Beach Wedding Theme (429 Days to Go)

So I took some of that inspiration from yesterday to hit the web again and decided to think more about Jeff and I's tropically themed wedding.  What kind of things I wanted jewelry wise, decor, etc.  *Cracks Knuckles*  Google search, are you ready?

From Memories in the Baking

First off, are these not the most adorable cookies you've ever seen? Yes, look closer and do it a second and third time.  Those are cookies!  Fellow blogger, Marysol, posted these and I wish she were a professional in the Pittsburgh area.  Perhaps I can get my mom to ask her for the recipe.  Oh, wait, that's included just under the photo.  I've seen some other seashell cookies at the bridal shows, but nothing as amazing looking as those.  Usually they're boring sugar cookie cut-outs.  Apparently her secret is the John Wright Muffin Pan but still, they're incredible looking.

Andrea Lauren Elegant Interiors

I just love the glassware in that picture.  Not just the bowl full of seashells and sand, but the wine glasses too.   There's just a simple elegance to all of those clear glass pieces.  The entire thing is just, wow. I really think it's the coordinating linens that pull that together so fantastically.  I had always thought a sand colored table cloth would look kinda bad, but I guess it just takes the right coordinating color (such as the coral there) to make it pop.

Courtesy of the Shiny Orb Blog

I also really like this centerpiece too.  I like the idea of the scraggly beach grass that I remember from my childhood fishing trips to Chesapeake Bay.  Done up with just a few flowers, it can look really pretty.  And the Shiny Orb even provided DIY directions for this particular centerpiece.  They even provide the advice needed to pick the right kinds of flowers.  Hey, that's exactly what I need.  I'm a brown thumb when it comes to gardening and I wouldn't know a hibiscus from a hydrangea even if you slapped me in the face with them.  I particularly like the ceramic tube in the center to jazz up the simple vase.

Courtesy of Wedding Vendors

Anytime I see a reception area lit by nothing more than a couple hundred candles, I get all mushy inside.  The lighting is so intimate and romantic that it just makes me smile.  Granted, the idea of keeping a couple hundred tiny candles lit through the entire night or at least late enough that they're necessary for an outdoor summer wedding is probably pushing my luck, my caterer's patience, and going to end up leaving my guests in the dark when the sun finally does set.  It is really pretty though!  Perhaps it'd work better for an indoor reception or a fall winter reception when the sun sets earlier.

Image from A Beautiful Wedding

Another thing I keep drooling over are water backdrops with the chiffon canopies at the end of the aisle.  I'm going to build one of these if it kills me.  I might actually do well, I'm decent with hammer, nails, and fabric.  Lucky me.  But if you're from San Diego, you can actually rent this one from ceremony planner and officiant, Reverand Renate Daversa.  But if you're more like me, here's where you can find directions to build your own canopy, or as I just learned it's proper name: chuppah.  Oh, it's for Jewish weddings?  Weird.  I thought it was for destination weddings.  I guess I'm feeling a little silly right now.  But it's also a really beautiful tradition.  If it weren't for the having to wear sleeves, I'd be all down for a Jewish wedding based on the canopy alone.

E-mail Inspirations (430 Days to Go)

Happy Hump Day to all!  And in honor of the day I'm trying to get over my wedding planning hump.  It's been about a month since I've actually accomplished much of anything to do with the wedding and in that time, it's been rare for me to really peruse any websites or magazines or anything.  So, today, I'm going out seeking inspiration again to get me amped about being a bride-to-be and excited to get the ball rolling again.

Usually checking my e-mail results in about a half dozen wedding related things, so let's start off with seeing what that rounds up.  First off, discounted cruises to Europe from Holland America.  Not even sure how I managed to get on their list.  But I haven't gotten off because I keep hoping that one will pop up for a more tropic locale when we can afford to get some away time perhaps later this year.  However, that would require paying off Jeff's medical bills and my work situation becoming less hairy.  Speaking of which, last night I got a cold call phone interview from a "life insurance" company that saw my resume on Monster.  Ugh.  The one thing that could possibly be more unstable than my current job would have to be commission based telemarketing.

