMIL in tow to give me some advice and offer her opinion on the dresses.

I was kind of bummed that Amy wasn’t there. I liked her. A lot. She was nice and friendly, gave me her opinion (I looked great in everything – I REALLY liked her!) and was great about averting her eyes when I was standing there in my skivvies…all the best qualities in a salesperson! When I got back to Alfred Angelo that evening, Megan started helping me. She informed me that all of my gowns were still in the dressing room along with the strapless bra I had used earlier and the petty coat. So I skipped on into the dressing room and managed to swap out my clothes for the first dress, I think that it was #5 on the other posts – the one with the zipper. I figured since I could do that one myself, it was easiest to start with.

I got it on and stood on the pedestal appropriately while FMIL and I critiqued the dress. Megan was great to work with. She was younger, probably younger than I am, and had differing opinions about the gowns than Amy had previously voiced. FMIL and I looked at the dress from every angle and talked about all of the good points and bad points to Gown #5. Next.

Since I had already eliminated Gown #2 from the selections, I put on Gown #1 next, as it also didn’t require the petty coat. In this one, like I mentioned earlier, I had my hair up and when I “took the stage” in this gown I felt a little pull at how great it made me look. The outline and shape of my body was absolutely fabulous and the material was lightweight enough to work for outdoors. When FMIL and I were trying to critique this dress, Megan brought up good points about the trials of dealing with cap sleeves. Apparently, the way that I would want them tailored tightly to me so that they didn’t stick out any would cause problems when giving hugs or trying to dance with anyone slightly taller than me. Hmmm….good point trusty side-kick Megan. Hadn’t thought about that. Next.

Gown #3 was up next. I had Megan run off and get the black and ivory beaded sash that Amy had put with the gown earlier, so that I could fully model the style of this gown. When I stepped onto the pedestal in this gown, FMIL was starting to grasp the seriousness of the situation. At one point she looked at me with this bewildered look on her face and said “But ALL of the dresses look so good on you!” Yes. Exactly my dilemma. That’s why you’re here…I thought I had already informed her of how good I looked earlier…maybe not. Or maybe she just didn’t believe me. Now she is starting to grasp the situation.

At this point, we were able to rule out Gown #5. Although we still liked it, we both decided that the shape that Gowns #1 and #3 gave me really brought out the WOW factor that every girl looks for in her wedding dress. We discussed the bustle on this dress at length. I had some concerns regarding the pick ups on the skirt and how the bustle would work with that. Megan was a good sport and got down on hands and knees to arrange a faux bustle so that I could envision it all. She also was handy at getting different veils and tiaras for me to “play” with to get the full effect of the dresses.

I felt better having removed one of the gowns from the selection, but there was still one more dress. FMIL Cotton Candy was almost groaning when I mentioned that there was still one more dress, as we were having a tough time narrowing it all down. Into the dressing room Miss Cotton Candy went one more time, and on came Gown #4.

Now, let’s talk about Gown #4. Remember in my earlier post I had said that the gown didn’t come in the size that Amy had determined that I needed to try on and order. She had brought me a size smaller than I actually needed and just didn’t lace up the corset all the way. So, when I went back into the dressing room to change into Gown #4, Megan was busy putting back all the “bling” headpieces that I had been trying on, and I managed to get out of Gown #3 and into Gown #4 all by myself (no small feat, as anyone who’s tried on wedding dresses before can attest to!). I emerged from the dressing room with the gown clutched to my bosom and the back completely hanging open, since no one can do a corset closure by themselves. FMIL came over to help and then said that she better just watch this one time. Megan came over and laced me up, and maybe no one told her that this gown was not in my size, because that girl LACED ME UP!

