Hey you with that wedding dress on: Alfred Angelo Style 1807Review

My dress has received plenty of compliments from family, friends, wedding guests, and blog friends. But I have a secret. Add a little lace and rouching, and everyone thinks the dress costs more than it actually does.

Way back when I thought about dresses (actually Jan 2009) I knew that the budget was not big and I didn't want it to be. Dreams of Monique Lhuillier and Vera Wang danced in my head, but the reality was sample sales, David's Bridal, or similar bridal gown super stores. Then I discovered Alfred Angelo. Similar to David's Bridal, it had locations throughout CA and carried dresses ranging in styles, tastes, and price (hooray for budget friendly pieces).

After scouring the site and printing dress styles that I liked (all under $999), my mother and I went on MLK Jr weekend. Lucky for us, prices were discounted for the holiday weekend (hello extra savings). Our bridal consultant was very helpful, and I made it clear that we did not want to and could not go over a dress costing $800. She completely understood and helped us out with dresses. And I came out with a dress costing slightly over $600. Everyone is always shocked when I tell them the actual cost. I think the lace and detailing throws everyone off ;)

Built in structure for the top, flattering cut, pretty neckline, rouching, lace details, almost a-line skirt, layers of fabric. Everything that I was looking for in a dress, also helped that the details can trick the eye, giving me a flattering fit. And the lace helped in giving the dress substance and depth.

I loved my dress when my mom bought it. I still love my dress today. But I never wanted it to rule my wedding. I wanted to be able to walk on grass, sand, and dirt, to let it drag and not care. I wanted to enjoy myself and not notice if beads or sequins had fallen off. I wanted to be okay if something was spilled on it (and something was). I wanted to have fun with it. And I think the low price and a casual outlook let me just have fun with it.

So now it hangs beautifully in my room, but still dirty (anyone have good cleaning/preserving company recs?). And I am happy.

Below are photos of other brides who have worn my same dress style :) Yes, I did study their wedding photos to make sure it was the same ;)

Source

Source

Source

Sarah K Chen Photography

I am really happy that the style looks great on different brides :)



Blog title is from lyrics by No Doubt

Yellow with that purple: Bridesmaids Dresses

Sarah K Chen Photography

We never really had a bridesmaids' dress plan. It was more of a "buy something you like that goes with our wedding colors because we really hope you can wear it again" sort of thing. With choosing a dress in any shade of purple or yellow being the only "requirement", the girls took free range. Cut, material, style, shade, brand were all their choice. I did accompany MOH and one bmaid on their shopping trips, but it was more for support and joy.

Sarah K Chen Photography

MOH/sister chose a deep purple, v-neck dress that hugged her curves nicely. Bmaid N went for a flowly maroonish-purple with nice pleat details. This left bmaid P to choose a yellow dress, since she wanted to make sure our bridal party represented our wedding colors, with a 50s flair.

Sarah K Chen Photography

I really think they stayed true to their personal style and comfort, and chose fun dresses for the evening :)

Grandma, mom, MIL.

My MIL, grandma, and cousins also joined in the wedding color dress fun :)

Cousins :)

How was your bridal party styled? Did you have a certain look, style, color that you were going for?


Blog title is from song by Ludacris

I want an eeny weeny bit: A teaser

As we await the pro photos by our lovely photographer, Sarah K Chen, friends and family have begun posting their own on facebook. Here is one of my favorites.

Love the look of dresses hanging on a window sill. Here my dress hangs next to the maid of honors, followed by 2 bridesmaids dresses, and then 2 of my cousins' dresses. Bridesmaids dress choice, style, color, brand was very liberal. We love their choices and think they complement each other nicely!

I hope to start a regular posting routine next week. There's plenty to share from last of my diys and some mobile uploads from the day of, to the rehearsal dinner and ceremony details :)

Happy weekend everyone!


Blog title is from lyrics by Elvis Presley

I adore being dressed in something frilly: Rehearsal Dress

One of my favorite aspects in wedding planning is buying outfits for various occasions. The wedding is the perfect "excuse" to purchase a nice dress, a new pair of shoes, or a cute clutch for the engagement session, parties, and the rehearsal. So as my wallet has emptied and my closet expanded, here is the latest and probably last wedding clothing "must-have": the rehearsal dinner dress.

