Weddingbee Blog

After the ladies stole the dress I was going to get as my rehearsal dinner dress, I had to find a back up. Finding my rehearsal dinner and after party dresses were so much easier than finding my wedding gown! And where did I turn, but Nordstrom.com! I love the extensive online selection they have, and it’s so easy to search by the particular color you’re looking for. In this case, I decided to go with white, instead of purple. How many times in your life do you get the excuse to wear a white dress, after all?

After narrowing it down to several choices (which I sadly can’t share because they’re no longer available), this is the one I picked, for $98:

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It has a similar cut to the bodice as the bridesmaids’ dresses, especially with the twisted straps, and I love the little pleats on the skirt!

And check out these hot Chinese Laundry heels I got to go with it, for only $35 from Endless.com! Miss Cheeseburger looked at these as well in her search for purple wedding shoes.

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The multiple straps on the heels go nicely with the waist detail on the dress, and they’re the perfect shade of purple, too!

After that, I moved on to my search for a reception dress.

Since I didn’t want to have to wear my wedding dress all night, especially during the debauchery that’s sure to go down at our after party (and it’s an excuse to buy yet another cute outfit!), I decided I’d do a change after the wedding reception.

Our after party will be taking place in adjoining Loft Suites back at the San Mateo Marriott (I’ll post more extensively about the after party later). It will probably be about 25 of our closest friends and family members, who, uh, like to drink. We’re shelling out a huge load of money for an open bar at the reception, but as the hosts, I don’t feel like we can really take advantage of it. So, we’re opting for a small-ish gathering after the big event, where we can get down and PAR-TAY!

So, I needed a comfortable, but still cute and wedding-ish dress, and here is the beauty I bought, for $138 from Nordstrom.

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It’s a bit more formal than Mr. Cola’s after party outfit, but I love that it is light gold, with some sparkle to the material, and think it will be a great follow up to my beautiful wedding dress. Now the problem is finding the right shoes.

I ordered, but returned these shoes from Endless.com. The color of the bow on the back of the heel just wasn’t the right color for the dress. It actually looked MUCH darker/more orange in person than it does in this picture.

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Next, I decided to do a survey on the boards to help me narrow down my selection from these five that I was considering (click the link on any of these for the source/product page):

Chinese Laundry Women’s Mezanine Sandal:

Nine West Women’s Mushu Dress Sandal:

Touch Ups Women’s Alana Sandal:

Touch Ups Women’s Jillian Sandal:

Touch Ups Women’s Kendall Sandal:

In the Weddingbee survey, the Alana (3rd pair) won, followed by the second pair, and the first pair came in third. I’m thinking I might just order all three, to see which color really goes best with my dress in real life. Also, comfort will be a factor, because by the end of the day I’m sure my feet will be pretty tired.

What do you think, which of these shoes do you like best with my after party dress? Do you have any suggestions for even cuter shoes?