You see, I have this picture going through my head while she was lacing me up. Remember that scene in Gone With the Wind when Scarlett is getting laced into her corset for the big picnic or whatever and the maid literally has her foot braced against Scarlett’s back in order to lace her up as small as Scarlett was demanding? Got it in your head? Well, that’s kinda like what this felt like to me. I couldn’t see behind me to see what Megan (or “Hilga the torturer” as I later nicknamed her) was doing, but every once in a while she would give a tug on the back laces that would literally jerk me back a step or two. I was honestly leaning forward and bracing for the pulls. But I have to be honest. When she was done and I “took the stage” the effect was mesmerizing…my whole entire body just lit up from the inside out. I stared at my reflection in the mirror and my entire face just broke out into the biggest smile ever. FMIL Cotton Candy took one look at me, met my eyes in the mirror and said “This is THE one!” And with every little breath that I could take, I agreed.

I’m not kidding. I could barely breathe. But DANG, I looked HOT! My waist was small and my curves were kickin’…thanks to Megan/Hilga.

And all that I could envision was walking down the aisle towards Mr. CC and imagining the expression of his face when he sees me in THIS dress…

With that thought in mind, without even blinking or second-guessing my decision, I told Megan that I wanted to place the order for this dress tonight.

I had found my wedding dress!!!

Here are some pictures that I can share with you of me in the dress. Forgive the quality, as they were taken with my crackberry…and keep in mind that the back "cleavage" that is shown in the back view shouldn’t be there when the dress is in my size and Megan/Hilga wasn’t the one to lace me into it…then again, given the tiny appearance of my waist, maybe Megan/Hilga SHOULD be the one to put me in the dress! LOL!

My thoughts on my selections...

Here are my thoughts on my bridal gown selections…

*Once again, Mr. CC. If you are reading this post, you need to stop reading right now. Seriously!

Gown #1:

I like how clean and simple this gown is. There’s not a long train, but enough of one to make it there and to need a bustle put in. The neckline of this dress with the cap sleeves, or off the shoulder action, really made a beautiful framing of my neck. I have a long neck, and when I went back for the evening appointment, my hair had gotten all crazy from earlier in the day, so I had it clipped on top of my head messily. The hair-do wasn’t all that great, but it really emphasized the neckline of this dress and made for a gorgeous picture of me. It’s a VERY flattering style with the rushing along the sides that acted like a built in “de-mommifier” for my mom’s body. Very classy.

Gown #2:

To be perfectly honest, this was my least favorite gown. It looks better in the white as pictured above, than it did in the cream which is what they had for me to try on in the store. I’m ordering cream in whichever gown I get, so it was nice to see the coloring on me. I didn’t really like that this dress doesn’t have a train, but at the same time, that’s kind of nice so I don’t have to worry about a bustle or people stepping on it and all during the reception. The beading was just enough to give the dress some pop, but it just didn’t completely stand out in my mind when it was on me. If it looked as good as it does in the picture above, I think that I would have had a harder time with this one.

Gown #3:

This was the only gown that I ended up liking with the pick ups in the skirt. The really funny thing is that in almost all of my pages and pages of wedding dress pictures torn out of my magazines, the pick ups are on almost every dress. But when I got there and actually tried it all on, this was the only dress that I actually liked with the pick ups. I tried this on in cream, and there was a black and ivory-beaded sash that Amy put on my a little above the natural waistline and it just jumped out at me. I had not previously liked having color on me anywhere, but that black sash just gave this dress a little extra zing, and I LOVED it. I was a little worried about how the fitted bodice would work with me pre-working-out body, but it looked fabulous. The undergarments and the corset in the back really worked out well. Easily one of my top contenders…

Gown #4:

