My first Dress post.

We're jumping right in, hive. It's dress time!

First and foremost, you all must know that I was obsessing over this one dress for the longest time:

It's Demetrios 3137. I've looked at and written about it so much that when I searched for it in Google images a few months back, my Weddingbee user pic came up. No lies.

That being said, I went wedding dress "shopping" three times in the first four months of my 26 month engagement.

The first time I went was on Long Island with my bff/maid of honor numero uno, Copper. They didn't have my dream dress, but I still tried on several dresses that were just "eh".. I had no idea (and a very exact idea) of what I wanted.

This is just a mess of a picture.

(No idea who made this dress)

Facial expression says it all. Although I did kind of like this at the time.

(Pronovias San Patrick Postal)

Just when I thought I was done meandering, I found a Demetrios dress that was similar-ish in style to my love, 3137. Copper and I made a last minute decision, tracked down my consultant, and tried it on.

Yowza.

(Demetrios GR181)

I couldn't stop staring at myself. Vain, much?

I was very close to declaring this THE ONE and calling it a day. I loved it. It fit me like a glove. It looked amazing and was incredibly figure flattering. But... it wasn't 3137. I needed to try on that dress. And this one almost seemed a little too formal for the general vibe Mr. Foxy and I are going for at our wedding. So Copper and I left the store happy with the end result and with a few sneaky pictures, as you have seen.

The second trip happen two weeks later, with foxy brideslady A. I decided to go straight to the source, to a Macy's bridal salon in Virginia, sponsored by Demetrios. Naturally, they had my dress, as well as several similar ones. And it looked just the way I hoped it would - the only downside was that some of the rouching on the body of the dress was messed up and broken, and the dress was about 3 sizes too big so the layers didn't quite settle right.. but even after all that, I still fell in love.

Awkward turtle.

Sigh. Love love love love love love love. The one caveat? It was about $400 over my (Foxy Mama's) budget.

So off I went to appointment #3.. alone. I decided to hit up David's Bridal to see what they had, and also to appease Foxy Mama. First up was a dress sort of similar to Demetrios 3137, but it just wasn't quite there.

(DB Galliano Signature SWG354)

The next was a big poofy ball gown that I liked more than I anticipated but made me look like I had one of those shrunken heads.

(DB CWG322)

 And then, to my surprise, I kind of fell in like with a very simple gown reminiscent of Maggie Sottero's Carly. Except this one was only $500. Seriously.

(DB WG3077)

I even got a picture with my consultant in a bridesmaids dress similar in color to what I want my girls to wear!

So that's that. I found a few I really liked and one I loved, but I still wanted to go shopping with Foxy Mama, or at least hear her opinions on the dresses I already tried on. While I very much liked the last dress.. I still couldn't get over the Demetrios one. I just felt so good in it. Maybe there would be a magical sale at just the right time or someone will be selling their used one? :/ I was definitely hoping!

Anyone else have difficulty finding a dress because of the price, or whatever reason?

Waiting..

...for our engagement pictures that we took on Saturday!

A little back story here:

There is this great email/online service called Groupon, where companies and businesses offer services at a discounted rate in hopes of promoting themselves and gaining business. Example: You get $20 worth of food at a restaurant for only $10, or, in my case, a $425 one-hour photo session with Brooke Bready Photography for the low price of $65. That's a discout of 85%. Craziness!

So I got this gem of an email on April 9th of this past year; I was looking at the amazing deal, Brooke's amazing photography, and the opportunity that I could use this as an engagement photo session! The kicker? I wasn't engaged yet.

Here was the rationale behind my thinking: we were on track to get engaged/be married, the Groupon was good for a year (and if we weren't engaged by then, well then, grrrrr), and if for some reason I actually was not engaged by April of 2011, I would get my friends together and have a BFF glam photo shoot. Genius. And no, I did not tell Scot about buying this for fear of appearing psychotic.

However! It must have been good luck or something, because 9 days later, on April 18th, he proposed. I was able to schedule a session for September with Brooke, admitted my pre-engagement engagement-photo purchase, had a good laugh, and was so excited to get our pictures taken at Brookside Gardens in Maryland.

Then I found out, three days before the shoot (last Wednesday), that Brookside was hosting a "Children's Day" and the park would really not be the ideal place to have an engagement photo session. They basically denied our permit request (not that we really needed one anyway..) and I was kind of bummed. After some searching online, I found some great e-pics of other couples by the C&O canal in the Georgetown area of DC. This was already one of my favorite parts of DC, and figured it would actually be better than Brookside Gardens because of the water, unique architecture, little bridges, etc. So off we went!

We are currently waiting for the pictures (they were just taken two days ago, after all), but I will be eagerly checking the mailbox daily until we get the DVD of our pictures.. which of course, I'll share!!

Where did you guys take your engagement photos? I think I love looking at them more than wedding photos, because you can usually get a good sense of the couple's personality and such :))

Tuesday Tunes

I wanted to jump aboard the Music Monday bandwagon, but figured everyone else was doing such a fantastic job that I would spread the love and do Tuesday Tunes. Clever? Not so much.

However, I figured that I have a lot of ideas and songs floating through my head, some that I'm just obsessed with and some that I would love to have play at significant points at my wedding.

This week's list: possible first dance songs.

