Wedding dress pt. 1
Hi, everybody! Well, even though it's been two months since I got hitched, this is really the first time I've had to talk about my wedding and all of the insanity that it intails.
First off, my maid of honor, my sister, lives about 3 hours away. So, she really wasn't much help in getting things together. I don't have many friends, so it was up to me and my mother to get everything done. Norman, my intended at the time, wasn't much help. Every time I asked his opinion, or what he wanted, he usually said, "Anything you want, baby." Either that or "It's fine with me." Useless male. But, I still love him.
Deciding on a color scheme was a chore. I only picked one, picking 2 would've blown my mind. So, at first I wanted Peridot, August's birthstone. Norman and I both have August birthdays and besides, Norman didn't have a favorite color. So, Mama and I went looking for a ribbon to match it. Couldn't find one to save our lives. So, we thought that if we found a dress near enough to it, we could match a ribbon later. Didn't happen.
We went to David's Bridal because they had a $99 dresses on sale. We went to look around and one of the assisstants helped up pick out several growns to try on. I had been there before, but I wanted someone else's opinon on how I looked in them.
Because of my size, big boobs, short legs, no mention of my weight, it's difficult to find a dress that fits. Anything that fits the girls - I call them Bertha and Buela May - is too big in the waist. And anything that fits in the waist is too tight in the chest. Plus, being 5'5" sucks when a knee length dress is almost to my ankles. I know, I have a weird shape. So, they had to go one size up from my normal size. So, several size 20's later ( think that they intentionally made bridal gowns too small just to torture anyone not a size 2), I found about 4 that I loved. None really fit perfectly, but they could be altered. In fact, I wished that I could make one gown out of all of them. I liked the sleeves on one, the bodince on another one, the long train on the third and the long, lacy over coat on the fourth.
Because of the girls, I couldn't wear a strapless dress. They don't make strappless bras that big. Unfortunately, the least expensive dress they had was about $650.00. Way too much for us. They didn't even show us any $99 ones. Also, we found a bride's maid dress that was a Peridot color. It was nothing like the birthstone color. It was kinda like a old celery that had been left out too long. Needless to say, we decided to find another color.
I kinda like green, but nothing really spoke to me. It was either too light or too dark. I really didn't like the pastel greens. But, I finally found a green that I kinda liked and also a teal color that I really liked. But, I was shot down because 1) it would be difficult to find a dress in that color and 2) it's a summer wedding and the green colors were kinda dark for a summer wedding.
So, I was back on the hunt for a dress and a color. So, since I also like blue, I tried to find a blue that wasn't too dark or too light. After weeks of looking, I finally found a pretty, Porcelain blue: not too light, not too dark. But I still needed to find a dress for myself and the brides maid's dress.
Mama went up to my sister's house and they looked all over Meridian for a dress that they can afford. They did find one that they liked at Dirt Cheap's , but it had a tear in it. Another one had a big stain. They found one at Dillard's (I think) for only $25. It was on sale and it was perfect. It wasn't the same shade of blue, but it still looked good. They found an irridecent shawl to go with it because it has spegetti straps and she's not comfortable with her arms exposed. The shawl refects any color that it's against, so it can be used with anything she has. So, even though it wasn't the exact shade, we finally decided to go with differnt shades of blue to include the Porcelain blue.
So, her dress was found and we even found a nice Mother's dress that Mama liked. But, we still haven't found mine. The most important dress I will ever wear. Norman had it easy. We decided to just have the men dress in dark suits and ties. Besides Daddy wouldn't be able to afford a tux and we wouldn't be able to swing the money to rent one. But, that's another story.
We had looked into renting a dress, one of my Aunt's daughters had rented one for her wedding. So, we said, why not? So, we went to Josephine's. It has wedding dresses, prom dress and Madia Gras dresses. We had gone there before, but it was in the middle of Madia Gras season and they put a hold on renting wedding dresses. So, we went back in late May, early June -really down to the wire- and they weren't renting wedding dresses anymore. But, they were selling them.
So, we tried some on. They were even smaller then the ones at David's Bridal and not nearly as glamous. That wasn't so bad, but there were rules about trying them on. You can't wear make-up and if you do, you have to wear a face mask. No jewlery, you have to take them all off. And no perfume, you have to wash off. Bizarre. Plus, the woman follows you in there to help you put the dress on.
