Gown Shopping II, Electric Boogaloo

So with my sister in town this week, I have been taking her back to some of the dress shopping locations to see my favorites and help me come to some sort of decision. Revisiting each place has been great -- much better than the first time around. We've uncovered some great nuggets of awesomeness at each stop so far. We revisited Nicole Miller, and were pleasantly surprised to find out that 1. the discountinued gown was not yet sold out, and 2. the gown below comes in a new color! It's called "latte," and it's very similar to this color but a little less pink and a bit closer to ivory.

On our revisting of the White Dress, we had a very interesting experience. The three that I had tried on before, all got thrown out of contention. My sister convinced me to try on a Reva Mivasagar dress "just for fun," because it looked so cool hanging on the rack...little did we expect that it would look so great! Once again, as with the previous dresses I posted about from the White Dress, the picture is not a good representation. The fabric has lots of delicate embroidery and lace detail. It was fabulous.

Going back to all these places is definitely helping me narrow things down. I have a clear frontrunner at this point...should I tell you? JT doesn't want to know what gown I pick -- do you? Or would you all like to be surprised when the big day arrives?

J'adore Bleu Boheme

JT, my sister, and I met with the fantastic Bleu Boheme folks today to start going over details (menus, timelines, decor, etc.). Each time we go back, I love our venue more and more! Here are some photos I shot today. Hopefully you can see why we love it so much.

This is the main dining room.

The brick end of the room will be the "dance floor" area.

And finally, here's my niece enjoying herself while the grown ups talk business.

Venue Ideas: The Linkery

As you know, JT and I have decided on our venue and are quite pleased with it. However, I'd still like to share some of the other places that we considered when we began hunting. Just because they weren't right for us doesn't mean they won't be right for someone else, and obviously there's something special about each place, otherwise we wouldn't have ever considered them.

The Linkery is a fantastic farm-to-table restaurant in North Park. We've been fans since it first opened up in the smaller location back on the corner or 30th & Upas. Now that they've moved into larger digs, it's even better!

For the quality of the food, I find the prices to be totally reasonable. And if you are a beer lover, then you will never want to leave. There beer menu dwarfs their food menu significantly.

With the overall earthiness of both the red and brown decor and the culinary philosophy, we thought this was a great potential venue. However, they don't do full venue buyouts. They can seat 80 in the regular dining section, but in the interest of keeping true to their regular customers, the front seating area would still be open to the public. But if your party is smaller, they have a private dining room in the back that can accommodate up to 40. Too small for what we wanted to do, but since we love their food so much (and their philosophies on dining in general), we will probably be using this for our rehearsal dinner!

The White Dress, and an Identity Crisis

This Sunday I decided that I am done with gown shopping. I have looked at too many gowns at this point. So many that my judgment about which ones I've liked best is becoming very clouded.

JT and I went to the White Dress in Corona Del Mar. This was by far the most traditional dress shopping experience of the bunch. There were lots of gorgeous dresses that you would expect to see at a wedding salon. And lots of very sweet, helpful sales people gushing all over me, telling me how amazing I looked. I chose to visit this salon because they were having a Vineyard Collection trunk show, and I was curious to see this collection because it's relatively affordably priced (keep in mind "relatively"). I tried on a LOT of dresses. But it was narrowed down to three. Of course, since this was one of those "traditional" shops, I couldn't take any pictures. We'll have to rely on the designers pictures, which truthfully do not do these dresses justice. They looked much better in person.

This is "Hayden" from the Vineyard Collection. Honestly, I think it looked better on me than it does here, because of how the light is reflecting on the fabric. But it looked very sexy and glam, and was really flattering to my figure.

The next one is by Anne Barge. I hesitated to try it on, because the silhouette is so "bridal," but the details are so cute. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the bust line has all these intricate pin tucks. Plus the dress has pockets!

Everyone in the store was wowed at how great it looked on me, myself included. I never would have thought that I'd like something like this...but I did. A lot. It was playful and fashionable. I think I was 30 seconds away from buying it. But then they stuck a veil on me, and suddenly I was a bride. This should be a good thing, right? Something just felt off. Here I am, championing the consignment shop, the budget friendly alternatives, the bohemian "non-bridal" dresses...am I really going to end up wearing a white, A-line strapless with a veil? From a bridal boutique?

We tried on one more gown. No one in the store thought I would like it as much as the previous two, but I actually loved it equally. Perhaps because it was closer to what I had imagined myself wearing from day one. This is "Britta" by Melissa Sweet.

