Weddingbee Blog

I have been bugging FMIL Puff to help me out with ordering a Chinese dress for ages. It’s been on my to-do list for the past few weeks; I was worried it would never get done. Luckily, we were all able to coordinate our schedules around Momma Puff’s visit, so we all went together! After doing a little bit of online sleuthing, we decided to go to Ling’s Bridal in Oakland’s Chinatown. Connie, who works there, is SO AWESOME and nice.

This whole cheong-sam thing has gone through several stages. First, I was planning to borrow FMIL Puff’s dress. However, it was a two-piece and not all that flattering, and when I tried it on, I found that my boobs wouldn’t even fit in it. So there went that. Then I decided to buy one online. FMIL Puff dismissed this idea outright, saying that it would look tacky and low quality and would wrinkle when I sat down. I have learned not to argue with FMIL Puff on certain points, and this was one of them! However, as you can see, we are slowly going up in price here. In order to keep the cost in check, I was thinking that I’d rent a dress from Ling’s. Then I found out it was only about $150 more for a dress I could KEEP, so we decided to go that route.

I tried on some of their sample dresses in order to get more of an idea of what I wanted. This is the first dress I tried on. This dress would be over $600 to have made because it has three trims (the big, light colored one, and then two smaller ones). This one is rather traditional and bridal.

After that one, I tried on this style. Obviously, it’s pink, not red (it has to be red). However, we all really liked the roses on it. It’s also not too traditional or bridal-ly, so I could potentially wear it again. When Connie brought out the fabric in red, we were sold.

Me with FMIL Puff. This is the red fabric that my dress will be made from.

Here, Connie is helping us decide what piping to choose. The fabric has red, gold and aqua in it. We experimented with red, aqua, gold and light blue piping fabrics.

This is what we decided on. I’m so excited! The fabric isn’t typical for a qi-pao, but FMIL Puff is thrilled, so I know it’s all good. We decided to do two linings, because it didn’t look quite right with only one. We couldn’t afford the third, though!

Connie suggested that I choose a dress that is cut on only one side on the bodice (like the first dress), rather than both sides (like the pink dress). Apparently this will be more flattering on my chest. We’re also going to get some “frogs” put on the dress. These are amazing handmade decorative buttons. Connie showed Mr. Cream Puff how she made them, and he was very impressed.

Here are the frogs, close up. Mine will be red with aqua.

Connie taking my measurements:

And of course, we’ve gotta measure the big ol’ Jew boobs:

And that is all! I was a little worried about what might happen if I lose weight do to stress. Connie said that they do free alterations up until the wedding (as long as it’s down in size and not up–they can’t re-cut the fabric, obviously). I am so excited!!