Alright, next up in the inbox would be "Mixer Night" at the Apostrophe Lounge in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Oops.  Wrong state.  Unsubscribing...now.

Another house listing that we dare not go look at because right now we can't even begin to think about filing the paperwork for preapproval of a loan.

Ah, here's a good one from Otto Productions.  Not only are the of course advertising their DJ and uplighting services, they're also giving some really cute ideas for the reception.  Just what I needed to spark some imagination.  I particularly like their idea of tucking some Penguins tickets into the garter for the hubby to find before the garter toss.  That would totally flip Jeff's lid and because our wedding would be during playoff season, it would be a lot like a date night that I planned while we were dating and took him to a playoff game that I happened to luck into tickets for.  Of course, minus the garter last year.  It was more like a text message asking if he was busy that night with teaching or if he could be free.

Just checking out their website and facebook has certainly been amusing and killed some time at work between "switching the loads" as I like to call certain aspects of my job.  Yes, I analogize my research job to doing the laundry.

And lastly, a response to my request about a photobooth price from Photobooth Pittsburgh.  Jeff and I both love the idea of a photobooth and we keep going back and forth as to whether or not we just want to set up a backdrop of our own, a box of props, and a camera on a tripod or if we want to rent a booth that will provide us with duplicate photostrips for a guestbook/album.  It's probably going to come down to budget in the end but I think we're both leaning towards having it done professionally and still providing our own themed prop box.  I know that it's a relatively new fad, but it's one that I can really get behind.  I've always been into scrapbooking and I think that it's a really great way to get pictures of everyone and to know who they are later when I go to look back over the wedding albums.  Otherwise, I'm not gonna be able to put a name to a face for half of his dad's cousins.

My First Bridal Nightmare (431 Days to Go)

So Sunday's plan more or less completely fell apart.  Oh well.  I think that Jeff and I needed the day to stay home and watch movies more anyway.  My knitting class has now been tentatively rescheduled for Palm Sunday.  Good thing I'm not super religious.

Saturday he had to go back into the shop to work since his dad had to be in the pool with students, so both my FMIL and I kept Jeff company and made sure he didn't over exert himself trying to grab inventory from top shelves.  The last thing we needed was for him to pull his stitches after only a day.

Kohls.com

After we got the shop closed up mid-afternoon, my FMIL and went shopping for the rest of the afternoon until dinner time.  Almost 95% of that time we spent at Kohl's because she a) had a coupon and b) she cannot pass up good sales.  Since I'm still relatively fresh out of school and my current job requires quite the opposite, I don't have much of a professional wardrobe; so together she and I pulled together a nice blazer outfit with a couple of different shirts.  I really liked the blazer (pictured right) because it was so versatile which I thought was incredibly important when just starting to build my wardrobe. Pretty much everything that I bought was Apt 9 brand which was incredibly youthful and vibrant in the color selection.  I never really felt like I was looking at anything that was frumpy or too old for me despite the fact that I'm a little too big to fit into juniors or misses anymore.  I blame the linebacker shoulders I inherited from my father's side of the family.

But it was interesting shopping with my FMIL because I haven't often enjoyed shopping at all. I'm the type of person that prefers to go by myself, try stuff on and get out.  Mostly because my girlfriends have never really had the time that we could get together for shopping trips or even when we do, I feel rushed when looking for myself.  That and shopping with my own mother is difficult because she already has preconceived notions of what I should like and wear.  Typically these don't match up with reality.  I grew up in a town where fashion is about 2-3 years behind and once I moved to Pittsburgh, I was determined to not let that be the case any longer.  I'm not too far out into crazy fashion (like Lady Gaga) but I certainly don't like bells and penguins to decorate my sweaters in the winter.  So hopefully I'll soon have a job interview and a career to go along with the new wardrobe that's underway.

