Wedding Gown Shopping... Day 2

So off we go to David's Bridal for our second go at finding 'the' dress. As our own official wedding planners we have come across many a horror story when it comes to David's Bridal (DB). So of course we tried to g with an open mind and not let those stories cloud our judgement.

Well in all honesty our visit was not that bad. Yes, we would have liked the one to one attention that we got at RK Bridal but they try, and just can't since it's more of a 'factory shopping' kind of place. Don't let the nice decor fool ya. At any rate the assistant we had started out attentive until they have her other clients to work with as the same time as us. We ended up helping each other try on dresses (good thing we had back to back appointments), while our assistant pretty much just went and brought to us things she thought my work.

At the end of the experience both and Sha and I had the feeling we had found our dresses. Notice that I didn't say 'THE' dress.

Here are the dresses we tried:::

Sha's Dress Up

Dai's Dress Up

Wedding Gown Shopping... Day 1

So yesterday after work the future wife and I were trying to decide how to spend such a lovely evening together. Somehow we ended up in RK Bridal and that's where the story begins.....

As we walked into RK Bridal I thought my knees would begin to shake and my stomach would do a flop (see previous blog) but I was actually calm, cool & collected. We stopped by the bridal shop which is not far from Sha's job just to see what the place looked like and to make an appointment. Lo and behold no appointment was needed and we ended up trying on dresses for the very first time.

Their policy is such that for a first visit you can sign in and the next available assistant will call you. Meanwhile they ask you to find 5 dresses you would like to try on while you're waiting your turn. So Sha and I did just that and not even 10 minutes later I was called. Not only did I try on 5 gowns but the assistant also picks out dresses that seem to match your taste, budget, etc.. plus you can try on as many as you want for an hour & a half. I had three top choice but the one pictured (right) stood out from the rest in terms of how well I wore it.

The best thing about the visit was there was no pressure to buy, and in fact Olga the assistant I worked with said that I should try on dresses elsewhere to see what was out there and if I really felt the dress I liked was 'the' dress I would be back. So they give you a paper with the names, dress #s & prices of the ones you want to remember. Of course you can also buy on the spot if you like. You can also come back and re-try the dress or other ones, but any visits after the first they do advise that you make an appointment so that you can work with your same assistant.

This was a great experience, I was very surprised (as specially as a bigger gal), but at the same time I was not nervous at all. Probably because it just all happened and was not planned. Only one bad thing.... only photographs of the dress you are purchasing is allowed. So that's why I've attached the dress photo from the website of the company who makes it.

This was my second dress choice. I liked the way it 'gave' me boobs! lol

Sha's Favorites

First Choice....

Second Choice....

Third Choice.....

Flip Flop

In the pit of my stomach...

Well this afternoon I called DB and made an appointment for this upcoming Sunday. On that day at 12:00pm I will be going for my very 1st dress 'look see'. Then at 1:30pm it will be Sha's turn. What happened today though kind of shocked me. As I made the call the pit of my stomach did a flip flop, and then I began to get that inner shake of fear. Until that very moment I have been nothing but excited. I didn't expect to feel nervous at all.

Music Music Music

So today I decided to work on creating my part of the play list for our reception. You see we can submit 100 songs to our Dj and so I'm choosing 50 & Sha is choosing the other 50. Not too complicated right?!?!?

Then how come I am having such a HARD time doing such a menial task! I think it's more so because I am just a music person and I love so many many songs. At the same time I am thinking what would my guest want to hear? what would make THEM get up on the dance floor? and what songs would make a great balance between what we like and the over all mood that we are going for?

At any rate, with the help of my son who's 20 & hip, I have chosen 50 songs. Fortunately, we are also going to have the input of our guest as we have added a 'song request' feature to our wedding website. Now let's just hope they drop by the site and take a moment to send their request. I want to have a blast but more importantly I want them to have a great time.

A Break With Tradition -- 'I Chose Not to Have My Dad Give Me Away'

Just call me a 'modern' bride...... because I just read this and loved it!
The thought of sharing that special moment with the person with whom I am feeling the closest to at that very moment works for me.

A Break With Tradition -- 'I Chose Not to Have My Dad Give Me Away'

....and our colors are....

So after about almost 9 months we have finally settled on our colors. Although we had many color combos in mind we were never set on any particular colors because we had no venue. It was very important for us to know what our 'space' was going to look like before setting colors in stone. In a way, I'm glad we both felt that way. For you see although neither of us would have ever thought we'd be using ORANGE in our wedding, we are. How that came about was basically by default. Our newly renovated venue has orang-ish/coral-ish/gold-ish chairs, so in order to not have an added expensive of chair covers we decided to incorporate the orange in our wedding color scheme. So basically:

sage (Sha's favorite color is green) + lilac (my favorite color is purple) + orange (venue chair color) = Dana & Sharine's Wedding Colors!

Flowers, Take II.

Yesterday we finally met with our second prospective florist (Melissa of 'Stylish Blooms', the first didn't pan out due to higher cost plus just looking at pictures of flowers just doesn't cut it. I'm not sure if that's the way it works but I wouldn't just have magazines & flower charts to show prospective clients. At any rate, the second florist we met was the total opposite. Not only did she have books to show, including her own, but she also came to us with the flowers we said we were thinking of having (gerbera daisies). She had created a bouquet for us to see, as well as two types of boutonnieres. She also had lose daisies to show us a different design we could have for our daughter's bouquet. Lastly, she had a bag filled with vases, ribbons, pendants, jewels, beads, color swatches and more. She also shared with us pictures she had taken of the bouquet with two colored ribbons.

By the time she was done we had the opportunity to see bouquets, boutonnieres, and a centerpiece. What was also great was that she came to meet us at our venue so that she could see the space we were using. In doing so we were able to see how the centerpieces would look in the space and she was also able to meet our catering manager who asked for her business cards.

I may not be much of a flower person, but I can tell when a business is going to continue to 'bloom'.