The chicken or the egg?

My wedding dress hunt has come down to two options. I do like one better, but only barely. The issue is whether to choose that dress, or choose the second dress because it fits in more with the time of year and style of the wedding (do not be alarmed--it is only a very close second place; I feel like a princess just as much in Dress #2, notwithstanding my long-held belief that "Princess comes from the inside").

Naturally, I conferred with my friends and bridesmaids, who, on the whole, seemed astounded that I would consider choosing Dress #2. To them, The Dress comes before the wedding, and the whole wedding should be designed to accommodate The Dress.

I loved Dress #1, but it really called for a Victorian-style wedding with its soft style and ornate beading. I can't see that kind of wedding being representative of "Me and Derek." Dress #2 fits in much more with what I had in mind, its clean lines and simplicity aligning with my idea of a summery, fresh affair.

What do you think? Which comes first: The Dress, or your Wedding Style? Or is it personal preference?

More Bridal Shop Reviews

1. Bella Bridal. Date: March 13, 2010. Shopping for: wedding gowns. Location: West Bloomfield, MI.
Wonderful store. The staff was so nice and patient, particularly Sonia and Ellen. I wanted to buy my dress there just because I liked them so much.
But I was disappointed with the trunk show. There wasn't anything to it: they just had an extra rack of dresses, ostensibly from Mon Cheri's latest line. But they didn't even have all of the gowns in the Spring 2010 collection--the one Mon Cheri uses in a lot of advertisements that I've seen, Keegan, wasn't even there. In any event, I didn't find the dress of my dreams (although I think my grandma did).

2. The Wedding Shoppe. Date: March 13, 2010. Shopping for: wedding gowns. Location: Berkley, MI.
This is a nice store. It's a little crowded, and the seamstress had to fill in for my designated consultant for a while because it was so busy, but I did get attention. I found at least four gorgeous dresses. I can't show you, because, according to the consultant, The Wedding Shoppe only uses private collections, so none of them are advertised publicly "because the designers want to spend their money focusing on quality." I know, it sounds like baloney. I did ask the consultant for the designers' names, and the designers do have websites, but the particular dresses aren't on there. Hopefully they're not scamming customers by tricking them into believing their buying a designer dress when they aren't. Next time I will ask for the specific name of the style. It's possible that the designers really do have "private collections" or, as my friend Andrea pointed out to me, those particular styles are just old.
In any event, I loved their selection, and their dresses make up my top two. And readers, I give you fair warning...I may have been wrong about the whole strapless dress thing...but I suppose it's good to admit when you were wrong, right? But let's just say I may end up with the plainest, most-bridal bridal gown of all time...and I might love it. More on that when a purchase is made, I'm going to wait for Bridal Fashion Week this April to see if anything better catches my eye.

Several Bridal Shop Reviews

I forgot that part of why we started this blog was to review the wedding planning experience! So here are a few shops I've been to recently:

1. Demetrios. Date: early January 2010. Shopping for: wedding gowns. Location: Troy, MI (although they have several other stores around the country)
Demetrios was not too bad. The staff was very attentive, and great at suggesting gowns that I didn't think I'd like, but turned out to be great. I would go again if they had had THE dress, but for the most part my mom and I found Demetrios dresses to be too gaudy, particularly for a summer wedding.

2. Alan Ray Bridal. Date: January 30, 2010. Shopping for: wedding gowns. Location: Columbus, OH.
Very good store, the saleslady was very patient with me, and very attentive. She also let me and Theresa roam the store to pick out whatever we wanted for me to try on. They didn't have a huge selection, but Theresa and I did like the gowns they had, particularly the Maggie Sottero ones (I don't think it's just me--Maggie Sottero makes great gowns that seem to make every girl happy). They take very good care of their store--you are asked to take your shoes off when you enter the bridal salon.

3. Aria Bridesmaid Try-On Program. Date: March 6, 2010. Shopping for: bridesmaid dresses. Location: Lititz, PA (but it could be anywhere--read on an I'll explain).
This is a great program. Aria only has retail stores in DC, Boston, and LA. Since it is difficult for some to get out there to try on their beautiful, well-made gowns, Aria has a program where they send a potential customer dresses to try on at $15 each. You get to keep the dress for a few days and then you have to mail it back. Andrea ordered a bigger size so all of the bridesmaids would fit in it (so we didn't have to order two dresses for each girl), and we used potato chip bag clips to hold the smaller girls in. Unfortunately, neither style that we tried on was well-loved, but it's good to know that this program is out there.

4. Enchanted Evening. Date: March 6, 2010. Shopping for: bridesmaid dresses. Location: Lebanon, PA.
Great store! They are very careful with their merchandise; for example, I was not allowed to hold the gown until I had to put it on--the saleslady held it outside the dressing room and then passed it to me through the curtain once I was undressed. This makes sense--as the saleslady explained, when many people try on a dress, it can get snagged or ripped.
Additionally, Enchanted Evening offered a 20% discount if 5 or more bridesmaids ordered from them! On a $200 dress, that's a lot! (For those of you who are interested, Andrea ended up choosing this dress from Avalon Bridal for her bridesmaids, which we really do all love. It will be in dark red, with the sash being the same color).

5. Alfred Angelo. Date: March 6, 2010. Shopping for: wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses. Location: Lancaster, PA (although Alfred Angelo has several stores around the country).
I wish I had more good things to say about this store. My appointment started almost a half hour late (admittedly, it was a Saturday, and I understand they were busy) and the sales lady was particularly pushy. She kept pushing me to name one dress "THE dress", when, to be honest, none of them were even close. The wedding gowns felt cheaply made; none of them felt right.
The bridesmaid dresses were not too bad, though. No sales lady was needed for my girls to try them on, so I think they had fun, and we found some good dresses. Although--another demerit for our saleslady--we asked her what fabric one dress was made of, and she said chiffon. We didn't believe her, so we looked it up in the catalog, and it was crepe (good job Kristy, sticking to your guns!).
So overall, the Alfred Angelo store did not leave a great impression on me. I liked their bridesmaid dresses,* but their wedding gowns and salespeople were below par.

That's all for now, but there's more to come! I'm headed to the Mon Cheri Trunk Show at Bella Bridal this weekend in West Bloomfield, MI and then I have an appointment at The Wedding Shoppe in Berkley, MI. I'm having so much fun planning this wedding (and helping in all my friends' weddings), and I hope you all enjoy reading the blog and following along.


*I may still end up with Alfred Angelo dresses for my bridesmaids--my sister likes their designs, but she is in Argentina on study abroad right now, and I don't want to make any decisions until she can try something on.

Wedding Dress Exhibit

For any readers near Detroit, the Somerset Mall is currently showcasing more than 20 dresses from movies set in several time periods; it's a really fascinating exhibit. For example, I learned that these are pagoda sleeves:

The exhibit has all the wedding dresses from the movies made from Jane Austen's novels, my favorite dress being Emma's: