Weddingbee

I completely forgot about my dress until we returned from our honeymoon and received a call from the dry cleaners requesting more time to work on my dress.  I received another call a week later informing me that my dress had been worked on to the best of their ability without compromising or damaging the fabric, and that it was done and ready for me to pick it up. 

The dress is a $3500 silk Rivini dress that I adore.  I took really good care of it during the wedding knowing that there was a possibility that I might have to wear it overseas at a reception for my side of the family.  Besides the hem being dirty there were no stains, spills, food, or anything on the rest of the dress. 

When I first saw my dress at the dry cleaners, I almost started crying! It looked like it had aged 10yrs!! The overall color had changed to a dirty grey, the shine and luster of the fabric was completely gone.  It hung like an old, dingy, loose piece of fabric.  The beading and sewn on trims were also coming loose and falling off.  Along the hem they had spot treated certain areas to the point where it was threadbare and pilling. 

I was horrified; I really didn’t know what to do. They dress had come back to me in worse condition than when I had given it to them. I can understand if they weren’t able to get all the dirt out from the hem, but the whole dress is ruined. I wore it for a total of 6 hours and it looked brand new aside from the hem.  Basically they overcleaned my dress to the point where the solvents used in drycleaning have eaten away at the stitching, beading, and overall fabric.

They are refusing to pay for anything and are only willing to waive the drycleaning fee. It’s been very hard and frustrating to try to convey to the drycleaners that that’s my wedding dress and no matter what they do, nothing can ever replace it.  I asked them to give me $1500 and my gown and be done with it.  They said if they give me $1500, they would keep my dress.

I just want to let people know that these things can happen, and since it’s a wedding gown, replacing it is impossible.  Make sure you do your research beforehand so you’re not rushed to make a quick decision last minute like me.  Also decide if you’re getting your bouquet preserved because there is a very short window for that too.  These are just things that no one had told me, and having never been married before, I would’ve never thought of.
 
Sorry if this has been very long but it definitely helps to write it out.  I hope people are more informed than I was and good luck to all the newlyweds.  And also thanks for the awesome site which I religiously read through my wedding planning process and still do after.

Best,

Jill
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 We also decided to forego most of the traditional wedding stuff, so we’re having ping pong, an iPod instead of a DJ, a campfire with s’mores (inspired by ReadyMade magazine), our dogs in the ceremony, cupcakes instead of a cake, hairpins instead of a veil, and lots of color!  My dad will be making apricot jam and elderberry jelly for the favors, and I’m thrifting flowered plates from the 60s and 70s for a little vintage touch, inspired by Lena Corwin.

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I couldn’t help after viewing everyone’s beautiful storyboard to share mine - my fiance proposed to me underneath the Bean in Millenium Park of Chicago, so where else could we showcase our wedding but in Chicago.  We’re getting married at the same place where my fiance realized that he was falling in love with me four years ago.  Our wedding colors are a light blue and chocolate brown.  He picked one word “sweet” and I picked one word “simple” and that has become our wedding theme.  We’re honeymooning in Paris and are pretty much done with all of the wedding planning and just counting down the days until Labor Day!  I have a super-groom who has been great with the whole process and made it as stress-free as possible!  I feel like the luckiest woman in the world who is marrying her best friend.

Donna

Obviously we are having a Christmas/Skiing themed Purple Winter Wedding in Vail, Colorado (where he proposed on Christmas Day 2006)! We will have 8 pre-lit 7 foot Christmas Trees around our reception area!  Woo hoo!!!

Our cake-topper is a hand-blown glass Bride and Groom done especially for us!  Very Special.  Our cake will have hand-made fondant snowflakes all over it and will have flavors of Bailey’s Irish Creme Chocolate (bottom layer) and the top 2 layers will be Strawberries and Champagne! Yum!

We are giving out snowflake Christmas ornaments adorned with our names and the date of our wedding, and we’ve made a donation to “Sustainable Slopes” in all of our guests’ names (a “Green” environmentally sound organization that endorses using environmental energy to keep global warming to a minimum). Also, we have only registered for charities that have had significant impact on our lives, and not for anything else (ie: Susan G. Komen, American Diabetes Association, etc.).

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen will be in all black and white, but we are getting married outside (yup! outside) on the river, so the gals will have purple and lilac pashmina wraps.  Our guests will arrive and stay inside with a pre-ceremony cocktail of Hot Toddies or Wassail and Hot Chocolate for the kids.  My Scottie, Kadie, will be our flower girl. 

