{insert high pitched girly squeal}

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!

The Dress. For Real this time.

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.

Gilding the Lilies

update: Oh DARN IT ALL. She just checked her calendar and she’s out of town that weekend. WAHHHHHH. But just cause she can’t do my wedding doesn’t mean she can’t do yours! Read on.

I just had a fantastic meeting with my friend Katy Sanford that started out as her doing me a favor about some work stuff and turned into a wonderful way we are going to help each other out, wedding wise.

Who’s Katy? Well, she used to be a member of this really fun local girl band called the Jolenes. That’s her below (the hot redhead):

Katy’s other job (besides being groovalicious) was to book events in this space called Beast House. Holly introduced me to her when Katy needed someone to organize a poetry open mic. Over the course of our time together we did that open mic, a playwright slam and a fingerpainting party. It was all creative, community based stuff (and hugely creatively fulfilling to organize).

I have a finger painting from one of those events hanging on my board above my desk.

Katy has just about the best sense of style ever- a combo of rocker edge and sultry Bridget Bardot glamour. She got married last year and did this very seventies “Love Boat” themed rocker wedding…very crafty (they made a bunch of paper poppies to decorate the boat they got married on), very stylish, very much something to aspire to.

We caught up with each other recently because I need somebody with good bar connections to help me get posters for Storm Large’s show into clubs around town. I found out that she’s not doing the band anymore, the Beast House space is no more and she’s feeling pretty uninspired creatively at the moment.

So we were talking, and it turns out that recently she’s been trying to get more work in her other area of expertise, namely makeup for photo shoots, weddings etc. Her work ranges from super arty/glam to rocker to super subtle, and she has a kit stocked with every product known to man. So I told her, “Hey Katy. You’ve given me so much great work, how about I throw you some work your way?”

So now she’s going to be our “stylist” for the wedding and take care of gilding all our lovely lady lilies…generally making all our brides women look absolutely gorgeous. Maybe like this:

…or, you know, maybe not quite so over the top. But you get the idea.

As we kept talking, Katy mentioned that she’d been thinking of creating a side business in planning “rock n’ roll” weddings for people. Which would be perfect for her. Her job sends her in and out of rock venues all the time, she’s got a lot of event planning experience, knows tons of bands, is really familiar with a lot of non-traditional venues, plus she’s got relationships with a really good cross section of local indie designers – the kind of people you’d love to use but you have no idea where to find them – from Elizabeth Dye at the English Department, to screen printers, djs, accessories makers and etc.

And think about it: wouldn’t you rather work with a wedding planner who looks like this:

than like this?

So, if you know someone who’s engaged right now and looking for some help with rocker/pirate/glam wedding makeup, or wants to put together a whole rock n’ roll wedding (and just doesn’t know where to start), have them drop a line to xoxokaty@hotmail.com. She’s got the hook up.

And I can’t wait to see what gorgeous plan she’ll create for the girls to look their best.

This One’s for the Girls

Some Bridesmaid dress ideas. What do you girls think? What will be flattering on you?
Available online here.

update: This one doesn’t actually come in Laguna blue despite the website’s claims to the contrary. Bastards.

Longer, more a maxi dress. But is it too “flashdance?” Link here.

Update: Pay no attention to this one. Decided it’s definitely too flashdance. Plus Holly says it will be too hot for a dress that long.

I think this one’s GORGEOUS but a bit pricier so I don’t know- girls?

This one matches the suit lining, I think, but…stretch satin? Is this flattering? Details here.

Update: Briana likes the stretch satin…But I’m worried about anything that stretchy that you don’t get to try on in the store…

This one’s a different look, but oh my gosh does it look comfortable. And forgiving. Take a closer look at the front knot detailing- its kinda cool.
Details here.

Update: And this one, I just apologize for. Apparently I was having a fat moment. NO need to inflict it on you.