Woke up to this song this morning

The Story of my Wedding Dress, Part Two

The second dress was a rather beautiful and simple satin a line dress with a lovely lace overlay and a see through lace fishtail train. As I lifted it up over my thighs and my waist, I noticed how pretty it was, with small, detailed beading covering all the lace, and the beaded straps holding the dress up. Drew's aunt zipped it up, and despite feeling a teensy bit snug around my ribcage, it fit perfectly.

In fact, it felt a little too good to be true, so I asked for a mirror. The attendant brought out a gnarly, bent out of shape mirror where I could more or less see myself. There I was, a sheen of sweat glistening on my face dressed in a lovely wedding gown that just needed a good dry cleaning and maybe a ribbon or so. Drew's aunt gushed, "Oh, it's perfect! And it fits you like a glove, like it was meant for you!". I noticed it as well, but the funny thing is that Drew's aunt had been a textile designer in NYC years ago, so she gave the dress her clinical once over and deemed it of good quality.

It dawned on me that I had just found the wedding dress of my dreams in the unlikeliest of places. I searched for the price tag, and it was $250 without tax. I could tell it had probably been worn once, or maybe used as a display dress, but was in mint condition. I quickly decided to go for it, but as I only had $20, I asked if they accepted lay away. They did, but needed to be at least 10% or more of the price tag (which would've been $25 if you do your math correctly, kids). 

I almost started hyperventilating, thinking that the dress would surely not be there if I didn't put it in lay away immediately, but Drew's aunt sweetly gifted me with $40 so I could put the down payment. She said it was a wedding gift since she wouldn't be able to attend the wedding. She saved the day! And the dress was put in lay away, but not before I took some pictures with my phone. 

I waited patiently for two weeks before going back and getting the dress out. I dreamed about the dress, and gazed upon those images time and time again, plus I showed it to everyone and anyone. I was elated, but also a little terrified. Had I made the right decision? Was it too much, too showy for a daytime wedding? Would it fit me on the day of? After all, the waist did feel a little snug. 

The day came for me to drive up to Aguadulce and pick up THE DRESS. I was apparently very excited because on the drive over was pulled over by a cop for speeding. I put on my best smile and excitedly told him why I was heading to Aguadulce. I was getting married in three months and was picking up my dress! I guess it kind of worked, because he said if he checked my credentials (pele police) and I was clear, he wouldn't give me anything but a warning. I smiled and confidently mentioned that I was clean as a whistle. He ran my license and it was as expected, free and clear! So he gave me the go ahead and I was off to get my dress. As I drove off, I honked a little honk and bid him adieu. Nothing was going to drag me off my cloud!

The dress was everything and more that I ever could have hoped for and wanted in a gown. It was lovely, made carefully and perfectly. The only alteration that I had made, were letting out two inches on each strap so that it could fit me without eating into my shoulders. I also added a long, black satin ribbon wrapped around my waist to give it a bit of OOMPH and style. Beyond that, the dress was perfect! 

When I got home I decided to Google the dress' designer, Oleg Cassini, and maybe put an original price tag on it. It was obvious that the style was from a few seasons back, but not too long to make it outdated. After some heavy duty Googling, I found the original price tag: $1,099! I even found the same dress on sale for $700! I had gotten mine for $267 with tax, so the joy of finding THE DRESS coupled with the huge discount in price, made for a very happy bride. 

Walking down the aisle of ficus with my father

My favorite part of the dress: the gorgeous lace chapel train!

Heartfelt poem by Maid of Honor during ceremony

Bride and Groom by the river

It was even more beautiful the day of the wedding. As lovely, simple, and breath taking as I could have dared to dream it. 

So, what did I learn from this? Keep your eyes peeled, for you never know what treasures you can find in the unlikeliest of places. 

The Story of My Wedding Dress, Part One

I knew exactly what kind of wedding gown I wanted. After all, I had spent countless hours on the Internet, Pinteresting every dress that caught my eye and then e-mailing to a select group of eight ladies for their feedback and approval. Of course, everyone has an opinion, and it is hard to get an idea of what you want without first having tried it on.

I was also on a budget; I had decided that I didn't want to go over $500 USD, which did not seem like a huge amount at the time, but when I look back I do realize that it is a lot of cash to spend on ONE item of your wedding budget. Suffice to say, I was willing to scrape and borrow and do whatever was possible to buy the wedding gown of my dreams. Even if it meant going broke in the process.

I was just about decided on ordering a dress off the Internet off one of those knockoff Ebay sites, that re-create designer for 1/4 of the price. This also required hours upon hours of researching bridal feedback on certain sites, more mass e-mails asking for approval and suggestions, and dogging my poor (then) fiance, until everyone was saturated with my Wedding Gown Indecision and neediness. Something kept me from clicking on the purchasing button. I still wasn't sure, and it was killing me slowly.

One day I decided to drive up to Aguadulce (about 30 minutes away) with Drew's aunt who was visiting from the US. We were planning on hitting an outlet store called La Importadora Americana, which basically sells new and gently used goods brought by container from the US. I had about $20 bucks to my name, as I had no desire to buy anything worth more than that.

We got to the OUTLET store of La Importadora without even knowing it. All the items smelled funny and were broken or in an awful condition. It was the worst of the worst and we didn't see anything that caught our eyes, and were generally horrified by how rundown it all seemed.

