Spending money = eek!

There have been several wedding related updates since my last post - arguably the most important of which is that I finally ordered my dress! Hurray!

I'm so excited - I can't wait until it is ready and I can try it on!

I also ordered a simple bolero to wear with the dress, which I got off eBay for £15. I will try to remember to take a photograph of it at some point.

The second very exciting purchase this week was the bridesmaid dresses. You might remember the post where I revealed the bridesmaid dresses and how I mentioned that I wanted to order them soon in case they became unavailable. Well, guess what? When I checked again, I couldn't find them anywhere! Just my luck. But it all worked out okay, because while looking for the original dresses, I found some other dress that I loved!

This dress is very similar to the first dress I chose - it has the same halter neck, very similar bust and same flowing skirt. The only real difference is that this dress is chiffon instead of satin, but I think chiffon will be more comfortable in August anyway!

This dress is available from an eBay seller called Dresselicious for just over £40 each. I have ordered 4 of them, but 2 of them are pre-order because they didn't have the correct size left in stock, so they will take 6 to 8 weeks to make.

Just last night, I decided to buy the test tubes that we will be serving our Damson Vodka Favours in. I got 100 of the 20ml tubes, with caps for £15.99. Absolute bargain! And this past weekend, we got the hair extensions that I'll be wearing on the day.

It is really nice to actually be able to buy things for the wedding, as opposed to just looking, and bookmarking websites! I am really enjoying be able to choose things and not have people say "well, come back when it's a bit closer to the wedding".
However, it also feels a bit weird - to be actually spending the money in "the wedding fund" is a very strange feeling indeed!

One thing that is making me feel better however, is the quote from our venue. The final figure was less than I was expecting (not dramatically less, but pleasingly less!) and I feel like I can relax now, knowing exactly what money will be going where.

Anyway, we will have a busy wedding related weekend coming up - we're going to finalise the guy's suit choices on Saturday, then off to a wedding fayre at our venue on Sunday. I can't wait!

Giveaway for brides!

I love pre-wedding photos of dresses artfully hung up - and something that would add an extra special touch to photos like that is one of these personalised hangers!

 

If you want to win a hanger like this, from the Etsy seller, Lila Frances, then you can, just by following the amazing Bridal Gown Blog!

Make sure you stay long enough to check out the fantastic wedding porn on the blog too!

So confused...?

Just a very quick post -

I mentioned before how I found the dress I want on a chinese website for £228.

Well today, I found the same dress on another chinese website for £138. Thats a saving of £90!

Well I was so impressed with myself, until I looked at the contact information for both sites, and they are exactly the same! Same phone number, same office block, same room number even!

Same company, 2 different websites with different prices?

I'm so confused. But also pleased that I didn't order the dress from the more expensive site already!

By the way, incase you forgot, here's my dress!

Now what should I spend the extra £90 on????

The Dress...maybe?

So I was just looking through pictures of wedding dresses, trying to find the perfect one for me, when I came across this picture:

 

I absolutely love this dress! I think it has quite a classic shape, but it's also a bit different. It is nice and simple, but also has some beading and detail to add interest. And aren't vertical stripes supposed to be slimming?

The more I look at it, the more I want it. There are just a couple of problems -

1. It's a zip up, not a lace up; Now this is not a major problem, but I'd always assumed that I would have a lace up dress for extra support/shape etc. I suppose I will just have to re-think underwear though...
2. I can't find anywhere to try it on; I can find the dress on the Bonny USA site, but not on the Bonny UK site. This makes me think that maybe it's not available in the UK, which means I can't try it on. But then it is from the new collection. Maybe if I wait a few weeks, it will be stocked. 

I have found this dress on a website that ships from China, and it costs £228. I know that's not a lot in wedding dress terms, but do I really want to spend that much on a dress that I have never tried on, or even seen in person??

It's a dilemma. But I love the dress so much...if I don't find another one that I love more in the next few weeks, I might just go for it!

To see the dress in all it's beautiful detail, go to The Bonny Website and scroll across the bottom to style 1021. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger and see more detail.

Bargain or Bad Idea?

Recently I have been toying with the idea of buying my wedding dress from an online shop, which makes dresses in China at a fraction of the costs or a traditional bridal shop.

I was horrified to find out how much some of the dresses I liked would cost - I can not justify spending that amount of money on a dress I will only wear once! But that being said, I still want a proper wedding dress! I've seen dresses on the chinese sites for as little as £100 and I know that they won't be the same level of quality as one from the original designer - but I'm not sure I would mind..

