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I like to think that our wedding will be “retro inspired.” I don’t mean vintage, the most often overused/misused adjective in the wedding lexicon. I mean retro. When I think of “vintage,” I think of faded photographs, artfully aged furniture, and whimsical wild flowers in milk glass. When I think of “retro,” I think of beehive hairdos, polka dot shoes, red lipstick, and poufy skirts. I’m not sure what era I actually like. Believe me when I say history was my worst subject ever—I’d literally rather retake calculus, physics, philosophy, and even P.E. than ever take another history class. So I’m not sure if I like the ’50s or the ’60s, or some combination of the two. I’m not talking poodle skirts or flower power. Maybe mid-century is a good descriptor. Mad Men, Dior’s New Look, and rockabilly/pin-up styles all intrigue me. Again, I’m not sure if those all took place at the same general time or not. I’m more concerned with applying them to our very 2012 wedding. Instead of jabbering on, for once I’ll just show you a bunch of fun pictures.
Image via Divine Jewel on Etsy
Pearls that would make Betty Draper drool
I’ve been sharing quite a bit about shopping for my bridesmaids recently, and it’s probably time for me to revisit my wedding-gown search, which had started online. My first dress-shopping excursion wasn’t really my idea. A fashion-blogger friend of mine was writing an article for a regional magazine’s annual wedding issue, and she wanted to have a few pictures of a bride shopping at a local boutique to go with it. So, I made an appointment at the small bridal shop in town and invited a couple other friends along.
This was just going to be a fun shopping trip with some friends. I knew we weren’t going to find my dress at the shop. A lot of what they had was embellished and sequined with layers and flounces.
Closeup of Maggie Sottero Saige / Photo by Dana Holler of CvilleFashion.com
Now, I love bridal fashion. During Bridal Market, which is the wedding industry’s version of Fashion Week, I hang on the blogs of the people I know are attending. I have a hard time pulling myself away from Twitter, where I can see pictures from the shows. I can look at almost any dress and find something positive about it. So, I can objectively say that the dresses I tried on were lovely. They just weren’t the kinds of dresses that I want to wear myself.
I left you guys hanging in absolutely agonizing suspense after my last dress post. My apologies. Feel free to move off the edge of your seats because the trick I had up my sleeve is about to be revealed! (How did you get so lucky?) But first…
No, I’m serious, Mr. Unicycle. Get. the. hell. out. I’m about the reveal The Dress.
I’m saving you all reader space here by consolidating the dress searches that didn’t result in purchase into a single post. You’re welcome.
I had NO idea what kind of wedding dress I wanted. None. OK—that’s a lie. I knew I wanted it to be white. But in terms of silhouette…no clue.
Since my mom was in town a couple weeks after our engagement (and we had the venue and band locked in), we decided to go try on some dresses. I thought it was absolutely crazy to try on dresses that soon, but we made a strict “no purchase” rule.
Part I
We decided to visit Bridals by Danielle in the Washington Square section of Philadelphia on a Saturday afternoon. The store.was.hopping. Although there was only one bride trying on gowns in the main area, it’s not that big of a space, so with her seven onlookers, it felt a little crowded. However, they were not lacking for dresses. Apologies in advance—no photos were allowed.
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It was a random Thursday afternoon. Mr. Dalmatian had come home for a few hours between his classes. I was supposed to be studying for my nursing boards. Mr. Dalmatian was supposed to be writing a paper that was due the next day. Instead, we were watching Hulu, snacking on cookie dough, and cuddling with Echo. Oops!
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| Can you blame me for being distracted by this cuteness? |
When my phone rang and I saw it was from an unknown number, I let out a little groan. Have I mentioned I hate talking to strangers on the phone? Ordinarily, I would have pretended to miss the call and hoped they left a voicemail, but not this time. You see, 1) I was in the process of applying to jobs and figured it could be a potential employer and 2) whenever Mr. D is there he makes me answer the phone to try to help me get over my phone-phobia. He’s always making me a better person, though sometimes I drag my feet kicking and screaming. Oops!
I am awfully glad he made me answer this phone call though.
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As a child, I dressed up a lot. Probably too much. I don’t remember owning jeans until fifth grade, and that first pair had flowers painted on them. I sometimes wish I had more play clothes, but I’m thankful that I had pretty dresses as a little girl. I even had a gig as a “Polly Flinders girl” at Bamburgers (now Macy’s) when I was in kindergarten.
The start (and end) of Miss Mink’s modeling career / Photo by Mama Mink
I am really looking forward to seeing children all dressed up in our wedding. I know many people say children in weddings are distracting and there was a time when I agreed, but having nieces and nephews changed my perspective. I am all smiles when I see kids totter down the aisle at a wedding. I’m thankful that, between us, we have a gaggle of children in our families. We invited them all to be in our bridal party.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
And it just barely fits. Why was I even trying on my dress six months before the wedding (besides the obvious answer—because I finally could!)? Well it all started while dress shopping. I don’t know how this happened, but my body is pretty much the perfect size for almost all sample wedding gowns. It was an amazing (and quite unusual) feeling to put dress after dress on and have them fit as if I had already had them altered. When I found my dress, the sample also fit pretty much perfectly. I was pumped and ready to order.
