I mean, wow. It's a beautiful ivory, it has expensive looking detail, and I love the flapper style. A lot of wedding dresses just have so much FABRIC: this dress shows off curves nicely.
But I showed a similar dress to my fiance and he didn't like it. "It looks like lingerie."
:(
I guess it does look pretty "costume-y." But I still love it.
The thing is, I'm sometimes experiencing wedding dress panic, aka Second Thoughts.
So I went to David's Bridal with a friend. I was not even going to go into bridal boutiques because I know that DB's has affordable dresses, and I did not want to fall in love with a $2000 gown.
Even in the 'discount' places like DB's, I am not in my element in a place like a bridal shop. I mean, I like dressing cute, but formal wear, and specialized undergarments, and dress-lingo.... aahhh.. I don't even own a strapless bra. I don't understand how these things work. I also don't like being out in the open and having people look at me and assist me. My favorite thing about my local Peeble's store is that there is no fitting room attendant. I hate handing back mountains of clothes to the attendant and then going and getting more. If there is an attendant, usually I pretend I'm purchasing a few of the items I've tried on and then I put them back myself when they're not looking.
Anyways....I saw a dress on a mannequin that I really liked and tried it on. I liked it a lot. However. I am not quite 5'4", and it was WAY too long. It would have needed
1. Hemming
2. Shortening the straps
3. Sewing in cups because the back is open so you can't wear a regular bra
The dress was $400. The attendant said alterations would be about $400.
No.
Doubling the price of the dress is just not cool to me. And that fact is that pretty much every long dress would require at least hemming, and hemming a wedding dress is typically not cheap because they often have lace or beading or whatnot on the skirt part.
I also didn't care for the train. It annoyed me. I joked to the attendant, "Can I just have this whole thing cut off?" She just looked at me like I was crazy.
So I tried on a tea length dress. It fit well. Size 8 off the rack, it didn't need any alterations. I could move around and twirl in it. I liked that. Something about the dress also struck me as kind of retro, and I liked that too.
"I'll take it", I said, far too enthusiastically and prematurely.
It was only $350 and didn't require alterations, so I thought I had done pretty well. And maybe I did.
But the doubts came later when I was looking through the David's Bridal website again. I was angry when I realized that many of David's Bridal dresses can be ordered in petite, which are 3" shorter in the skirt and 1" shorter on top.
Well, that would have been nice to know.
I also realized what a bustle is. I really didn't know before. FYI, for those of you just as clueless as me, a bustle is when they add some buttons or a hook or something to the back of the dress, so that you can pin up the train after the ceremony. It makes it easier to move around so you don't have all this fabric dragging behind you the whole night.
Oh.
My attendant did not mention a bustle when I complained about the train.
I also found that there are different color sashes you can add. I was not offered that.
So basically now I was fuming about how unhelpful my attendant was, and also angry at the fact that I turned down long dresses because of the alteration cost, when I could have just ordered a petite.
Then I looked at pictures of people in the dress I'd chosen. Many of them sort of look like hobbits. A tea length dress can cut you off visually, and make you look even shorter than you already are.
Now I was really panicking.
I'm trying to keep my cool until my custom bolero tops come in. I'll see how they look with the dress I have, and then I'll take everything to David's Bridal and try on some more dresses. This time, I'm taking someone pushy with me, in case there needs to be a smackdown about exchanging the dress. I explained what happened to a few family members and several people offered to come with me and raise some hell if need be. I am not a confident person around strangers, I just wilt.
So, lessons learned here. When looking for a wedding dress within your budget
1. Don't rush into buying a dress like I did.
2. Ask lots of questions. If you aren't getting answers, ask for someone different, come back another time, or try a different place.
3. Do your research online before plunking down any money.
4. Take a real pushy bitch with you.