We plan to have a casual rehearsal and yummy dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Dress code is dressy, but relaxed. In my search for a perfect dress, there were plenty cocktail style outfits and plenty afternoon style dresses. Then I found the one at Anthropologie :) Simple and colorful with the versatility to dress up or down.

Fits well.

Has a cute bib/ruffle top, fun printed bottom, bright bow, and (most importantly) pockets!

Of course I had to add a purple bow, to replace the orange bow that came with the dress, to tie in our wedding colors :)

How did you decide on your rehearsal dress? Has the wedding allowed you to spend more on clothing?



Blog title is from song by Peggy Lee

Make her dress so pretty: Flower Girl Dress

Our flower girl, the fiance's niece, is such an adorable bundle of cuteness and laughter. She's lovely and bold and has such gorgeous, curly, flowing blonde hair. Having been a flower girl last year, she was more than excited to be our flower girl :)

I was very open about her dress options, giving her mother the choice of style, color, and brand. And with a few inspirational photos, I think we got a very great dress.

Source

A white dress is always nice.

Source

Of course a dress in yellow or purple would be adorable, too.

Source

I love a flower accessory :)

Source

Or a bow for detail.

Source

This is the dress we chose. White with cute flower and pearl details, and a bow in the back. It's a Cinderella Flower dress from JCPenney, perfectly named for a lovely flower girl.


And we think she likes it ;)


The little flowers around the waist are my favorite detail!


And a sweet bow ties off the outfit nicely.

I'm so excited to see her walk down the aisle as our flower girl.

How did you decide on the flower girl's dress?


Blog title is from song in Cinderella

Do the hustle: Wedding Gown Bustle

If I want to dance the hustle and walk around the reception with ease, my wedding gown must have a bustle. My gown has plenty of material layered in the skirt and a train a few feet in length. It also has lots of lace and bead detailing to consider. So when we went on my first dress fitting, the bustle and skirt hem were the main to-dos.

I did not know very much about a bustle besides that it lifts up your train, securing it to your upper skirt with hooks or loops. Bustles keep the train from dragging or being stepped on. Luckily, With This Ring Wedding blog had a very helpful post on the varying types of bustle styles available. Beaucoup also had some information about the difference between an overbustle and underbustle.

Here I am trying to walk around the bridal salon. Definitely need the skirt to be hemmed and realizing that there was so much material/bulk. A bustle will definitely help!

And here I am sad that the skirt must be hemmed a mere 1.5 inches because, even with heels on it was still too long. I always knew the skirt would have to be hemmed, but after we were quoted the price (high due to the lace and bead work at the trim which had to be moved) if I were to purchase a gown again, I probably would have chosen one without any lace or beading.

But I digress. Here is a photo of my train. Lovely to look at, lots of pretty detailing, but it drags ;)

The seamstress suggested an overbustle with three points to secure the train. She pinned it up to give us an idea of how it would look. Because of the slightly diagonal design of the ruching, the bustle will be slightly diagonal as well.

A close up of bustle detail. The gown was definitely more maneuverable once the bustle was up. Now I can do the hustle.

Next fitting is August!

Will your gown have a bustle? How did you decide on which bustle style to have?


Blog title is from lyrics by Van McCoy.

Purple Haze: Maid of Honor Dress

Armed with inspiration for our off the rack maid of honor and bridesmaids dresses, my mother, my sister/MOH, and myself hit the mall! Our goal was to get an idea of what dresses were in stores (as opposed to those available online) and find her the perfect dress. Guidelines to accomplish our goal were a dress with: structure, knee-length, purple color, modest and fun, fancy/dressed up enough to be considered MOH yet something she could wear again, reasonable price, established designer.

First stop was Nordstrom at the Glendale Galleria. Nordstrom.com had so many purple and yellow dresses online, but we were only able to find one contender in store. MOH tried it on and ... wow!! Great fit, great cut, great color, great everything!!! It was the first dress she tried on and we were happy. Both MOH and I were ready to buy, but my mom wanted to go around to a few more places so that we exhausted all purple possibilities.

Other options at the Gdale Galleria didn't stack up. Nothing was fancy enough. Luckily my gown fitting at Alfred Angelo gave her time to browse the racks of bridesmaids dresses. She was in a sea of purple dresses and was able to pull a few.

She tried on two contenders, both way cute and very much possibilities.