THIS is the dress that I’ve been drooling over since I started shopping for dresses. I love it, love it, L-O-V-E it! Do you get that I kind of liked this dress? This was also the dress that I talked about the one in my actual size having the different skirt…I didn’t like that skirt and the bodice was more beaded, which was a little much for me. But Amy managed to find this style for me in a size too small for me. I squeezed into it and liked the dress, but had some concerns. I liked it SO much, that I was worried that I just wanted this to be the one because it’s the one that I had been dreaming about for so long. So I wanted to honestly and without prejudice compare this gown to the other gowns that I also loved. This dress is made out of a much thicker (insert heavier) material than the other gowns that I was looking at, and I have some concerns about getting too hot on the dance floor in this dress. Also, this dress was the most expensive of any that I looked at. It was also the one with the biggest discount with the sale that they were running. And lastly, I just expected to “feel” it when I slipped this dress on, and I wasn’t sure that I was truly “feeling” it. I guess I was afraid that it was all in my head…

Gown #5:

This dress was a surprise to me. It was a last minute selection on the Alfred Angelo website for me, and turned out to be one of my favorite dresses. The material is light and airy, which is something that I was concerned with. The dress could be worn with a petty coat or without, depending on how much “poof” I wanted, which was nice too. And the rushing on the side and the beading detail that outlined the rushing had a very nice effect. Paired with a veil that had beading around the edges, it was a stunning picture. The main thing that I didn’t like about this dress was the back closure – it was just a plain ol’ zipper. Sure, it’s easier for me to get in and out of, but I had just fallen for the corset-style back that some of the other dresses had and thought that this zipper with the gauzy material the dress was made out of looked a little cheapish. I mean, I’m all about bargain shopping, but I don’t want to look like I bargain shopped, you know? Maybe it was just the trial dress, and it would be better brand new, but I just wasn’t thrilled with that aspect of this dress.

Having mentioned price above, I’ll address it now. I had gone in with a budget number in my head. I’ve had this number in my head for a while now, just telling myself that I will not spend more than X amount of dollars on my wedding dress. I just can’t justify it for a dress that I will likely only wear one time, you know? The practical side of me just won’t do it. Mr. CC has the exact opposite view on my wedding dress. He doesn’t want me to worry about what I spend on my dress. He wants me to have the dress of my dreams, no matter what it costs…how sweet of him. I love him for having made me that offer, but I just can’t do it.

Amy had been telling me the price of each dress as I tried them all on, and for my favorite five that I couldn’t decide on she was also telling me the amount of the discount that was being given with the sale that was running. She asked at one point if budget was a factor in my decision, and I answered her honestly. There wasn’t a single dress that I was looking at or trying on that didn’t meet my budget. Even the most expensive one was still a couple of hundred dollars below the max on my budget, at regular price. So with that in mind, I didn’t need to commit to buying the dress that day just to get the sales price. Not that the practical side of me would have minded getting that sales price…but still. I wasn’t going to be rushed into a decision if I couldn’t make it that day. There will be other sales, and even if there’s not, it’ll be ok. I just want peace of mind with my decision. If I can make the decision today and also get a discount on the price, then great. If not, so be it.

So, with the help of my friends from afar and my gut leading the way, I went ahead and eliminated Gown #2 from my selection. Amy had assured me that although she would not be there when I came in that evening, that she would have one of the girls put all five dresses into a dressing room and have it ready for me, or if the rest of the afternoon was slow, just leave them as they were in the dressing room that I had been using. Having one dress weeded out of the selection was a big help for me. That meant that I had four dresses that I would be happy to wear to get married in to try on in front of someone to give me more feedback.

So with that in mind, I headed off to Alfred Angelo one more time that day…

Five Dresses and a Decision to Make...

So there I was…a girl with five bridal gowns...a choice to make…and no one close enough to her to help!

*Side note – Mr. CC, if you are reading this post, you need to stop reading right now. One of these dresses might be THE dress, so I promise that this post isn’t about you or anything. Do NOT read any further!!! Or suffer my wrath!

Like he’s really scared…who am I kidding? LOL!