Oops, I have to go now, more later.
First off, my maid of honor, my sister, lives about 3 hours away. So, she really wasn't much help in getting things together. I don't have many friends, so it was up to me and my mother to get everything done. Norman, my intended at the time, wasn't much help. Every time I asked his opinion, or what he wanted, he usually said, "Anything you want, baby." Either that or "It's fine with me." Useless male. But, I still love him.
Deciding on a color scheme was a chore. I only picked one, picking 2 would've blown my mind. So, at first I wanted Peridot, August's birthstone. Norman and I both have August birthdays and besides, Norman didn't have a favorite color. So, Mama and I went looking for a ribbon to match it. Couldn't find one to save our lives. So, we thought that if we found a dress near enough to it, we could match a ribbon later. Didn't happen.
We went to David's Bridal because they had a $99 dresses on sale. We went to look around and one of the assisstants helped up pick out several growns to try on. I had been there before, but I wanted someone else's opinon on how I looked in them.
Because of my size, big boobs, short legs, no mention of my weight, it's difficult to find a dress that fits. Anything that fits the girls - I call them Bertha and Buela May - is too big in the waist. And anything that fits in the waist is too tight in the chest. Plus, being 5'5" sucks when a knee length dress is almost to my ankles. I know, I have a weird shape. So, they had to go one size up from my normal size. So, several size 20's later ( think that they intentionally made bridal gowns too small just to torture anyone not a size 2), I found about 4 that I loved. None really fit perfectly, but they could be altered. In fact, I wished that I could make one gown out of all of them. I liked the sleeves on one, the bodince on another one, the long train on the third and the long, lacy over coat on the fourth.
Because of the girls, I couldn't wear a strapless dress. They don't make strappless bras that big. Unfortunately, the least expensive dress they had was about $650.00. Way too much for us. They didn't even show us any $99 ones. Also, we found a bride's maid dress that was a Peridot color. It was nothing like the birthstone color. It was kinda like a old celery that had been left out too long. Needless to say, we decided to find another color.
I kinda like green, but nothing really spoke to me. It was either too light or too dark. I really didn't like the pastel greens. But, I finally found a green that I kinda liked and also a teal color that I really liked. But, I was shot down because 1) it would be difficult to find a dress in that color and 2) it's a summer wedding and the green colors were kinda dark for a summer wedding.
So, I was back on the hunt for a dress and a color. So, since I also like blue, I tried to find a blue that wasn't too dark or too light. After weeks of looking, I finally found a pretty, Porcelain blue: not too light, not too dark. But I still needed to find a dress for myself and the brides maid's dress.
Mama went up to my sister's house and they looked all over Meridian for a dress that they can afford. They did find one that they liked at Dirt Cheap's , but it had a tear in it. Another one had a big stain. They found one at Dillard's (I think) for only $25. It was on sale and it was perfect. It wasn't the same shade of blue, but it still looked good. They found an irridecent shawl to go with it because it has spegetti straps and she's not comfortable with her arms exposed. The shawl refects any color that it's against, so it can be used with anything she has. So, even though it wasn't the exact shade, we finally decided to go with differnt shades of blue to include the Porcelain blue.
So, her dress was found and we even found a nice Mother's dress that Mama liked. But, we still haven't found mine. The most important dress I will ever wear. Norman had it easy. We decided to just have the men dress in dark suits and ties. Besides Daddy wouldn't be able to afford a tux and we wouldn't be able to swing the money to rent one. But, that's another story.
We had looked into renting a dress, one of my Aunt's daughters had rented one for her wedding. So, we said, why not? So, we went to Josephine's. It has wedding dresses, prom dress and Madia Gras dresses. We had gone there before, but it was in the middle of Madia Gras season and they put a hold on renting wedding dresses. So, we went back in late May, early June -really down to the wire- and they weren't renting wedding dresses anymore. But, they were selling them.
So, we tried some on. They were even smaller then the ones at David's Bridal and not nearly as glamous. That wasn't so bad, but there were rules about trying them on. You can't wear make-up and if you do, you have to wear a face mask. No jewlery, you have to take them all off. And no perfume, you have to wash off. Bizarre. Plus, the woman follows you in there to help you put the dress on.
Oops, I have to go now, more later.