Again, the photos do not do it justice because what makes this dress so special is the delicate floral beading on the chiffon, which just doesn't show up in the photo. But, I think this is actually out of my price range.

So, my dear readers, I implore you to leave your feedback. Do I stay true to my original vision of being the offbeat, hippie bride that I am, or do I embrace the brideyness for all it's worth?

Hooray for Dream Bridal LA

Alright, once again, I feel a little guilty for recommending an LA vendor, but we just don't have anyone doing this in San Diego*.

Dream Bridal is a shop specializing in selling sample and gently worn designer gowns for significantly less than you would buy them in a boutique. It's primarily an internet based business, so actually not even technically a "shop;" however, Britta, the remarkable woman behind this business, allows brides to come to her home to view and try on the dresses. I love this, because unless you just can't go on the photos when it comes to wedding gowns. Doesn't matter what it looks like on the model, or mannequin or another bride...you really have to see what it looks like on you.

I tried on 4 dresses, but I'm just going to show you the top 2. You know from this post that I love Jenny Packham. This has been on of my favorites of her designs, so I was pleased to find it here at a reasonable price, and more pleased that it looked good on me.

That's the fabulous Britta behind me holding the dress tight, since it was, of course, a bit too big. I felt very comfortable in this dress -- I feel like it's very "me." Here's Britta's photo of it, so you can see the detail a bit better.

The next one is another Claire Pettibone. When I saw this gown online, I thought it was beautiful, but worried it wouldn't look good on me. I'm glad I was wrong.

What's really amazing about this gown is the detail. It's hard to see in the dark photo that JT took, but there's so many delicate details, and I just LOVE how unique this dress is. You'll never see another bride in a dress like this...how gorgeous is the back?? Here's Britta's photo so that you can see some the detail work more clearly.

I would absolutely recommend checking out Dream Bridal if you're looking for a designer gown at a significant savings....just don't buy either of these two gowns until I've made up my mind!

*There is technically a similar business based in San Diego called Bride Couture, but I haven't found any of the designers that I like on their website, which is why I have not visited them. But check them out -- they might have something you like.

Creative Attire Ideas

One of my potential money saving ideas when it comes to my wedding ensemble is to take a fairly simple gown and dress it up, making the accessories the star. This weekend, I'm planning on checking out the Jenny Yoo "wedding alternatives" collection. An alternative to spending $3,000? I'll take it! Here are a few of the simple but cute designs in the collection, all for less than $1,200:

And how cute would one of these dresses look paired with one of these fantastic shrugs? The jackets below are from Etsy sellers Bonzie (left) and English Dept. (right)

Praise for Single Stone and Rose Cut Diamonds

I'm so excited to finally have my engagement ring in my hands. When JT proposed, he did not have a ring for me. He wanted to make sure that I got exactly what I wanted, so we shopped for one together and ultimately decided to have one custom made.

We began by online shopping. Two sites in particular: Twist, which is based in Portland, and Clay Pot, which is based in Brooklyn. Once again, San Diego kind of let me down on the shopping front. I tried and tried, but couldn't find any unique jewelry stores anywhere in the county. Well, that's not entirely true...I did find some unique ones, just not any that carried anything close to my style. San Diegans must not be fans of modern minimalism.

Clay Pot and Twist both carry gorgeous designs by smaller designers, so you can easily find something that won't look like the same engagement ring that all the women in your office have. But, when it came down to it, we didn't feel comfortable making such a big purchase without seeing the ring in person. So, we headed up towards LA, and that's where we found Single Stone.

Single Stone is a jewelry shop with two stores in San Marino and Los Angeles. They specialize in custom work and antique diamond cuts, like the rose cut. I fell in love with rose cuts looking at the designs by Me & Ro at Twist. Unlike the modern round/brilliant cuts that are pointed on the underside (or have a "pavilion," to use the correct terminology), rose cuts are flat on the bottom and have more of a dome shape. They aren't quite as brilliant and "blingy," but that's what I love about it. And it's so unique...you see so few of them.

So Single Stone had several beautiful rings that were close to what I was looking for, but by the time we ended up in their store, I had figured out exactly what I wanted: a rose cut in a matte bezel setting. So they offered to make it for me. And the custom job would be much more affordable than ready-made rings of similar designs I had seen elsewhere. Win win.

When it was finally ready and we went to pick it up, it was even more beautiful than I expect. Most importantly, it was exactly what I wanted. I could not be happier with it! Yay for Single Stone!