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The dresses are done and being shipped!!! Here’s how they turned out.
First, my dress (don’t tell Morgan):
I cannot wait to get it back here and try it on!!!!!
Here’s Kira and Chris modeling the finished bridesmaid dress and the finished suit side by side:
Add a little peacock feather fascinator and some strappy sandals (for her, not him) and we’re gonna be good to go.
Phew. What an enormous relief to have that done!
Okay, so the dress I picked out from a picture on the internet did not so much translate into an actually flattering dress when Kira had it made by the Vietnamese tailor and tried it on. I’d show you the picture she sent as proof but she would kill me.
After calling me in a panic at 1 am (it was 10 am where she was) to discuss the situation, she sent me a pic of a dress she thought would fit all my criteria, but be more flattering, more forgiving of the fact that we are all in our 30s and ain’t none of us skinny models anymore, and would just generally work better.
I couldn’t actually look at it when she called (computer at home is not working so well), so I spent a sleepless night tossing and turning in anxiety. Kira couldn’t afford to stick around this little town in Vietnam too much longer, and she was already doing us a HUGE favor by arranging to have the suits made and the dresses made. If I ended up not liking this dress she’d found, we’d probably be back to my looking at department store dresses online, which would be more expensive and not necessarily guarantee a flattering dress.
Morgan had to listen to me wailing, tipsy, at 3 am, about how it was all a disaster and we were never going to find a dress that everyone would like, and…
Well let’s just say its speaks more to his character than to mine that he is still willing to marry me.
So. The picture she sent me turned out to be this dress:
My initial reaction was, “Wow. Simple, summery, elegant, thai silk, wrap dress. Brilliant. Just brilliant. This is like a shorter version of the dress I’ve been drooling over (but can’t afford) for my wedding dress.”
and then, “Now I wish I got to wear a bridesmaid dress so I could get one of my own.”
And then, “Oh CRAP. What if the girls don’t like it?!?!”
I sent it out with an urgent message for people to give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Holly and Briana both like this dress MUCH better. Phew. Holly said “YAY! Halter!” and Briana said, “Yay! Thai silk!”
So, then I got to thinking (and this is where its a good thing that Morgan never reads this blog because I’m about to ask you to keep a secret):
Why can’t I just have them make me a longer version of that dress in white with a peacock blue sash to match the girls’ dresses? It will be much cheaper than the dress I keep mooning over in the window at Lena Medeyoff’s on 23rd. And the dress is SO similar… with a few additional details that I think will make it even easier to wear and more figure flattering.
Still. Its a huge leap of faith. I mean, buy a dress sight unseen that will be made on a continent 18 hours away and shipped to me? Am I NUTS?
But. Then this little voice whispered in my ear, “That’s what getting married is. Its a leap of faith. Go for it.”
So. I decided to do it. But it meant that I had to get measured RIGHT AWAY. Fortunately, I work in a theater. So I popped down a flight of stairs to the costume shop where the Paula and Fuschia were able to slip me into a dressing room, take incredibly detailed measurements on this little chart they have, and get it all done in about 5 minutes.
Emailed it off to Kira and felt a huge weight lift. Considering that I have been looking at and thinking about wedding dresses for a year or more, it feels strange to have it be all decided and done. But good too. Like, I can’t back out now.
So. SHHHH. Don’t tell Morgan that Kira’s getting my dress made. It will be out little secret okay? I have no idea what I’ll tell him.
After in depth conversations with all involved, trying to balance the advantages of custom with the cost effiiciencies of department store stuff, here’s the new plan (and I apologize for any of you reading this who are completely disinterested in the fine detail of fitting 6 very different women into the one workable dress… there will be more fun posts about music and food later, I swear).
Anyway, everyone likes a dress that basicly looks like this:
Wrap top, sash belt, knee length, a-line, with a chiffon overlay and a silky underlayer that peeks through. My sister would prefer an empire waist, which is totally doable and may work better for Holly and Nina too.
And, if we can get our act together fast enough, the really wonderful news is that Kira can potentially get this dress custom made for us in Vietnam for a very very reasonable price (like, under $100).
Which would be totally and completely awesome, since it would accomodate my general preference for something custom and handmade over department store while still keeping the price down to reasonable levels in these crazy economic times.
Yes, I’m outsourcing. But to a very nice little Vietnamese lady (gentleman? Kira didn’t specify) who will be utterly delighted to do the work. And at the price we’ll pay, if it genuinely doesn’t end up being one of those dresses that people can “definitely wear again,” it won’t matter as much.
The caveat: Kira won’t be staying in the town too much longer so we’ll have to really get a move on getting everyone measured if we want this plan to work out.
Keep your fingers and toes crossed that it does. Its 8 am over there now, and I’m sure that Kira is just waking up to an incredibly long, TMI email from me right now (sorry Kira!).
Here’s to hoping it all comes together!
The price is good, its more stylish, its anthropologie so you know it will be good quality, and its drapey which equals flattering. Thoughts?
Thank goodness Holly, my matron of honor, is all crafty and stuff. She’s going to dive into making “fascinators” for the girls of the wedding to wear (and possibly my bridesman, Wil, if he agrees.)
What’s a fascinator? Its smaller than a hat but bigger than a headband. Its kinda ’30s, and if you add a little birdcage veil (which she plans to do) it is both elegant and a wee bit naughty.
Here’s some she found for inspiration. I really like this one for the bridesmaids, though I wish it had a veil.
And I like the veil on this one but the little ribbon rosettes are a little fussy, to my taste:
Mine would be more like this:
or this:
only with a big white peony instead of roses and maybe some of those wispy peacock tail feathers that have the iridescent colors but no eye…
I’m kinda hoping we can get out to the wedding site this weekend and see if they have some peacock feathers lying around that we can pick up for raw material (they did last time).