Now, we've all heard the horror stories about dresses from abroad, where the fit is way off, the beading is shoddy and the dress is just generally badly made. But for such a low price, I'm tempted to go for it. For every horror story, there is a bride who was very happy with her cheap knockoff dress!

The thing I'm most concerned about is the ethical issues involved. Surely buying a copy of a deisgner dress is the same as buying a pirate DVD or illegally downloading music? Now, I'm not saying I havn't ever done those things - but they are technically illegal. Am i going to have my wedding dress confiscated for breaking copyright laws or something??

Luckily, other people have thought about the same issue and have explained their views much more eloquently than me!

I found this post on OffBeat Bride, where the author talks about why she thinks it's not unethical to buy a dress from an offhsore website. Here's a quote:


"While I personally had no interest in wearing a designer dress, I will say that I have no qualms with off-shore reproduction of name-brand designer wedding dresses through online spots like Kaersen. Many of the commercially-made dresses available at mainstream wedding boutiques are made in China anyway, and I don't think you're doing something inherently awful by taking money out of a big name designer's pocket. Vera Wang is a rich woman who dresses movie stars. The $5k you're not spending one of her wedding dresses isn't going to put her in the poor house. I kind of equate reproducing a designer wedding dress with pirating a Beyonce album.That said, I think it's a totally different game if you're reproducing a dress made by an independent designer!"

You can see the original post by clicking on the title of this post.

I think I'm going to go for it and save a massive chunk of our budget by getting a bargain basement wedding dress from China. I'll let you know when I've found the one I want!

Playing dress up

I'm a bt of an oxymoron when it comes to wedding dress shopping - On one hand, I'm so fussy and know exactly what I don't want, but on the other hand, all the dresses are gorgeous and I couldn't possibly choose between them!. So I'm picky, but I like them all. Basically I'm useless!

When I started looking at dresses, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted:

• not strapless
• white
• very simple design
• A line skirt with bodice top
• no lace, minimal beading
• no pick-ups or ruffles on the skirt

Obviously, when I actually tried on some dresses, most of this went out the window! I decided that strapless was quite nice (and alot easier to find!) and that beading actually looked lovely. I still want an A line skirt without pick-ups, but I'm not quite as strict as I was to begin with!

The first place I tried dresses on at was Boda Bridal, in Chester. They have collection of plus size dresses (I think there were about 15 or so) and it was nice to be able to try on dresses that fit. The staff were lovely and very helpful - and every dress I tried on was gorgeous and I wanted each one! My favourite though, was this one from Big Beautiful Brides Collection - it was simple, but still had some beading to add a bit of interest.

Now I cant remember the name or number of this dress, but it was beautiful. It was similar in look to Maggie Sottero's Martina (below) with the spray of beading coming out from one side of the dress.

I also tried on Alfred Angelo 1136 (at a different shop) which I loved, and for a long time I though that was "the one" that I would end up with.

But the more I looked at it, the more I realised that while it is truly a beautiful dress, it is very sparkly and detailed, which is the opposite of what I wanted.

I also went to Amore Plus Bridal in Rugby, which is a dedicated Plus Size shop and it a was really lovely experience. I loved being able to choose nay dress from the rail and not have to look at the size and worry about if I would even get one leg into it! I tried on loads of dresses that I wouldn't normally choose, just because they fit and I figured that I might as well rule out certain styles.
I was looking at empire line dresses, but can offically say that they do absolutely nothing for my figure!

Now, this is a shame because I really like the simple, flowing look. But never mind.
I also tried on a mermaid style dress and was pleasently surprised! I'd always ignored those dresses because I thought they would be horribly unflattering to a plus size figure, but when I put one on it actually looked nice.

But I still havn't tried on a dress that I absolutely have to have. Everyone keeps talking about how you know when you've found the one, there will be tears and gasps and angels will sing from the heavens (ok, maybe not, but you get the idea). I havn't had angels singing, but then again, I'm sure not everyone has that...

I can't believe that there is only one single dress out there that is perfect for each person! What if you have an angels singing moment with2 dresses? or 3? or 10? What if you don't have that moment at all? I will be ecstatic to find a dress that I look amazing in, and feel the best I ever have! Surely that's not too much to ask.....

So I'm still looking for a white, A line, simple wedding dress. Maybe something a bit different...? And I will keep listening for the angels, just in case.