My first time dress shopping... nuts & bolts

This afternoon I spent a little over an hour with my mom and Robert Bullock of Birnbaum & Bullock trying on wedding dresses.  It was my first time, and it was nice because it was calm, there was no pressure to buy and we were the only ones there.  It was a little awkward because we were with the designer, were in the low end of their price range, and we were the only ones there.  Overall we found three dresses that we really liked.  I was actually very surprised with what we ended up liking because other than my dream dress (the "Leigh" - which i didn't actually think would look nice on me) the other two were dresses that I didn't like very much in pictures.  Bellow are pictures of the three dresses from their website (apparently expensive places don't let you take pictures in the dresses until you've committed to buying... so annoying!).  

The first dress looks very different in person, a little less structured and the ruching is surprisingly lovely; its my mom's favorite.  I still love the middle dress (my dream dress) but I think it might be too much for the casual elegance we are going for at the wedding.  My mom and Robert think it would be fine, supposedly he has had brides wear it at beach weddings - I kind of doubt Robert's opinion because its about 2x more than the other dresses I like, and is part of their "couture" collection.  Additionally, he says he can make it without the beading, which might make it a little less formal.  The third dress is very simple but sophisticated with subtle detailing - pockets and tuxedo stripes.  The pockets I think are silly, but they don't alter the line of the dress.  The tuxedo stripes sound stupid (to me) but actually look great.  I felt like all the trains were too long (chapel length), but apparently all of the dresses can be made with shorter "sweep" trains.

When I get my emotions sorted out, I'll do a post on how I felt during this experience.  I'm not sure I had a normal emotional response.

Small breakthroughs...

I'm really excited because for the first time Beau has seriously offered to help with the wedding planning.  Don't misunderstand, he is really excited about getting married, if it were up to him we would have already been married at city hall (seriously).  So naturally, he thinks that with 1.5 years left till the wedding its too soon to start planning.  I'm not really sure what changed his mind but two days ago he offered to research venues while I'm away this weekend.  Its not a huge thing, but its a step and it made me really happy.  

On my part, I actually did call to make appointments at Pronovias and Birnbaum & Bullock.  Pronovias was completely booked on Sat and is closed on Sundays (damn them), B&B were also completely booked for Saturday but I now have an appointment on Sunday.  Yeah, go me!  AND!  They started two new lines this year and they are extremely reasonably priced ($600-1800), unlike their regular line which starts at $2500!  Unfortunately, I only like 3 of the dresses in the new lines and I like a lot of dresses in their expensive line... 

I'm encouraged with our small progress.  Maybe I can make it a week of big progress and also get my parents to tell me how much they are willing to contribute towards the wedding so that I can make a budget...

Thoughts on dresses

At the end I didn't drive down to Jersey this weekend, so I didn't go to the Birnbaum & Bullock sample sale... I'm not sure thats a good thing or not.  I'm sure there will be days I regret it, but for now I'm OK with it.  I was just exhausted and the thought of driving 6 hours each way for 2 nights was just not appealing.  I did find roundtrip tickets home for next weekend for only $98!  Totally snatched those up (I have a German cousin visiting that I'm also need to see)!  I'm considering making appointments with Pronovias and Birnbaum & Bullock for next Sunday, but I'll probably just wuss-out again.  Eventually, I will have to go and try on dresses, but I guess for now I'm still avoiding real wedding planning.  

I did find a couple well priced dresses that I liked at JCrew... I'm kind of anti JCrew for wedding stuff but I can't deny that I really like three of their dresses and they are all under $1000!  The one I like the best is only $325 - thats like buying at David's Bridal without the polyester and the never ending onslaught of catalogues!  Its a little annoying that you can't try them on in a store, but at least they are returnable.  I'm considering ordering all three and having a fashion show in my house for friends and family.

Does anyone out there have any experience with JCrew wedding dresses?  Does anyone have any words of inspiration/motivation?

*Images from JCrew

New Years Update

Hello world happy new year!

A quick update since I've been ignoring my little blog recently.  

First, I got my ring a few days before Christmas, the story is totally not romantic and involves tracking down a delayed priority mail delivery, a fed-ex box and PJs.  The ring is exactly what I wanted, but not at all how I thought it would look (does that makes sense?).  That said, I love it and wouldn't want anything else.  However, there are times when it seems really grown up and elegant and too nice for me.

Second, one of the reasons I've been ignoring my little blog is because I've been feeling very apathetic towards planning my wedding.  Its more than a year away, and I feel no immediate rush.  This might all be changing soon...  If the weather permits I'll be making my way to NYC this weekend for a sample sale at Birnbaum & Bullock, and I may also make appointments at Pronovias and Kleinfeld's.  I'm also trying to figure out where to try on Nicole Miller wedding dresses - she advertises a number of dresses on her website for under $1000, and I actually like them!  Finally, if i get sometime this week I might also go try on dresses here, just to see what looks good on me and what I like.  I'm horribly indecisive, and I want some basis from which to make a decision if I see something I like at Birnbaum & Bullock.

Thats all for now.  I promise that eventually I will post about the one venue we've seen, and that if I go to NYC this weekend I will blog about it.