But Saturday night was, well, interesting.  Jeff slept in a recliner in the living room in order to minimize how much he moved around because of his wrist and after a year, I no longer sleep as well in bed alone.  So I was tossing and turning which has pretty much been the case for both of us since he broke his wrist.  Well, that night I had an incredibly vivid dream about our wedding.  Yes, my first wedding nightmare.  I dreamt that when I woke the next morning that it was our wedding day and of course, nothing was done, ordered, ready, delivered or booked.  It was just utter chaos and I went through the day from start to finish in a near panic and missed the ceremony because I was too busy trying to arrange flowers for the reception.  Basically the entire day I was just trying to keep one step ahead of everyone else that I didn't see anyone except for my MOHs and that was to give them the meager six bottles of alcohol I had for the bar which I later found out that the groomsmen drank between the ceremony and reception.

Well, eventually my tossing and turning woke me up and when I fell back asleep I dreamt that I was telling Jeff all about my dream.  We then walked through the whole dream together watching myself flounder about aimlessly and helplessly.  It was an extremely weird out of body experience for a dream inside a dream.  Well, when I finally woke up Sunday morning, Jeff had moved back to the bed at some point and I started to tell him about my weird dream and then paused half afraid that I was about to re-experience the whole damn thing a third time.  I even went so far as to make him pinch me.  It feels like it's way too soon for me start having wedding nightmares.

Veil Making Class (432 Days to Go)

So while at the Cavanaugh's Bride Show in downtown back in February, my co-MOH, Kansas stumbled onto a booth for a place called the Fabric Place in Mt. Lebanon.  They gave us information about a veil making and headpiece making class that they offered.  The card even offered a free gift for dropping by the store.  Well, a month went by and the bag of fliers and information from the show remained sitting in a corner of our living room completely untouched.  I had more or less hit wedding planning overload during the month of February and was also busy trying to figure out what I was doing about my wedding dress.  So when Kansas called me and asked when the class was, I hadn't the foggiest clue.

The veil I tried on
at MB Bride

A week later she texted and reminded me to nudge that bag in the corner of my living room to find the answer.  I took the reminder and peeked inside the bag looking for the violet piece of paper with the ribbon tied to the top and a little bejeweling.  Luckily they had totally decked out their flier or else I might have given up after ten seconds.  I called the store and inquired about the class and got back to Kansas letting her know that I'd gotten us each a slot.  We then started to pick up the conversation she and I had started back at the bridal show: what I envisioned my veil to look like.  

Now when I tried on dresses I had been shown a couple of traditional style veils.  The one that I liked best had a little bit of rhinestones to match the dress around the edge and fell to the elbow in length.  That was option number one in my mind.

Option number two was something I hadn't seen in stores at all and would definitely have to be made, not bought.  It was the veil worn by Elizabeth Swan at the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

My thanks to The Rum's Gone for taking such great screen shots!

I wish that in the film it was pouring down rain so I could envision whether or not the veil was a little fuller at the bottom or if it stayed as then looking as it does in the top picture.  But what I really love is how the veil appears at the neck and the base of the head where it is attached at two separate points in order to create the looped effect.  I have a feeling it will be difficult to imagine how the veil will look with my dress without making it first and trying them together.  A shame, I tell you, a damn crying shame.  Note: sarcasm.  I think I'd have too much fun playing dress up to care about a few hours of wasted time and a few yards of material if it ended up coming to naught. 

Strangely enough Keira Knightley wore this type of veil once before in King Arthur.

Thanks to Long Ago Captures for these screen caps!

This one has not been drenched and appears fuller, but alas, no good shots from the back in order to give me a better idea of how it might look for me and my wedding.  However, I do not like how this one is attached to the crown by wrapping around it.  I figure when I attempt it, I will attach the ends to small combs which will tuck in either behind my ears or into the side of a bun or something.  I just can't picture myself in a tiara especially since I'm not planning to keep the veil on through the reception.

Courtesy of David's Bridal

So, for the class, Kansas and I went in armed with our screen caps of the POTC veil and learned that making a veil is fantastically easier than it would seem.  The only thing that can make it really hard is what you attach to the edge because some of them you would have to hand sew on, for instance bead work or rhinestones.   We also learned how to avoid making a 90s or 80s style veil.