As I was walking out of the OUTLET store, I noticed a small room on my left hand, stacked with all manner of cocktail dresses. This caught my attention, so I ventured in to this small, stuffy room and my jaw dropped. Lined up floor to ceiling were at least two hundred wedding gowns, from all manner of decades: puffy sleeved, high necked, lace, white, ivory, chapel train, strapless, the list went on and on. Awful, beautiful, amazing, ugly, it was all here in the middle of nowhere Aguadulce, forgotten in an outlet store.

I immediately started rummaging through the piles of gowns, my hope slowly sparking a little flame in my heart. Could it possibly be that I find the wedding gown of my dreams here? Is it possible? I walked out of the room to ask for help from the staff. I don't think they had ever sold a wedding gown, and didn't much help me out. Ill prepared is a small term to describe them. I was already sweating buckets when I decided to take matters into my own hands, so I grabbed a fold-able metal chair and crawled on to it so I could get a better view at sizing and styles.

By this time I was sweating buckets, as the room was tiny, badly ventilated with an old lazy fan, and an air conditioner that hadn't worked for many, many years. I found three gowns that were more or less what I was searching for: lace, NOT strapless, with a small train if possible (I wasn't really picky, after all, I was in an OUTLET store!).

Once I had the three gowns in hand, I asked the attendant (oh ha ha ha! Worst attendant ever!) if there was a changing room. She shrugged and said there wasn't one, but she could offer me a bathroom, or I could do like most patrons of the OUTLET store, and change behind the cocktail dresses in the back of the stuff little room. Well, I knew for sure I wasn't going to drag the wedding gowns into the potty room, so I shrugged and headed to the back.

I took off most of my clothes and was left with my sports bra and underwear. I was feeling very, very sticky and uncomfortable, but I was determined to see if any of those dresses could work. I managed to get the first dress on after much shimmying and squirming, as it happened to be a mermaid cut, and my very voluptuous and sweaty body did NOT slide in. It ended up looking awful me, and I learned a very important lesson: most women with rather large behinds DO NOT look good in mermaid cuts.

The first dress left me feeling deflated and uninspired; all of that work for nothing! These wedding gowns were turning out to be more work than they were worth!



Part Two coming up!

The 1940's Bride

A little bit of retro inspiration.

Everything Perfect

This wedding is everything simple and gorgeous.

I am aiming for something similar, with the help of my family and friends, of course. There is so much planning to be done! Every day I need to be getting some wedding related thing done with. I am behind in a lot of things, which means I need to get my butt into gear. Not so easy when you're easily distracted like I am.

Palette: burlap, old lace, black and gold.

Today I bought some black tulle which I plan on converting into gorgeous tulle flowers with little gemstone centers. Yes, pretty hilarious. We'll see how it goes.

Drew and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on March 9th. Yes, 12 months with the Viking and hopefully many, many more. I feel lucky in love, eager to see what the future brings for us. I can't wait!

Photo taken with the tripod. Look at those stars!

I received a wonderful gift from him, a camera tripod! Such a thoughtful, KICKASS gift. I plan on using it always. It will definitely be used for our diy wedding photobooth!

two and a half months til the wedding

... and I haven't advanced much with anything, holding on to the credo of past Master Last Minute Doers and hoping that everything will magically come together at the last minute. I have a clear idea of what I am going to do for the wedding in terms of the style of the wedding, the overall theme, and the end result, but how I am going to achieve it all is still a mystery and hasn't come together quite yet (my fingers are cramping from crossing them so hard).

I have yet to speak to a coordinator who can help me The Day Of, but I have an idea of who it will be, as he helped my SIL in her recent wedding (which was gorgeous btw. That story soon!). I have some of the menu planned out, but haven't really gotten actual quotations from either of the caterers. Truth is, I am thinking of wrangling some help from some of my friends so that it can be a buffet where everyone chips in a tasty dish. I think a couple of my friends would definitely go for it! Drew and I are leaning towards having a fun, yet simple bbq, where tastes reign supreme. We are definitely having a casual wedding.

Some good news: I found my dream wedding gown in the unlikeliest of places for a great price! It needs a couple of alterations, starting with adding a pair of simple, tasteful, lace cap sleeves as the dress has spaghetti straps which I don't find very flattering. Also, it's a wee bit snug around my waist and I'd really love to eat at my wedding, so I am thinking of having it taken out an inch or two (so that I can you know, breathe). It also needs to be bustled because it has an absolutely, jaw dropping, gorgeous lace chapel train which I don't want trampled and soiled on the day of the event.

About the dress: it is fitted through the waist with an a-line skirt, satin underneath with a lace overlay shift that is adorned with tiny beads and seed pearls. Spaghetti straps are adorned with a row of tiny pearls, and there is also a row of tiny pearls right underneath the bust. Oh and it was made by Oleg Cassini. I am totally enamored and it is taking all of my willpower not to parade it around as I do my household chores.

We've been collecting various succulents in every manner possible in order to hand them out as favors for the wedding (though we might also have seed favors as well, going with the whole theme of "growing your love" or something cheesy like that). Burlap, burlap everywhereeeeee.

My whole family has been collecting all manner of bottles which we plan on perhaps painting and having as the table centerpieces. So the centerpieces are advancing. A couple of days ago I spread out some sunflowers seeds as a little experiment and surprise surprise, they sprouted! I don't know how fast sunflowers grow, but I just might have some beautiful blooms for the wedding (fingers crossed, again!).

I keep track of all my inspirations via Pinterest, follow me there: https://pinterest.com/panajane/