Eco-Vintage Weddings

Wedding Dress Shopping – Day #1!

Written by Sara on September 19, 2009 – 6:47 pm -

ATTENTION JORDAN: DO NOT READ THIS POST, OR A GRUMPY FIANCE (AND, ACCORDING TO TRADITION, BAD LUCK)
WILL BE BESTOWED UPON YOU!!
(Just kidding…but seriously, don’t look!)

Happy weekend, everyone! I’ve had a WONDERFUL day, so let’s just get right to the good stuff – wedding gown shopping!

This afternoon, my Mom, my Maid of Honor Kristen and I headed to Sioux Falls’ David’s Bridal location. While at the bridal show, we stopped by their booth and signed up for a bridal appointment, so I have been anxiously awaiting this weekend!

I don’t want this to sound badly, but I had entirely different expectations of David’s Bridal before I walked in the doors of the bridal salon today. While I expected to encounter pushy saleswomen and lackluster gowns, I was seriously mistaken: Nikki and Sheri, the two consultants who were helping me, were both LOVELY ladies who were willing to bring me every gown in the shop if I asked. They made my first experience of wedding gown shopping an afternoon of fun, and I am SO grateful to them for that!

While I didn’t purchase a gown today (I plan to purchase my gown from Happily Ever After, a bridal shop in the Beresford/Sioux City area), today proved educational in what shapes work for my body and which styles don’t. Plus, my time today at David’s Bridal also identified the various ways that “vintage-inspired” can translate into our wedding.

Here’s a few photographs of the rejected dresses (I’ve decided not to show you the dresses we really liked, just in case I find something very similar at the other shop, but see the end of this post for a round-about description of them!):

While I LOVED the back of dress #1 (the first dress I tried on!), the front left a lot to be desired, so it went back on the rack. Plus, it also hugged my body (it was a sheath), which I quickly figured out that was a cut I wasn’t crazy about.

Dress #2 was A LOT of fun (the entire skirt is ruffles!), but man, that dress was HEAVY. More importantly, it didn’t illustrate “vintage” to me, so it too made its return to the rack.

This dress was definitely made for a vamp from the 1930s, but not for me; the dropped, embellished waistline did absolutely nothing for me, and this dress was just more evidence of how difficult it can be to contain a bigger chest!

Now here’s a dress I actually liked (more than the gowns above this photo, anyway!). The bottom of the dress is done in accordion pleats, and the main reason this dress didn’t make the cut was due to the embellishment on the bodice; I discovered that I appreciate very little beading or creative stitching, so this dress, as beautiful as it was, made its return to the racks, too.

This dress was one of the final styles of the day; while the all-over lace WOWED me, I was not crazy with the pick-up skirt, which is absolutely surprising – I thought I would love the bustled look. However, this dress made me feel boxy, so it was pushed aside as well.

Dresses that didn’t even warrant a photograph:  two lace gowns that looked like nightgowns (Sorry – I can’t seem to find them on David’s Bridal‘s web site!), two more lace gowns that just weren’t my thing (pictured here and here), one satin gown that made me feel silly for some unexplainable reason (pictured here), and two halter gowns that just weren’t right (pictured here and here). All in all, we estimated that I tried on about 15 gowns today – it was quite an afternoon!

I can tell you this, dear readers, about the three dresses I loved today: they surprised me, but in a way, they also were exactly what I expected. Even before I thought about entering a bridal salon, I knew that “vintage-inspired” to me meant lace, and lots of it, and there was not one, but two lace gowns that I loved today. I also walked in the salon and walked out absolutely in love with the look of a birdcage veil; I felt so chic the very second the consultant placed it on my head.

But the dress that surprised me (and I mean REALLY surprised me) had not one swatch of lace on it. But that dress, which was all satin and gorgeous and made my waist look absolutely tiny, made me feel like a different version of “vintage-inspired” – it made me feel like an Old Hollywood actress attending the Oscars. Just add finger waves and an embellished clutch, and I looked like I stepped out of the 1930s. Readers, it was so refreshing that I found a dress I liked outside my label of “vintage-inspired,” but it also scared me a little. Because J and I have been planning a more casual affair, and this dress is all glam, I felt drawn to the dress, but scared of it at the same time.

Thanks for sticking with me throughout this long post – it was so much fun to write, and to relive the day! Hopefully I’ll make it to Beresford/Sioux City in a few weeks (I’m shooting for mid-October) to find the gown of my dreams!

P.S. If you really want to see the three gowns that made me feel gorgeous today, email me and I’ll send links your way!

[Photos courtesy of my lovely MOH, Kristen]

Tags: David's Bridal, Happily Ever After
Posted in Beauty & Polish, Fashion, Our Wedding, Vintage Beauties | 1 Comment »