Cue in bubble veil.  Oh gah! I forgot how bad that looked.  Her head looks so tiny compared to the veil!

But for the POTC style (as I shall forever dub it for simplicity sake), it would be as simple as cutting it, doing a small zig zag stitch along the edge to prevent fraying, and hand sewing it onto the combs.  The instructor suggested that we use chiffon in order to best replicate the appearance of the above styles.

Courtesy of Tiara Garden

We also learned how to make headpieces.  Apparently beading onto a comb requires more in the inspiration department than it does in the skills department.  I shall later stress about lack of inspiration since I want to make some fantastic headpieces for my two MOHs in order to establish their awesomeness and slight step up over the rest of the maids.  And making something funky and fantastic like the image to the left is even easier.  Bring on the hot glue gun, some feathers, and a silk flower.

All in all, the class was a ton of fun.  I'd totally recommend checking it out because even if you only have the tiniest ounce of crafty in your bones, you should be able to totally master veil making.  And as the instructor and the other employees will be more than happy to do for you, they'll break down the cost of what you're getting yourself into and how much a similar store bought veil would set you back.  So head out to the bridal salon, snag a photo of that veil you love and then check out the Fabric Place and make it yourself.  With the money you'll save maybe you can afford to splurge a little on the bridal jewelry you've been eyeing up.

So disturbed that I found this on LaLaLingerie and actually like it.

Dinner Plans (433 Days to Go)

So today is a somewhat busy day.  I'm not sure why Jeff planned to have friends over for dinner two days after he had surgery, but that's what's up.

I'm starting off the afternoon teaching a knitting class at JoAnn's for what will be my record largest class thus far: four students.  So far they've all been one-on-one classes so I'm a little psyched to teach a class in which I actually don't make bad money.  After that I'll be making a mad dash to the Market District in order to pick up last second groceries for dinner and then it'll be time to head home and play sous chef to Jeff's head chef.  I'm still wondering what exactly he's got on the menu.

But I'm looking forward to dinner too.  It'll be the first time that I'll get to meet his friend Will and his girlfriend, Emily, and considering that Will is going to be a groomsman, I'm extremely glad that we're meeting now and not a  year from now.  I'm also a little nervous as I am meeting anyone for the first time in Jeff's life.  I always dread the fact that my lack of a filter will cause me to say something horribly offensive.  Take for instance, last Tuesday night while we were at Red Robin, a little kid (maybe three) tripped and fell right next to our table.  Immediately I start to laugh because that is our reaction to our two-year-old niece falling.  We have her completely convinced to laugh at falls instead of starting to wail.  Well, the little kid's slightly older sibling gives me a look that plainly stated, "WTF?" while Jeff rightfully slapped my hand.  Immediately I realized my faux pas and apologized to Jeff loud enough for the kids parents to hear that I had done it based on instinct because of our niece and forgot that not every family utilizes that method.  The parents quirked a small smile so at least they didn't want to kill me but the five-year-old was still giving me the WTF look the entire way out the door.

As you can see, there is no filter between my brain and my mouth.  I wish that was the worst of my social awkwardness but I know there have been far worse incidences.  Usually dropping the f-bomb in the vicinity of my FFIL while discussing my supervisor causes there to be some crickets chirping.  So here's me crossing my fingers that I can avoid any social awkwardness tonight.  Wish me luck!

Broken Wrist and Wonder Woman (434 Days to Go)

So first up and most importantly: Jeff is home and all titanium plated up!

He's in some pain, but that's to be expected after someone drilled some screws into your bones.  He spent the afternoon yesterday sleeping on and off because the anesthesia made him groggy.  But in between naps, the pain in his arm made him incredibly restless.  Thankfully I didn't have to convince him to sit or lie still for very long in order to get him to fall back asleep again.  Luckily he hasn't suffered from any nausea.  I managed to get him to eat some soup for a late lunch without too much trouble.