Since I had three hours to call in the Calvary, I did what any self-respecting bride faced with this dilemma would do. I sent out an email to my best girl friends and asked for their advice. Now, being the not-so-smart girl that I tend to be at times, I didn’t take any pics of myself in the actual dresses…the lady told me that I could take pics, but I had misplaced my trusty digital camera somewhere along the move into Mr. CC’s house…hmmm…perplexing…

So I sent the next best thing. I sent them the model shots of my favorite contenders. I needed help eliminating one or two of them (or maybe three!) so that I could try to make the decision when I tried them all on again that evening at my 5:30 appointment.

Here they are in no particular order:

Gown #1:

Gown #2:

Gown #3:

Gown #4:

Gown #5:

And the really crazy thing is that they are all SO different! Yes, they all had some things in common between them, but there was no true rhyme or reason to my selections other than that they were dresses that I liked for different reasons. And let me just add in the personal side note that I looked SMASHING in all of them! There didn’t seem to be one that didn’t flatter me. Having said that, I will put in a plug for the designer – it wasn’t me that looked so good, I truly think the dresses would have flattered most body types.

Lucky for me, when I rescheduled my appointment, I called my FMIL and told her about it. She works for the state, so she had President’s Day off, but she and FFIL had traveled out of town for the long weekend, and hadn’t gotten back to town yet. They tried to drive a little faster and make my 2pm appointment, but didn’t have any luck. So, being the persistent little bee that I try to be, I called her again and dangled the 5:30 appointment in front of her like the proverbial carrot on a stick. Since she’s only got sons, she jumped at the chance to do some bridal gown shopping in a flash, and agreed to meet me there at 5:30.

So I had nothing to do but wait anxiously to hear back from my peeps from afar on their personal favorites. Lucky for me, my peeps are fast and loyal. They all answered me back and gave me some advice, and there were two that were chosen by all my ladies. Which made my job even easier when I went back at 5:30. I was able to honestly say that the decision was down to four dresses….

Was anyone else able to narrow their selection down AFTER they physically left the store? Did that make it easier when you went back? Or did you end up putting the dress that you had taken out of the running back in when you saw it in person?

The First Bridal Appointment

So here I am at my first bridal appointment. Like I mentioned before, I’m a little bit nervous, and I’m feeling a little weird about the whole thing. You see, I went alone. Maybe you’re thinking that it’s not such a big deal (and that’s what I was telling myself) but typically a girl takes at least one person along with her when she goes bridal dress shopping. The salespeople always tell you that you look great, so they’re no help. I mean what’s a girl to do when she needs her best peeps at her side to tell her that this dress makes her butt look huge, or that dress displays her flabby arms nicely? This is the situation that I found myself in.

But it’s really my own fault. I know that most of my girlfriends live out of town. When I had previously talked about bridal dress shopping, I have always mentioned going to Dallas and doing the shopping. That way my friends can come along easily and maybe some of my family can join in the fun too. Now, we’ve already crossed that road with my mom and know that she’s not enthused about going along. And maybe that just put a damper on the whole thing for me, I’m not really sure. But finding out about this sale at the last minute like I did, I really had no choice. Even my friends that are located closer to Austin are still either on the North side of town when I’m on the South or they’re a good thirty to forty-five minutes away by car. So I enter the store alone.

I meet with the bridal consultant that they’ve assigned to me, Amy. She seems nice, and she has a REALLY nice funky hair cut that I like. She gets me some catalogs to look over and I hand her my dress style numbers that I had thought ahead to bring with me. She’s a little shocked that I’m so prepared, but takes it in stride. She goes ahead and measures me up and lets me know what size she would recommend that I order. I knew ahead of time that I would order a dress in a size or two larger than my normal size, so I was ready for that. I wasn’t really ready to hear that I needed a dress THREE sizes above my normal street size…oh well. Guess I should have been doing that working out thing, huh?

Anyway, luck was with me and my three top favorite dresses were in the store and available in my size, or so Amy tells me. She was able to pull about 10 of the dresses off of my list, so I felt fortunate to be able to try on so many. She whisked me off into a dressing room and I got into my undergarments (she provided me with a strapless bra since I had thought about bringing mine and promptly forgotten all about it!) and was ready to go. Since this isn’t my first rodeo, I knew better than to attempt to get into any of the dresses by myself. I called Amy back in and we tried on three dresses that didn’t require the petty coat. I loved them all. Yep, you read that right.