The consultant came in to measure me and informed me that I should order a 12. Ummmmm no. The sample 10 fit me, and I was not going to order a size up just to spend a bajillion dollars altering it down to a 10. So against the advice of the consultant, and with a signature on my contract accepting responsibility if the dress didn’t fit I ordered the 10.
But that was eight months ago, and despite the fact that I promised myself I’d restart Weight Watchers and hire a personal trainer the second I got engaged, I have been pretty much HORRIBLE with regards to healthy eating and exercising, and have probably gained a couple pounds since I ordered the dress. Oh, and I forgot that samples are typically stretched out from being tried on a trillion times a day. So I figured I better go try it on now, hope it fits, and if it doesn’t let this be the point at which I focus on being healthy and losing weight.
Hi Hive! Sorry I haven’t been around as much lately. With less than a month to go, things are getting pretty crazy. I have a lot to share with you, especially since I was able to cram a dress fitting, makeup trial and my bachelorette party all in this past Saturday. Today, I wanted to update you on my weight loss journey and show you the results of my first dress fitting!
I shared my weight history with you here and how I came to start the Ideal Protein program. It has now been a little over 9 weeks and I am proud to say I have lost 31 pounds and 18.75 inches! I still can’t believe how well the program has worked for me and how much success I’ve had. I had hoped going into this that I could maybe lose 30 pounds before the wedding. Looks like I could have set a higher goal for myself!
With this weight loss came the all important question—how will my dress fit now? If you recall, I ordered a size down in my dress not knowing there was a 3 inch difference in the dress maker’s sizing. When my dress first came in—it didn’t fit—not by a long shot. My first appointment was on Saturday and I am not sure it could have gone any better!!
DRESS PICTURES AHEAD!! NO LOOKING IF YOU ARE MR. BALL CAP OR MY DAD!!
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Let me just preface this post by saying that I love my dress and every lovely detail of it. But let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Okay fine, not so much nitty gritty as silky smooth, but that just doesn’t have the same ring.
Ever since I started looking at wedding dresses (we are talking long before my engagement here, bees), there was one little detail with which I was completely enamored: buttons. I loved the look of a little row of buttons all lined up down the back of a dress. It just seems so much more special than a zipper, even if there is a zipper hiding underneath. I was completely drawn to these little suckers, and couldn’t get enough. Buttons all the way to the ground? Love. I do not care that the skirt of a dress does not need to be buttoned. Like most obsessions of mine, my fascination with buttons had nothing to do with practicality. Rather, it has to do with the romantic feel they embody. I can’t quite explain it, but something about pictures like these just make my heart melt:
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| Image via DressesDenimAndDiaperBags / Dress by BHLDN |
Not too long ago I was in an utter panic over the fabric for my wedding dress. If you don’t recall, I am having my dress made and had carefully selected a fabric only to find it was out of stock! Not only this, but the liner fabric I had chosen was also out of stock.
Well, I know you have all been holding your breath, wondering if I would be forced to walk down the aisle naked (because finding an alternate fabric would never work…). 
I can happily tell you, that I will indeed be fully clothed, and not only that, I will be in my first choice fabric UK-591. It’s Dupioni silk and according to fabric.com:
“Dupioni silk fabric has a lustrous sheen and characteristic small slubs that run horizontally across the fabric. It falls in soft folds when draped and is the most versatile fabric we carry. Not only do many brides choose dupioni silk fabric for themselves and their bridesmaids, it is also perfect for blouses, jackets, skirts, handbags and dresses. Be creative with beautiful home decor accents (draperies, swags, pillows and duvet covers.”
Would you like to see it?
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Did you ever buy wedding magazines before you were engaged? Once in a while, I bought them on business trips, devoured them, and then got rid of them before coming home. I don’t know why I felt like I wasn’t allowed to look at them if I didn’t have a ring on my left hand. The one time I brought a particularly wonderful issue of Martha Stewart Weddings home from a trip, I stashed it in a hiding place. I forgot about said hiding place until Mr. Mink was helping me flip my mattress. Oops. He had a good laugh about my illicit magazine.
Aside from looking at magazines, my favorite source for wedding gown inspiration when I started my dress search was an unconventional one: New York Magazine.
Screen shot of Amsale’s Spring 2010 runway show / Image from nymag.com
You see, while plenty of wedding websites have gown search engines, few group gowns by collection while also having large images of dresses from multiple angles.
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Once upon a time I thought I had a pretty good handle on the whole wedding dress situation. I was not shopping for a dress, I had a pattern, a seamstress, some fantastic fabric swatches and even a fitting under my belt. Smooth sailing and blue skies ahead. No worries in the world.
In fact, one could say that I was feeling a bit smug over the whole thing. I had cut all the stress out of wedding dress shopping. It was nothing but perfect, custom made fun for this Aardvark! The only major thing left to do was order the fabric I had so carefully selected months ago and wait for January to roll around for my first real dress fitting (as opposed to muslin). Easy peasy lemon squeezy right?
Wrong.
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