Weddingbee Blog

[If you like, revisit: Part I; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4.]

Let’s face it. This dress thing is never going to end. I’m fairly confident that by the time my wedding day rolls around, I’ll have at least 6 or 7 cheap-but-pretty dresses hanging in my closet demanding that I make a choice.

I feel like I’m really jerking everyone around. Myself, mom, FMIL, and all of you. I find a dress, I say, “HEY GUYS, I FOUND MY DRESS!” Then a day, a week, a month later, I find another dress. I hope you’ll bear with me. This on-going process has really helped me to think about what kind of wedding day garb I like and want.

So without further delay, on to the “meat” of this post. I like my white eyelet dress a lot. It’s fun, flirty, flowy, comfy, and at $14, it is definitely budget-friendly. Here it is again (I took better pictures).

As a reminder, this is an American Living dress. It’s from JCPenney. It retails at $100, but the website has it for $75, and it was even cheaper in the store.

I was perfectly happy with this dress… until I was chatting with my mom one day.

She said, “Do you still have that old white sundress?” And the memory came back. (Am I the only girl who can’t remember what’s in her closet? ) Years ago, I bought a white sundress. I loved the thing, but where do you wear a white sundress? Pretty much the only place I’d wear a sundress at all would be to a wedding, and white is generally not the recommended guest apparel color. I think it’s very flattering though, so I kept it. And kept it. And kept it. And dug it out of the closet at my mom’s suggestion. Now check it out.

This is a Bisou Bisou dress from JCPenney. I bought it three or four years ago, so unfortunately I can’t give you a current store source. What do we think of this dress, hive?

I really have no need to have a brand new outfit. While I wouldn’t want to wear “just any old thing” from my closet, I think this dress is something special. I bought it because I liked it, but I’ve had scant opportunity to wear it. And though I’ve moved three times since the purchase, I haven’t been able to bring myself to donate it (as I do with most clothes that have gone unworn for extended periods). Perhaps I didn’t know it yet, but it was waiting to be my wedding dress. (Or, perhaps I just thought I looked pretty hot in it, so I kept it. LOL.)

While I still can’t put definite closure on my dress-hunt (I am way too indecisive for that), this dress is now my front-runner. I think it looks great, my mom and FMIL think so too, and Mr. Mary Jane agrees. I am keeping the American Living dress, too. It was cheap, it’s forgiving (I tend to gain/lose a few pounds pretty frequently) and it could come in handy for our after-party (I’ll talk about this soon, promise!) or another event.

I see/read about a lot of brides buying new outfits for various events related to their weddings. A new shower dress, new rehearsal dress, and of course, a new wedding dress. Let’s pretend for a minute that you already had a great wedding dress in your closet. You’ve had it for years and have barely worn it, and it’s perfect for the bridal look you’re envisioning. But a wedding is one of the few times in your life where no one judges you for spending hundreds or thousands on a brand new, wear-it-once dress. Would you be willing to “miss out” on that experience? Or would you still feel compelled to go out and buy something new?

[If you'd like, revisit: Part I; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4.]