I knew going into dress shopping that I have expensive taste and an eye for fancy details, but I did not have the budget for a designer dress. I went dress shopping long before I was ready to buy a dress at a place called Glamour Closet in San Francisco. The store had amazing designer gown samples that were a fraction of the price of buying them directly through the designer, and I found a few dresses that I thought were gorgeous!
One of Monique Lhullier's full lace ensembles:
"Alice" by Jenny Packham (great for a roaring twenties feel):
But, it was a little too soon (we hadn’t picked a venue yet…), the prices were still above my price range, and I just hadn’t tried enough on yet to be sure.
A few months later, after we had figured out we were going to do a backyard wedding in the country, I went shopping again. This time, we went to the Saks’ wedding department closeout sale. I tried on one that my mother-in-law thought was perfect for me…
(Amsale)
And it was gorgeous! But strapless just wasn’t what I wanted. Either it would be so tight that I would be uncomfortable, or I would be jimmying it up all day and night… Neither sounded appealing to me. Also, it was seven times my budget! My mother-in-law has expensive taste like me!! :)
There was one dress that stuck with me from that day, Kristene by Claire Pettibone, but I wasn’t totally sure it was the one, so I walked away. And the sample seemed a little beat up. The very next day, I went with a close friend to a wedding dress boutique in Windsor (One White Dress, which has since closed) that carried samples of several designers I liked, including Claire Pettibone. I encountered Kristene again, in better shape than the one at Saks, and close to my budget (still over, but the dress was one of the few things I was willing to splurge on).
(I look terrified in this picture, and I actually was! Buying the dress was the most nerve-racking, scary thing I did throughout the whole wedding process! I was a total wreck for almost a week afterwards!)
The dress had an air of country and old fashioned that I loved, and the dangleys added a lighthearted swing that I could just see dancing on the dance floor!
Can you see the movement in the photo below?? :)
A detail shot by New Vintage Photography that I simply LOVE:
My dress turned out to be the perfect one for me, and it inspired a whole bunch of details at the wedding!
The cake (made and decorated by my talented aunt)…
The table decor (doilies in particular)…
(this was just a sample table we assembled before the big day)
And the table numbers...
I haven’t decided what to do with the dress now, though I have been toying with shortening it to knee length and saving the train. But, I am not sure a bridal cocktail dress will be that much more useful than a complete bridal gown… Suggestions anyone?
[the wedding pictures above are by Jen Howell with New Vintage Photography, the others are my own snapshots]
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