Then we put on the petty coat and tried on the other seven dresses. I didn’t love all of these. Which was a good thing! And included in this mix was the one dress that had brought me into the store. I got all excited when I saw it on the hanger in the dressing room…a little thrill of excitement went through me. But when I put it on, it was not what I had remembered seeing in the photos and on the website. Luckily, Amy came to the rescue and said that there was the same dress with a different skirt style and she trotted off to find it for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t come in my size, but she had found a much smaller one that I could ease into just for looks. I put it on, and held my breath in anticipation of seeing myself in the dress that I had been drooling over for the last two months…and was severely disappointed. I liked it. But it wasn’t as flattering as I had thought that it would be. I still liked the look of it and the style of it, but it was really heavy and hot and like I said it just didn’t sit exactly right on me. Now, I tried to keep in mind that it was the wrong size and all, but it’s hard to picture when something doesn’t fit, right? Right. But even with all of that, I couldn’t take that dress off of my list of possible dresses.

At the end of nearly two hours of trying on dress after dress, and putting some of them back on one more time, I was able to get my list of favorites down to two dresses that didn’t need the petty coat and three dresses that did need the petty coat. I know, I know. It’s still FIVE dresses – all of which I loved! – so it’s not a great starting point. But seeing as how I started with over ten dresses, I thought that I had made good progress. But at this point, I realize that I need help. I can’t make any further decisions without another opinion telling me honestly how I looked in each dress, since Amy was really not much help, bless her heart!

And since I was just on my “lunch hour” from work, I made the decision to schedule another appointment for that evening and find someone (even if it was the bum begging for money on the corner of the interstate) with me to the later appointment. I needed guidance. I needed an objective opinion. I just needed help! Not to make up my mind for me, but to help me along the process.

I needed to call in some reinforcements….

Did anyone else attempt to do this on their own? Am I just the only crazy bride out there that would even THINK of doing it this way?

Dreaming of Dresses...

So mentioning yesterday that it must be fate…imagine my surprise when I checked my hotmail account late on Sunday night and notice that the Alfred Angelo website had sent me a notice about a SALE that was going on over the weekend. And since this was just last weekend, the sale actually continued through Monday due to President’s Day. I clicked on the link and went to the website to see a BIG sign showing that by presenting the attached coupon you could get up to $300 off of your bridal gown…

Yep, looks like that guardian angel is watching out for me all over again! Even though the dress that I had been drooling over for the last few months was not in the most expensive category, which was probably where the largest discounts were given, $50 is $50, ya know? And this bride IS trying to do things on a budget….

So I spent some time surfing their site that evening and picking out some dresses that I wanted to try on. There is a feature on their website that allows you to save your favorites into your “dressing room” for easy access the next time that you log in. I put 15 dresses between bridesmaid and bridal gowns into my dressing room and trotted off to bed to have happy dreams of trying on bridal gowns the next day.

I mean, come on, let’s be honest here. What girl wouldn’t skip happily off to bed knowing that she’s going to dream about the gorgeous dresses in the store the next day? No one that I know of. And if I’m completely 100% honest about things, there was ONE dress in particular that I was going to try on. There were a lot of styles that I liked…but there was one that I was in love with over the internet and magazine ads. Love, love, love and more love.

And the really crazy thing is that about a week earlier I was reading my daily dose of weddingbee.com and started eyeing this gown that this one bride in particular was wearing. She was doing recaps of her wedding last fall, so there were plenty of pictures of her in her dress. Everyday she sent in a different part of her wedding, and every day I just fell more and more in love with her dress. Imagine my surprise when I read one day that her dress was an Alfred Angelo dress…hmmm…yep, that caught my attention. Sure enough, when I tracked her blog back to when she wrote about buying her dress I found the style number listed. Could it be? Are my eyes deceiving me? Is it the same style that I’ve secretly started to fall in love with? Am I now guilty of coveting this girl’s wedding dress? Yes. Yes, I am.

