Something Borrowed… Er, Not So Much
September 18th, 2008 @ 5:07 pm by Mrs. Cupcake
Remember when my mom and I had lofty goals of altering my cousins’ beautiful white lace cocktail dress to wear for our rehearsal dinner? The custom-made dress that both of my cousins wore at their own rehearsal dinners? Well, we tried and tried, and my mom slaved and slaved over the revised corset back, but in the end it just wasn’t working. The corset looked really pretty, but the back of the dress was still not lying flat due to the fact that I am short-waisted and the extra material had nowhere else to go. So, we finally decided to let it go and find something else for me to wear at the rehearsal dinner. Mind you, this was all on Sunday night, and the wedding is THIS Saturday, meaning the rehearsal dinner is THIS Friday. Yes, tomorrow!
Enter one of my favorite stores ever, Anthropologie. I am lucky enough to live in the city where Anthro/Urban Outfitters/Free People have their headquarters, so their retail stores are never hard to find in this area. This can also be a bit dangerous, though, as their clothes and charming housewares aren’t always budget friendly, yet my money still seems to somehow jump out of my wallet and into their cash registers whenever I step foot in there. My office is literally a 5 minute walk from the very first Anthropologie store that ever opened, so after checking online to see what white dresses they are carrying at the moment and immediately finding an adorable contender, my mom and I made a plan to meet there on my lunch hour last Monday.
Fortunately for me, this was the easiest shopping trip ever. They had the dress I had seen online in my size, I tried it on, it fit and was adorable, and we were in-and-out in about 15 minutes! Here is the darling little dress I will now be wearing at our rehearsal dinner tomorrow night:
Hour by Hour dress from Anthropologie
I really, really didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a new rehearsal dinner dress, but this dress cost a whopping $228. Yikes. I was desperate, tired, and pressed for time, but still, that’s a lot of money. Fortunately, my mom just happened to have a $180 Anthro gift card that she received from some friends as a retirement gift back in January, and she really doesn’t shop at Anthro, so she told me I could have it. Score! Free money! In the end this dress only set me back $48, and my mom was more than happy to finally be rid of the gift card she could never find anything to do with.
I was also able to find some cute shoes on clearance yesterday at Macy’s:
These Bandolino shoes were marked down to $34.50 from the original price of $69.00. Score! (A second time!)
I am now all set for our rehearsal dinner and I’m glad to be wearing a dress I’ll feel comfortable in. I’m sad to not be carrying on the tradition of wearing my cousins’ dress, but we sure did try to make it work! In the end, it just wasn’t happening. Have you had to let go of any traditions due to practicality?
Related Posts
29 Responses to “Something Borrowed… Er, Not So Much”
Ok, first of all, I love, love, LOVE anthropologie and I am sure that you looked gorgeous in the dress and what a way to score with mama cupcake’s gift card. My boss gives me a $150 gift card to Anthro EVERY sign Christmas and believe me, it is the highlight of that morning. LOL! And onto the best part - Good luck with the dinner tomorrow, your wedding on Saturday and being a Mrs.! Can’t wait to see the pics.
I FLOVE the shoes and the dress is so pretty! I think everything happens for a reason and you were just meant to wear this ensemble.
I LOVE the dress and I LOVE anthropologie! I can’t believe you work 5 minutes walking distance from anthro…how can you ever stay away?! Best wishes for a fabulous rehearsal and wedding!
I love everything!! The shoes are perfect. I used to live not to far from that Anthropologie. If I could I would rent it out for a reception. LOVE that store 
Lucky! My mom only gets gift cards for “OldLadyClothes.com” LOL. Great dress!
I too LOVE your new rehearsal dress! Please take pictures of it on tomorrow so we can see
Cute Dress!
I guess you could say that your something borrowed was the $180 gift card from your mom! Except that you may have no intention of giving it back! 
Omigosh, I was just drooling over that dress online one HOUR ago. I adore it! And the shoes are perfect.
That dress is so pretty! I’ve never been to the Anthropologie here because I am so scared I’ll walk out broke.
I was just in Anthro the other day and drooled over that dress! Totes jealous.
I saw that dress at the Anthro in Wayne and thought of it would be perfect for my rehersal dress. Congrats!!
This is classic! I love the little bows!!
You have me drooling over all of the Anthro dresses now. I might need to start dropping hints and see if anyone around me has a spare gift certificate lying around
that dress is to die for!! i am so excited that it’s your wedding weekend! i asked mr. cc if he’d be up for crashing your ceremony and he said yes, as long as our faces aren’t scary from being vacuumed hours before! hahaha. eeeeee
ooo I was just looking at that dress today and thought to myself how adorable it would be for a rehearsal or even reception dress. I hope you post some pictures with you in it! How I wish I lived near an Anthropologie but maybe it’s for the best because I would probably be broke if I did
So funny– I’m actually considering that dress for my bridesmaids right now!! It’s really pretty & well-made!!!
It’s gorgeous!!! (said in sing-songy voice)
sooooooo pretty! I love it! Now why don’t they have many Anthro stores here in Western PA? Boooo
I LOVE that dress! And with those shoes!! Can’t wait to see the pictures from the Rehearsal!
Love your dress! The tradition I’ve let go of: wearing the same dress both of my sisters got married in. They got married within a year of one another so sister #2 actually helped sister #1 pick it out. This was in 1993. Fast forward 15 years, and here we are, little sister #3 (me, 10 years younger than the other two), is not so thrilled with the design of the dress. It’s pretty, just very dated. I offered to wear it if I could make some design changes, but alas, that was not part of the deal. So I will not be wearing it. It makes me sad that I won’t be, as they are both very happily married and enjoyed wearing the dress, but not sad enough to wear something I won’t like on the day.
so adorable!!!
I bought that dress for my rehearsal also - and I’m really sad that I have to wait 8 months to wear it!!!
I was just looking at this dress! Can you post pictures with you in it? I’m ordering online - Canada doesn’t have Anthropologie’s - so I would love to see what it looks like.
And if you’re selling it, send me an email! FH is going to faint if he sees the price for it!
[...] A fun shot of the back/bottom of my last-minute (but absolutely perfect) Anthropologie dress [...]
Mrs. Cupcake, Philadelphia
Age and Occupation: 27, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Construction Project Manager
Engagement Date: February 10, 2007
Wedding Date: September, 2008
Blogging Since: December 7, 2007
Venue: The Desmond Hotel in Malvern, PA
About Me: Mr. Cupcake and I hit it off at a Halloween party and immediately began a long-distance relationship. After two years, he moved to my neck of the woods, and a year and a half after that, he proposed at the “place we fell in love.” I am a true perfectionist who enjoys designing and creating more work for myself, so wedding planning is my perfect outlet. Mr. Cupcake and I are both old souls, and we hope to weave that aspect of our personalities into our wedding day.
Love the dress, love the shoes!!