Weddingbee Blog

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Once again, we’re back a month before the wedding — June 5, exactly four weeks before our wedding date! Because I was a newly chosen bee, I took advantage of the time I didn’t have to spend blogging in order to buckle down and get some things accomplished. First up: my dress.

I purchased my dress from Midwest chain Wendy’s Bridal on a whim.

It was on sale for less than $500 (my budget) and it made me feel beautiful. Of course, the purchase was quickly followed by dress regret. What was I thinking buying a tafetta ball gown for my outdoor July wedding?!

At first I thought that I should have purchased a shorter dress (I have serious dress envy, Mrs. Candy Corn!). My sister Sunny gently reminded me that wearing a short wedding dress wouldn’t be a very Bunnyish thing to do. I’m just more of a long-wedding dress kind of girl.

Then there’s the whole issue of fit.

My dress was strapless, and even when I bought it I knew the top would need some alterations in order to rein in the “girls”. In the phraseology of our own Miss Bruschetta, I’m blessed with some hefty tomatoes of the beefsteak variety.

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My mother was doubtful that it could be done, but I shrugged off her concerns until my first dress fitting, which wasn’t until the first week of June.

Mama Bunny commissioned a friend from church to do the alterations, which was just fine with me. I was confident that it wouldn’t be too much trouble to hem the dress a few inches and tighten the very top up a little.

What happened when I arrived at Jackie’s house, however, was nothing short of a …

DRESS-TASTROPHE!

My mother could barely zip up the dress on me, and even when she did, Jackie said she wasn’t sure she could make the top lie flat enough for the modesty level we were hoping for. There was concern that all at the wedding would see the whole tomato, so to speak. Yikes!

It was devastating. With one month left until the wedding, I was faced with the options of A) Finding a new dress that I love that fits off the rack, or B) Trying to drop 5-10 pounds and praying that Jackie’s alterations worked.

We told Jackie to hold onto the dress for us, but wait on starting the alterations until after the weekend while we shopped around for an alternative dress.

I left the appointment in tears and called Sunny (who lives in California, if you remember). True to her name, Sunny was much more optimistic — though probably only because she believed it to be her duty as MOH.

She suggested, first, that I calm down and drink a glass of water. Sunny knows from experience that the best thing to do when you’re having a full on melt-down is to drink a full glass of water. It keeps you hydrated and it’s pretty hard to hyperventilate when you’re constantly reminded to sip your H2O!

Second, she told me that she was 100 percent sure that things would work out one way or another. She thought that shopping was an OK idea, but, having seen me in my dress before, she was fairly positive that if Jackie couldn’t make it work, someone else could.

So, thanks to Sunny, I took a few deep breaths, drank some water, and drove to meet my mother at a dress shop.

It was Friday afternoon, so we headed to the only bridal boutique in town that was open — the ubiquitous David’s Bridal. The local store’s selection of ivory gowns, particularly in my size, was pitiful. There was really only one dress I even considered. I only had my cell phone with me, so you’ll have to excuse the poor picture quality.

The downside was that it cost $700, which, on top of the $600 we’d already spent on my other dress and undergarments, was more than twice my dress budget.

I didn’t make a decision that night, and I came home still depressed about the whole situation.

What did I do? Well, we’ll save that answer for another post….

Anyone else have a last minute dress-tastrophe to share? Who or what helped calm you down?

Previously…

Bunny Bridal Countdown: The Showers (30+ days)