Weddingbee

On Saturday afternoon, Mrs. Bee and I went to David’s Bridal in Queens. I’ve heard mixed reviews about this place - some people hate it, others love it. So I went in with a cautious, but hopeful attitude.

The Store

David’s Bridal has two sections of the store: one for bridesmaid and other wedding party attire and of course the bridal gowns. I didn’t have an appointment, but apparently neither did most people. Unfortunately, Mrs. Bee and I went during their huge sale so the store was packed. I didn’t get to try anything on (we left after an hour of waiting), but I got a pretty good sense of the store.

The Process

Once you get there, whether you have an appointment or not, you have to fill out a little form telling them a little about your wedding. Then they give you a catalogue of their latest gown collection.

While you wait for your name to be called, you fold down the corners of the pages of the dresses that you like. When it’s your turn, a bridal consultant will come over, take you to the dressing room area and bring you the dresses. You allowed to go through the racks and look at the dresses yourself. This process only applies to wedding dresses; bridesmaid dresses are open to the public and you can just pick one up and try it on.

A tip from a salesperson regarding fitting rooms: if you see one, grab it. There is no line, no structure, no rules.

Dresses

I think the dresses there are nice looking. All of the designs are very similar to whatever is popular right now. I think they look better in the pictures and online than they do in real life. I personally did not like the look and feel of the material that was used to make these dresses (fabric, beading, lace, etc). But there were some dresses that I thought were very beautiful in style - it just wasn’t for me though.

Final Rating
B/B-

If you are looking for a dress that is very reasonably priced, then I suggest you check David’s Bridal out. The sales people seemed a little disorganized, but that could have been due to the fact that the place was crawling with people.

The styles of the dresses are beautiful, but don’t expect to find any high-end duchess satin dress with hand-sewn beading at this place. Also, unless price is a really huge issue, try not to go during a mass sale. You will probably get a lot more personal attention (the sales person told me that each bridal consultant had 3 brides per person).

• Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes already married in secret Scientology wedding?
• US Weekly blogs the Brangelooney wedding.
• Prison wedding planned for one of Boys Don’t Cry killers.
• Jerry Hall wouldn’t attend Mick Jagger’s wedding if he remarried.
• Brides now wearing pantsuits instead of wedding dresses.
• Husband lies about porn and gets caught.
• Soldier stabs fiance over postponement of wedding plans.
• Japanese couple marry in snow chapel.
• Man checks out his own wife.
• Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki opens new 6 million dollar wedding chapel.
• American Airlines offers travel and honeymoon tips. (via bestweddingsites)
• The Love Letter shop offers personalized love letters! (via bestweddingsites)
• Donate your wedding dress to Making Memories - an organization that grants wishes to terminally ill breast cancer patients.

per·snick·e·ty (pr-snk-t)
adj.

1a. Overparticular about trivial details; fastidious.
1b. Snobbish; pretentious.
2. Requiring strict attention to detail; demanding: a persnickety job

Yes, I guess when it comes to this wedding, I am overparticular (um… obsessed some may say), about the details. It’s important to me that all the little things not only look nice, but also work well together.

This would be easy to accomplish if I handed over the reigns and my checkbook to a designer and let them have their way with my menus, programs, stickers, and all of the random little doo-hickies. Well, if you want it done right (and you can’t afford to have others do it for you) you have to do it yourself.

So here are my first few attempts. My printer is out of color ink, so these are just images. Rather than printing myself, I might have Kinkos or Bill at Inkspun print everything for me… not bad, for a first try, eh?

Menu Card - this isn’t necessarily what we’ll have, I just picked things that sounded tasty from the full menu. I’ll have a tasting at the end of this month to finalize. (click image to enlarge)

Water Bottle Labels - I snagged the nutritional info pic from a friend.

I’ll also be doing labels for the out of town gift bags, table numbers, and might even take a stab at the programs (I was going to go with Mine-by-Design for much of this, but they are not taking additional orders until May … grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!)

I went to go buy some greeting cards at the Hallmark store by my house today. I’m obsessed with cards - it takes me forever to pick out the perfect one. I have to read through all of them, try to find one that suits the person I’m giving it to, and if I can’t find the perfect card… I just won’t buy one.

So anyway after extensive perusing, I picked out a wedding card and a birthday card and was walking towards the register when I saw this:

Holy obsessive compulsive organization Batman!

They were selling this Greeting Card Organizer for only $4.95 with the purchase of any 3 cards! The regular price was $12.95!!! It features:

• Monthly file folders to record your own special days
• Tabs with sections like birthdays, weddings, thank you, etc.
• A pull-out drawer to store pens, stamps, and stickers (see it sliding out of the bottom of the box?)

Of course I ran back to purchase another card so I could buy this beauty and have a card organizer of my very own. Now I’ll be ready for the 5 weddings I have this year and every other holiday in between. Sigh… I’m so happy now. Life is complete.

Mr. Bee and I attended the beautiful wedding of 2 good friends last year. The best part of the wedding was hands down the ceremony because they incorporated so many personal touches - from the bride’s mother walking the bride down the aisle to the newly married couple doing a little jig once they reached the end of the aisle.

My favorite part though was when definitions of love were read aloud by different guests in the audience. The bride and groom had requested that guests define love on the back of the RSVP cards before mailing them in. What a wonderfully creative idea!

If you’re looking for a very simple gown and don’t want to spend a lot of $$, White House Black Market carries 2 options.

This Porcelain Satin Gown for $198 comes with 3 removable sashes in white, black, and champagne. And all the sashes are included!

They also offer the Pristine Satin Dress for $168. I’ve really been digging short wedding dresses lately. Melissa Sweet and Monique Lhuillier carry some great ones.

The Amelia Lace Dress with matching bolero jacket for $178 would make a nice bridesmaids dress.

I’ve been looking for a pearl necklace with a black ribbon tie like this ever since I saw a layout in a magazine where the bridesmaids wore strapless black dresses, their hair in low buns, and pearl necklaces with a black bow. Simply stunning.

This Patricia Glass Pearl Necklace is $38.

All this talk about monogram initials got me wondering …

What determines a couple’s monogram initials?

I looked it up:

The monogram initials are typically listed in the following order:

Bride’s First Name initial,
Married Last Name initial,
Groom’s First Name initial.

So … based on that, our monogram initials are:

STD

Awesome!!! Most romantic monogram ever!

This one is from Knottie Bride Deblossio2. She used wood which is what I HIGHLY recommend. Styrofoam gets really messy and it can crack if you cut the letters too thin.

This one is from Knottie bride Joshuasgirl.

I don’t remember which Knottie’s page I got this photo from.

Remember when Dean McDermott got a tattoo of fiance Tori Spelling’s name on his arm? Now he’s immortalized her face. Someone please tell me why?

(via: A Socialite’s Life)

Blake Monahan, 29 proposed to his girlfriend Jamie Coder, 26, right in the middle of a St. Patrick’s day parade. Monahan, a marching member of the parade, enlisted the help of the band in front of him to orchestrate the proposal.

When the bagpipers reached the intersection, they stopped and formed a circle in the middle of the road, then the president of the club came over to Coder and pulled her into the middle of the circle.

“He said the band wanted to play something for me,” Coder said. “I was thinking, “What?’ I had no idea.”

What Coder didn’t realize was that Monahan had come up behind her through the crowd and followed her and the president into the circle. Once in the circle, standing bemused and bewildered, she turned around and saw Monahan.

That’s when she realized what was happening.

The couple of 10 years are planning a summer 2007 wedding.

(source: Asbury Park Press)