I got notified yesterday that my first article was published from the Yahoo! Assignment Desk, so I'm a little tickled with that.  Hopefully occasionally writing some articles might make me a few extra bucks that I can apply to either paying for Jeff's medical expenses or towards our honeymoon fund that got totally depleted to pay the required upfront payments.

Image Source

As I mentioned briefly before, I'm a total geek and so I have to comment on this: Adrianne Palicki's newest Wonder Woman costume reveal is almost as bad as the first.  Ugh.  I know, it's not very wedding related or even day-to-day related, but it's a fashion thing, so that counts right?  What I wouldn't pay to be their costume department chair for one day.  I'd put her in black boots and pants and a motorcycle jacket and leave the red corset alone.  Bam!  Easy peasy, she'd look just like the modern age Wonder Woman from the comics and look like she belongs in the real world rather than a 90's TV series.  When I first heard that NBC was launching the show in the fall and read some of the script break down I nearly cried.  Wonder Woman shouldn't sound like a character reject from Desperate Housewives.  It was so terrible.  It was like they were trying to aim Wonder Woman at well, women.  Wrong! 

Image Source

Wonder Woman isn't for girls, she's for fanboys!  And you're certainly not going to make anyone a comic fan with that kind of show.  Instead, you'll turn away all viewers completely and get canceled faster than FOX's records at canceling shows.  What is FOX down to now, two episodes to sink or swim?  Yes, that's my personal prediction, Adrianne Palicki will not be on TV as Wonder Woman for anything more than one episode.  The rest will make their way into vault and never be seen again.  Why do I think this?  Because it's already happened before, granted on CBS, for a JLA series.  The pure fangirl in me just had to see it.  I wish I hadn't and I'm fairly certain the same will happen when Wonder Woman comes on TV--except I don't have cable, so by the time I seek it out online, it will already have so many criticisms that it will be canceled.  One final word on the subject and then I'll hopefully leave it alone until the show airs: they would have been better off hiring a busty WWE star to play Wonder Woman rather than Adrianne Palicki.  Then Wonder Woman might look believable in the aspect that she could kick your butt.

Wedding Dresses (435 Days to Go)

I'm fairly certain I mentioned before that I have already ordered my dress, so I won't be giving it away on here.  Prying eyes of a certain fiance may find their way onto this blog and I don't want to ruin a surprise.  

Now there's a way to start your morning off right.

Dress hunting started off more or less with a facebook post about a dress sale at MB Bride that found it's way onto my homepage because I was a fan of Cavanaugh's Bride Show.  Now at that moment, I was on anything but good terms with my mother, wondering if I could even fit into a sample dress size, and if I was totally crazy for wanting to go buy a wedding dress after being engaged for less than three months.  I did what any good facebooker would do: I changed my status and queried my friends as to whether or not wedding dress sales only happened in the beginning of the year or if there would be any that happened over the summer.  Almost immediately I got back a response from a recent Ms. to Mrs. that I should jump now because sales would not be available during the summer.  At least not sales like this.

Because MB Bride is halfway between me and where I grew up, I felt like it couldn't get much more convenient.  Plus, I knew I was going to ask my grandmother to do the alterations so I wanted her to see my dress before I put any money down on it.  So I called my mother to find out whether or not she was going to be in a supportive mood.  I found that to not really be the case as we almost immediately picked back up on a fight we'd had the week before after going to the bride show in which my MOHs attended.  My mother is apparently very much set against me having two MOHs and one of them in particular.  So this did not lead me to want to see her face to face anytime soon and possibly have to listen to her be incredibly critical not only of one of my co-MOHs but possibly a dress that I fell in love with.

Luckily my FMIL had a trip across the state the second Thursday of the sale and said she didn't mind going with me if I could wait until then.  I agreed that I could wait but a new worry came over me.  What if I got to the bridal salon and saw some other girls with their mom and started to cry?  I didn't want to get all weepy because I regretted having my mom there.  It was a Catch 22 of wedding dress shopping.  So I decided to mentally prepare myself by going to another bridal salon all by myself.  I had a knitting class in Robinson the Saturday before my FMIL and I had planned our appointment at MB Bride and so I called and scheduled an appointment with David's Bridal for right afterward.