Our centerpieces will be footed bowls filled with different sizes of ornaments in purple, lavender, white, and lilac!  Very Shiny!  We have Tord Boontje snowflake etched votives to put all over the place, and we have floating candles to put around on other tables.  Our escort cards are going to be in glass votives filled with personalized M & M’s in our colors, and there will be a snowflake photo holder clip (see picture) sitting in the votives with the guests names on them.  We have Waterford Toasting Flutes from the 2nd year of the millenium (celebrating Love!)  Our Table Names (not numbers) are different ski runs in Vail (ie:  Forever, Wow, Deuces Wild, Look Ma….etc). 

My dress is really special to me because it has been in our family for a long time and it is full of sentiment!

After the reception, we are encouraging our guests to take a free gondola ride to the top of Vail Mountain (open until midnight!) and scatter wildflower seeds native to Colorado (which we are providing) out the windows in order to continue to encourage the greenery  and colorfulness on the mountains in the spring!  A sweet reminder of our
special day!

I can’t wait!  What a wonderful marriage we will have….and what a memorable day it will be!

~~~

Please send your storyboards to guest@weddingbee.com. 
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We are attempting an Indian-inspired wedding in a natural Costa Rican setting with a vintage flair.  I guess what a Goa beach party could have been like in the 40’s or 50’s if they had access to really good music.  Our wedding will be on a beach in the southern Caribbean section of the country that is not heavily developed.  We are attempting to make it as eco-conscious as we can but still want for it to have a great sense of style while using a minimal amount of non-local materials.  The center picture is actually my wedding dress as the backdrop with a bust surrounded by my mala beads, my fiance’s mala beads, pearls, and my engagement ring. 

We will use luminaries to light the path between the beach and the garden the reception will be held.  We are also using banana leaves instead of plates at the reception dinner.  Our arch will be a bit different than this but the silhouettes of the leaves against the beach and sky show how stylish nature can be without being manicured too heavily.  I also love the elegant simplicity of the two brides I have depicted.  Simple, classic, but not understated.  The coin belt and ring on the beach picture is hopefully what I will be like the day after we are pronounced man and wife… chilling, sunning, and dancing with my husband.

Kia

~~~

Send in your storyboards to info@weddingbee.com.
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I’m getting married to my darling H2b (husband-to-be) on 26th Dec. 2007 in Lagos, Nigeria, though we presently both live in the UK. We’re going for a fun atmosphere at our wedding, with a party (note: not so much reception) where our guests who cut across several generations can enjoy themselves.
 
Colours are chocolate brown and blue (my own version of the tiffany blue fad) with platinum as the accent colour. I’m going for a classic, vintage-yet-fresh feel. I’ll be wearing a bird cage veil, upper right, while my six BMs will wear an Alfred Angelo bubble hem dress.  The groomsmen will be wearing TM Lwein shirts since I wasn’t comfortable making them wear blue/blue! H2b is going for the classic white shirt with white silk tie. The pave ring, I have my heart set on goes perfectly with my engagement ring (which can be seen on our website).  
 
Our theme, if we have one, is really just celebrating our love with our friends and family on boxing day in all that christmas-y joy of the season way!! I beely love weddingbee.com ~ Damis
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Hi Weddingbee!

I JUST got back from buying my wedding dress, and still high on that excitement, I put together a storyboard for my wedding with some of my inspirations and color choices.  I’m so gald I did — I love seeing it all together!

Cheers,
ktbuffy

I am obsessed with the color purple, which instantly became a starting point for our wedding inspirations. Adding a dark sage green to the mix and we were rockin’! Planning a wedding on a budget means looking for the best possible deals, since our venue comes equipped with surround sound, we thought we could pull off an iPod wedding. The only requirement for my dress was that it had a splash of color, as parents, my fiancé and I didn’t feel right with me wearing all white. We love simplicity for décor and classic looks for the wedding party. The bouquet in the lower left made floral decisions easier, since it was perfect (I just want it to cascade!). I had a lot of fun with this project. It sure helps to bring everything together!
Thanks!

-Manda

Hello there WeddingBee…
 
We built the wedding around the peacock feather…aqua’s and browns which you can see.
 
It goes with the peacock feather for a period feel followed by my dress and the cake. The fans are what my lovely ladies will be carrying keeping with the aqua/brown theme. Our invitations will follow the same theme and I combined callas and roses together. Everything will have a peacock feather in it. The maid/matron of honor will be wearing the latte and the bridesmaids will wear the pool. One of our centerpieces will feature the sunken flower - either a rose or a calla. By my dress is our chapel and below the ballroom. 
 
Kimberly 4/24/08 Houston, TX
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