Source

First up was a cute dress in chiffon and satin. The bias skirt of varying lengths gave the dress a flirty feel.

This shade of purple really looks good on her tan skin. The dress flowed nicely when she walked. But it was too low cut for her taste.

Source

Next up was another satin and chiffon dress, this time in a different purple, strapless, and cocktail length.

It looked good, too, and even matched her shoe laces!! The trim on the skirt was cute and shape was flattering. But it still wasn't "the one".

Once we weighed our options, we knew the first dress she tried on was the one.

Source

A Calvin Klein stretch satin with front and back v-neck and horizontal seams. It's structure and fit worked so well. It was modest enough, yet fun. It had the shade of purple that we love. It was perfect.

Here she is contemplating the dress, with socks on :)


The color and material are just so divine.

And it was totally flattering for this lovely young lady.

We felt very accomplished with this purchase and the relative ease in the dress search, quite thankful we met our goal.

How did your maid of honor dress search go? Were you bombarded with plenty of choices or were you happy with the first one?

Blog title is from lyrics by Jimi Hendrix

London Calling: Maggy London Dresses

After putting together viable bridesmaid dress options, I wanted to find a few more off-the rack, budget friendly options.

Source

Going for the look similar to the bridal party pictured above (in dresses that complement each other, are within our color scheme, and are versatile for use outside of the wedding), I think that purchasing off the rack would help with turn around time and be kind to our pocketbooks. Just have to keep in mind material, length, style, and designer to provide a sort of underlying uniformity.

Enter Maggy London and her flowing dresses. Gorgeous styles, dressy yet comfortable, priced competitively, and available in our wedding colors.

Here are a few dresses that would work for the wedding:

Source

Yellow is sweet for summer.

Source

Source

Source

Lavender is soft and subtle.

Source

Source

Source

And violet is sexy and stylish.

I plan on helping pay for a portion the dress although I wish I could fund the entire cost. Also plan on suggestions for shoe and accessory styles to finish off their ensembles, hopefully they'll have some options already in their closets ;)

How did you decide on dresses? Were you mindful of their budget? How much of their look did you have a hand in deciding?

Blog title is from lyrics by the Clash

A kaleidoscope of fashion

I plan to give the bridesmaids an opportunity to choose their dress style and color. Since each girl has a cute sense of style, I feel giving them a sort of free range, with light guidelines/dress code, can help orchestrate the individually conclusive look we are going for. It would also allow their beautiful personalities to shine through.

At first I considered the same bridesmaids dresses for a uniform look, with punches of individuality through accessories (shoes, jewelry, clutches) but after viewing wedding parties with such inspirational looks (The Everyday Bride and Style Me Pretty) I was convinced to go towards a free style look. The objective being, if they chose something they loved then they would be able to wear it again :)

Guidelines weren't really prepared, instead I put together a sort of look book of fashion trends for the end of summer/early fall they could reference and work with. These styles include: sweet strapless, over the shoulder, flower detail, ruched, and maxi.

Sweet strapless. Lela Rose. Rebecca Taylor. Jenny Yoo.

Strapless dresses with sweetheart necklines and flirty lengths would be perfect for plenty of nights on the town :)

Over the shoulder. Adrianna Papell. Teri Jon. Nicole Miller.

I'm in love with the over the shoulder look. It's really flirty and shows off a toned upper body. Two of my bridesmaids have tattoos just under their shoulders so these dresses would be a fun way to showcase the tats.

Defined waist with flower detail. Lela Rose. J.Crew. Lela Rose.

For a more classic look, I like the defined waist and flower/rosettes. Both details are very feminine and sweet.

Ruched dresses. Shoshanna. Banana Republic. JS Boutique.

Another dress detail I love is ruching because it can be forgiving. The dresses usually flow nicely and are reminiscent of greek goddesses. In vibrant colors the dresses would stand out nicely.

Maxi dresses. Laundry by Shelli Segal. Jenny Yoo. Adrianna Papell.

Maxi dresses have great flow, too. I'm really happy to find such pretty purple patterns in this dress style.

The colors and styles could be mixed and matched to fit fashion mandates like: fit and fun, soft and flirty, joyfully bold. With these choices I'm sure they'll find the perfect look :)

How did you decide on bridesmaids attire?

Blog title is from lyrics by Gwen Stefani