My student was yet another of what I like to call a "back on the bicycle" and thus the class ended a little early because we didn't have any hiccups.  So I got to the bridal salon early and waited just to sign in.  Never go to David's Bridal on the weekend.  Never!  Some other lady and I stood at the back of some pack of ten bridesmaids and a bride-to-be who hadn't bothered to schedule an appointment and therefore had to fill out a ton of paperwork and overwhelmed the check-in desk.  Finally, I pushed forward, grabbed two clipboards for myself and her and we stood at the back rolling our eyes and wondering what had possessed us to bother with appointments.  We chatted and finally the posse moved to the back of the store.  We were told by the staff to go catch up to our friends in order to make room for new customers coming in.  Again, some eye-rolling as we handed in our completed forms and informed that that we were not with the large group and that we were two separate customers.  Don't get me wrong, it was chaotic and there was a huge clump of brides-to-be starting to form all waiting to check-in so I can appreciate their confusion.  I also didn't want to be stuck waiting another half hour while a bunch of people jumped line in front of me and my appointment.

Finally I was ushered to the back with my consultant and I handed over my bookmarked copy of their catalog that I'd had plenty of time to peruse.  I swear to this day I didn't see or try on a single dress I marked.  Perhaps they were not in stock in my size?  Granted, I don't feel as though they had anything in my size because not even their undergarments fit me.  I cannot fault them there either since I am one of those miraculous unheard of 38As.  Yes, I'll admit it...on a good day and the right bra I might make it to a B.  And I definitely can't fault them since I found out that Victoria's little Secret is that they don't actually make a bra in my size.  They claim to do so.  They don't.

They actually looked a little like them too.
Image Source

So I tried on probably a dozen dresses while I was there.  I told the consultant that I was planning an outdoor summer wedding and didn't want any tooling or fluff but that I did want a full length gown.  I instead was ushered a bunch of tea length frothy dresses.  This didn't make me very happy but I stayed in good spirits because I had the two guys from the balcony on the Muppets Show nearby doing a running commentary of my dresses and the dresses their wives were trying on for a Shriner's Ball.  By round two we got the message across and some full length dresses made it on over my head.  However, once I started to show a little interest in a dress, my consultant became very stubborn about bringing me anything else to try on claiming she didn't want me to get confused.  I wasn't confused.  We were just barely starting in the right direction as to what I had in mind.

It took me multiple tries to find one with the fine print stating
that the dress shown was going to cost a lot more than $99.
Image Source

I was in sticker shock though.  For a store that is constantly advertising $99 dress sales and they were currently in that said sale, I was wearing dresses that would cost me over $700.  Now as I mentioned before, I wanted my grandmother to do the alterations, she's an expert sewer and I've picked up a lot about quality work over the years.  I was severely disappointed in the quality of the dresses for $700+.  The zippers were completely exposed, there wasn't a dress I tried on that didn't have beading hanging off, (I know they get a little beat up but it was a little ridiculous) and the cuts were far too simple to be that expensive.  I got out of the store after making some loose alibi about wanting to come back with my FMIL in order to get her opinion claiming to be hung up between two styles.  I wasn't entirely thrilled about my experience but I had gone in on a weekend so I guess it was partially my fault too.

The next week, I went to MB Bride with my FMIL and we ransacked what was left of the sample dresses.  There wasn't a whole lot left to choose from but we made do and our consultant, Kate, was very helpful.  She was extraordinarily apologetic for not being able to find me an undergarment and made a note on my account to make sure that the bodice would be available on any return trip (and it really was).  Apparently every two days they run through all the undergarments and get them washed, they only get worn once before they're tossed into the laundry and I happened to be there right before laundry time.  We quickly went through all of the sample dresses because only one of the would zip up.  Thus my fear that I wouldn't fit into sample dresses was confirmed and I was glad I had gotten the urge to sample dress shop out of my system so I wouldn't have buyers regret next winter.  The one that did fit was ivory and I wasn't thrilled with the color or style.  I'm a teensy bit old fashioned and feel as though ivory is meant for second weddings.  Considering I'm the daughter of a woman who's been married four times, that makes sense, right?