Rhythm of Love - Plain White T's

I feel I need to explain this one. Aside from the fact that it's a fantastic song and the video makes me all giddy inside, I have this weird fascination with the Plain White T's. I remember getting their CD way back before anybody even heard of "Delilah"in 2004/2005-ish, when my favorite song was "Anything" and "Delilah" was just some sweet romantic track at the end of the album. Then they exploded, and they make a radio hit once a year or so (ok I'm off my 'I was so cool' soapbox). Last year, I was obsessed with "1 2 3 4" when I heard it/saw the video, and thought that would be a perfect first dance song. Now, I kind of want "Rhythm of Love" as a first dance.. or even a processional/recessional song? It's just so happy and summery! And yes, I'm getting married in June, so it would work.




1 2 3 4 - Plain White T's

See above.

Even Now - Dashboard Confessional

IN LOVE. With almost every Dashboard song out there. But this is a top, top contender, and I hope that you go over to iTunes or somewhere else and listen to it.

Stolen - Dashboard Confessional

Again, see above. The Vitamin String Quartet actually has a gorgeous instrumental version of this that would work as a processional/recessional song!

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Unfortunately, this is out of the running because it seems like everyone and their mother has now used this song as a first dance. Nothing against it, I still love it, but I have so many other options now!

Such Great Heights - Iron and Wine

While I love the original by The Postal Service, this remake brings tears to my eyes every time. Would be absolutely perfect for a first dance.. or processional. I can totally see myself walking down the aisle to this. Ugh I'm melting as we speak (and listen.. which I am, to this song).

..I just realized I have a lot of poppy songs on this. Oh well, they are just too good, IMO. I should probably run any/all of these by Scot, huh? It's ok, we have time, which means I'm sure I'll have many more options should none of these work.

Any songs you guys love and had as a part of your wedding? Or want to or wish you did, etc?

Wedding flashback!

You know what I love?

Flashbacks.

You know what else I love?

Weddings (obvs).

So why not have a little wedding flashback time?!

A while back while my Foxy Mama was at her apartment running around and getting things together for the weekend and her wedding the next day, I decided to go through some old photo albums while I waited. Among those photo albums were two small ones from her and my dad's wedding way back in 1980 (I think). I've seen these before but I always love to see old photos of my parents, especially when they were together; I don't really remember them ever being that way, so it's nice to see. Plus, she just looked so happy and beautiful in the pictures and I just love seeing them! So I took some pictures (of pictures) to share with you all!

Foxy Mama with her bridesmaids.. is it crazy that I kind of love their dresses?

I've decided that I kind of need to try her dress on.

So scandalous! And it's ok - I agree that my dad looks like Napoleon Dynamite.

I swoon over this car. The day after the wedding, with my nana (on the right).

_______________________________________________________

However, I must say, as cute and happy as they look.. I have never seen Foxy Mama as happy as she has been this past year with her new hubs JCC. He is perfect for her, and a perfect way to end this post is to show my gorgeous mom now, on her wedding day 30 years later, looking better than ever.

Aren't they just the cutest?

(Btdubs, I totally wrote this as I was watching Bethenny getting Married?... the episode where she actually gets married. Perfect.)


Have you gone back and browsed through your parents wedding album(s)? Isn't it fun to see what they wore and looked like?!

Weddings cost money.

Well, obviously.

But they cost, like, A LOT of money. I had this notion when Mr. Foxy and I first got engaged that we could do a wedding for 10k or under, plain and simple. Since it will be entirely self-funded (aside from Foxy Mama buying my dress), it's actually pretty crucial that we keep costs to a minimum. Then I started researching and reading articles. Many venues charge up to $5,000 just for a booking fee, without anything included. Catering is another $5,000+, with many places asking for a $7-10,000 minimum of food and beverage. Then there's DJ, cake, photographer, videographer, dresses, favors, stationary, etc. Learning about all of this was really overwhelming for me, especially when a close friend of mine revealed that her catering/beverage budget alone is $20,000 - twice our entire budget. Gulp. Then I checked out costofwedding.com, where they reported that the average cost of a wedding in the United States is $19,581. For the area of Maryland that we live in, it's more like between $20,625 and $34,375.

So... more than $10,000.

halp.

Well then. It looks like I just got schooled.

Now I know from several websites (like Weddingbee!) and sources that it is absolutely possible to go cheaper than that and still have an amazing wedding. I like to think of myself as crafty and am totally gung-ho on doing a bunch of DIY projects, but these too cost precious dollars. And time. (And "time is money", etc and so forth). So what's a girl to do? We surely don't have that kind of money; if we did, we'd have bought a house instead of renting one and would have our car paid off.

Foxy and I realized that, while $10,000 may be a bit of a stretch for our 100+ person wedding, we could probably go up just a bit, since it seemed to be necessary for the location, size, and type of celebration we wanted to have. And to compensate for that extra money, some lifestyle changes would need to be made.

At the current moment, we're each working weird schedules. Being a massage therapist and part time instructor at my massage school, I'm not exactly the bread winner of this relationship. I generally work from noon until about 8pm, give or take a few hours. Foxy has just started shift work at his job, which has him working 7am-7pm for two weeks, then 7pm-7am for two weeks. It's a really, really sucky schedule, but the weeks he works overnight? He gets his salary plus a whopping 30%.

Hellooo, wedding fund money jar.

Image via Kaboodle

Damn it, wrong jar.

Image via Amazon

That's better!

This inevitably means less time that Foxy and I can spend together. Which I know has been (and will be) fine.. hard, for sure, but good in the long run. We just got so comfortable with our past schedules and being able to see each other after work almost every day and hang out together on weekends, that the changing hours and extra jobs have obviously created some challenges here and there. We don't have the same days off, we have very few date nights that actually consist of leaving the house, etc. Good thing our cats amuse us.

I have a feeling a ton of brides- and grooms-to-be have gone through this same thing. Anyone who can share in my poor-girl-plans-a-wedding woes?