So when I happily skipped off to bed that night, it was with the knowledge that my little lovely was in my internet dressing room, just waiting for me to show up the next day and try her on…

I was a bit disgruntled to find that the store didn’t open until 11am. WHO opens at 11? Apparently the Alfred Angelo store – yes, mom I hear your sarcastic remark before you can even think it! It just seemed a little late in the day to me…oh well. I “patiently” waited all morning long and was calling their store at 11:05 am (so that I didn’t seem TOO eager, you know?) to see if I could schedule an appointment. Now, to be perfectly honest, it’s been a while since I’ve done this. About 14 years to be exact, so I didn’t know if you could call and expect to be seen the same day. Lucky for me, there was no decision to torment myself over because the girl that answered the phone promptly wished me good morning and immediately asked if I would like to make an appointment all in one breath.

Yes. Yes, I would. Thank you for asking kind sales girl…and yes, I am available today…if you’ve got an opening…great! I’ll see you at 2pm. Bye! Yea me!

The Hunt for a Dress Begins...

Girls and their wedding dresses, it’s one of the most important decisions that you make about your wedding…you envision what you want by looking through thousands of pages of wedding magazines…and I mean THOUSANDS of pages and pictures. You pull everything that you MIGHT like to try on, and then you go about trying to find the dresses in your area or in an area close to you where you can go and try it on.

And just like any other girl, I have been doing the same thing. Some of you may laugh at me, but as soon as I knew that I was getting engaged, I started my wedding folder. Into this folder I put all the pictures that I found that I liked of anything wedding-related, along with articles to read that might help me get other ideas or with the planning end of things. And this folder has become my bible of sorts. I typically don’t go anywhere without it. I LOVE this book!

I have collected SO many images of dresses that I like, that I decided a few weeks back that it’s probably time for me to stop collecting new images and focus on the images that I have collected. Look for any common themes, like color, material, designs that run through the selections so that I’ll have a better idea of what I’m looking for when I get into an actual bridal salon. For myself, I think that this is a smart idea. There are so many styles of dresses in the salons that it’s SO easy to get overwhelmed when walking in without any idea of what you are looking for. Of course, going in open-minded is nice too, because then you can be truly open to what the assistant might suggest for your coloring or body type and all.

But I don’t really like to not have at least some say in things, as most of you know! So I started glancing back through my pages and before long I noticed a few things about the dresses that had been catching my eye.

#1 – most of them were fairly simple in design.
#2 – my favorites all had a little bit of sparkle to them, but not overdone with detailing
#3 – I knew that I loved the ivory dresses
#4 – most of them were strapless
#5 – I was really drawn to the “wrap style” that seemed to help accentuate your waist

The other thing that I noticed was that I had a few favorites. And most of them were from one designer over and over that seemed to catch my eye – even in the bridesmaids dresses. Alfred Angelo just seemed to catch my eye over and over. So I did the thing that makes the most sense to me – I went to their website and started perusing the dresses online. This way I could check out pricing and sign up for special offers. Imagine my surprise when I see that none of my favorite Alfred Angelo bridal gowns were priced over $1,000 which was my HIGH limit on my dress budget. I was shocked! I mean, I love Target and Ross, but for a wedding dress, I was envisioning that I would be hard pressed to find something nice and fancy for less than $1k. Go me!

And then imagine my shock and surprise when I discovered that the new bridal store that opened within the last few months at one of our newer shopping centers in South Austin was an Alfred Angelo store! I mean, there aren’t many times in a girl’s life when her personal guardian angel speaks directly to her…but this was one of them for me! It was just looking like it was meant to be. Now, to find time when I’m in town and free from other obligations to go by and look….