So, Kate asked me what my budget was and how I pictured my wedding.  I told her my budget was $700 dollars because if that was going to be the best price I could get at David's Bridal, I was going to at least attempt to get a designer label gown (and a better quality gown) for the same price first.  I also told her about my summer, outdoor wedding and she immediately ushered me through the swinging doors of my little suite and to the "outdoor/destination wedding dress" section.  They had a separate room not organized by designer  but rather by style for all the dresses here were lighter weight and meant for outdoors.  It was a dream come true.  We all started in different corners and worked our way around pulling every dress under $700 we could find.  And Kate stuck to it too.  I was really impressed.  In fact I was the only one to break the rule and I'm glad I did because the dress I ordered was originally over budget by $50.

By the time we were done that night, I walked out with a business card in hand with three dress ID #s, their price, and our made up names for them on the back.  I had narrowed it down to "Vintage" which was lace, "Cinderella" which I call the typically princess gown with beading, and "The One" as Kate insisted on calling it.  I had absolutely no idea that night which dress I liked better and was completely torn.  I hadn't really had the "it's the one!" moment I'd hoped for because I loved each one for entirely different reasons.

But the next day at work, I was telling my coworkers about my dress shopping experience and was trying to find images of the dresses on the designer's websites because my camera took okay pictures but didn't quite show off the details of the dress like seeing it in person might.  I was only able to find one of the dresses online, "The One" as Kate had so aptly dubbed it.  And within a few hours of work, I was completely stressed out with my supervisor and wanting to be anywhere but work.  When I sat back down at my computer, the Alfred Angelo website was still up on one of the Mozilla tabs and I instinctively made the image my computer background.  The rest of the day whenever I got upset, I closed all the windows and looked at that dress and smiled.  It was by two in the afternoon that I realized Kate was right and that it was "The One."

After about two weeks, I got an e-mail from Alfred Angelo (because I'd signed up on their website to save a gallery of dresses to show my bridesmaids) saying that they were extending their Valentine's Day sale through the end of the month and that I could get $100 off my dress.  I'd originally been planning to go back to MB Bride at the beginning of March to take advantage of the Alfred Angelo trunk show in order to get 10% off but I decided to go back sooner during the time frame of the Alfred Angelo sale.  I'd been under the impression that it was a sale offered by the designer through all bridal salons and not just through Alfred Angelo salons.  Oops.  But when I got to the salon with my my mother (who was back on somewhat eh speaking terms with me), my grandmother, my FMIL, and my fiance's two-year-old neice and our flower girl, I explained the sale notice I'd received and was informed that Kate would have to check with management.  I was shown back to the changing room, the dress of my dreams was brought back for me to try on again for my family to see and my two-year-old niece-to-be was provided a flower girl dress of similar style to prance around in while we waited for management's decision.  The dress was priced at $750, so as I mentioned I'd have gotten 10% or $75 off if I waited another week, but they must have decided to make me really happy and give me the extra $25 by honoring Alfred Angelo's sale price.  My now 82-year-old grandmother was in shock that I'd picked a dress that would be so easy to alter and it took at least fifteen minutes for my mom to stop crying.  My little flower girl just wanted to spend the entire time dancing with her "Aunt Lissa" while we pretended to be princesses.  It was a wonderful day in the long run and the sale price got my dress in under budget even after the luxury sales tax was applied.  I was ecstatic that I managed to wheel and deal a little on at least one aspect of my wedding.

Now I just have to anxiously await the arrival of my dress sometime in early fall.  Already I'm anxious to try it on again and feel like a princess for just another hour.  It would certainly help with the stress, right?