My Wedding Report

Remember when I played dress up with Mama Duckling’s wedding dress? Well after trying on her dress I wanted to figure out some way to incorporate the lace into my veil. There was a veil that I loved when I first tried on my dress, but it was a crazy $1000!! That clearly wasn’t it the budget, but I loved the lace edging and thought that maybe we could do the same thing with my mom’s lace.

I hadn’t found a normal veil at a reasonable price yet, and I was nervous about finding someone who could incorporate the lace from my mom’s dress and do it custom for me. I remembered hearing about Candi Merlee’s Crowning Glory Designs and her reasonable prices.

I contacted Candi and it just so happened that she lived about 30 minutes away from me. She invited me to her house so I could try on some veils and figure out what I wanted. I asked Mama Duckling to come with me to design my veil. After being greeted by Candi we went into a room to try on various sample veils to get an idea of what I liked. We also showed her Mama Ducklings dress and that we wanted to incorporate it into the design.

Here are a few of the veils I tried on to get a feel for different styles on me.

After lots of sample veils and discussing what I really wanted we decided that she would take the lace off the bottom of my Mama Duckling’s dress, tea die it (who knew you could die with tea?) so that it would match the more ivory color of my dress. I wanted the veil to be very soft, a little shorter than fingertip length and the lace to not completely frame my face so it didn’t look like I was boxed in.

How much did this custom veil cost me? Fifty-two dollars! Can you believe that? Such a reasonable price and completely custom for me including all the work taking the lace off Mama Duckling’s dress. My veil was ready 2 weeks later and was perfect. And just so you can see, here is a teaser picture from the wedding day.

I highly recommend Candi to anyone that is looking for a custom veil. She was so sweet, easy to work with and it didn’t take long to get the veil back. Also, you don’t have to live in Orange County. She takes veil orders from all over the US and even other countries. She doesn’t have a website in order to keep costs down, but if you are interested her email is: candi@cgveils.com

Are you doing anything to incorporate something special or a piece from the past into your wedding day attire?

…Courtney from Joyful Weddings & Events is my month-of-coordinator!!

When I was looking for a day of coordinator I did lots of research to find vendors in my area. I emailed a lot of different people and met a few and talked with people I liked, but no one that I was really excited about or they were so far out of my budget there was no chance. (If you are an OC/SD person and want to hear more details about those vendors shoot me a message and I’d be happy to go into more detail)

Then I got an email from Courtney and she invited me to meet her at a bridal show she was doing in San Diego. I met her really briefly there and unfortunately couldn’t stay long, but based on her and her awesome booth I decided I wanted to meet with her again.

A great thing about Courtney is that she does weddings in both Orange County and San Diego, so I was able to meet her for coffee in Orange County after class one night. As we chatted back a forth at the local Starbucks I felt like I found a new friend! She seemed to just understand me and get what we wanted for the wedding. I loved hearing about her life, family and wonderful business. Our time flew by and at the end of it I felt like I had just found a new friend and most importantly someone I wanted on the team!

She knew all the wedding blogs that I mentioned and the different ideas that I had gotten from them. This was great, because I have gotten so much inspiration for wedding blogs etc. and some of the other coordinators I had met with had no idea what I was talking about. Another huge thing? She has a cricut!?! Yes I know, I’m a huge nerd. But I was so excited to find someone who actually knew what the cricut was and someone who could give me more ideas on how to use it for the wedding.

If you check out Courtney’s blog, you will see her amazing creativity and DIY projects for her own events. She has an awesome style that is fun, chic, whimsical and beautiful. Being a bride that plans on doing DIY projects, it was important that I find someone who also valued those details and believes in how they can make the wedding that much more special and meaningful. After meeting Courtney and connecting with her, I knew that I would be able to trust her with taking care of all my final details and that she would be able to handle of any crisis that happens that day. I felt like I could learn a lot from Courtney and that our wedding would be that much more special and memorable with her being a part of it.

Now for some eye candy from her wonderful weddings…

All Photos From Joyful Weddings & Events Blog

While I love wedding planning and wouldn’t give it up for the world, I know that if I had to choose someone to plan the whole wedding from start to finish, I would choose Courtney. I couldn’t be more excited to work with Courtney through this whole process and am thankful in advance that she will be putting up with me!

Aren’t you amazed by her work? If you haven’t yet check out her website and blog! Also, she just had one of her weddings featured in the latest Ceremonies magazine and on the WedddingbeePRO!

Now I know there are several of you that are wondering whether or not you need a day of/month of coordinator and if one is worth the cost. I want to give my thought behind that topic so I’ll try to share some of my thoughts in an upcoming post.

Earlier I believe I left us off having left Mon Amie and stopping for a much needed lunch break.

The next store we went to was The White Dress in Corona Del Mar. I’d say between Mon Amie and The White Dress, every designer you could possibly think of is covered. Maybe not…but very close if you are looking to cover your bases in two trips.

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I got my dress!! Woohoo! So excited and I can check that major one off the list. But before I do my celebration dance (jk) I’ll give you the background story.

On Sunday I went out shopping with my team, consisting of my mom, Mark’s mom and my two maids of honor. We had the itinerary of Mon Amie, The White Dress and then Saks in South Coast Plaza.

(side note: Saks is closing most of their bridal salons in the US and therefore have all their samples on sale!)

Store One: Mon Amie

Mon Amie is probably one of the biggest wedding dress stores on the West Coast and it just so happens to be 25 minutes from where I live. My mom and one MOH drove up from San Diego, my other MOH came down from LA and then with Mark’s mom I met them at Mon Amie. The store is huge! They have over 4,000 dresses, I’m not sure how you can possibly know everything that is in that store.

It was a busy day so we did not have a regular sales person, but one of the seamstress/designers named Sonia helping us. This was great because first of all she was not a pushy sales person that used all the cliches and instead of using those ugly binder clips she just used pins. After talking with Sonia and picking out some dresses that I liked we just started trying dresses on. Based on what I liked and what was flattering everyone pulled more dresses.

It was pretty busy in there so I tried most of the dresses on in my room since you know I have issues with going out into the open where random strangers look at me. However, once I narrowed it down to 3 that I really liked they had me go down the aisle. Yes…they have an aisle. And Yes I felt awkward going down the aisle with fake flowers and then standing on a pedestal. However, I was able to get out into more natural light and that was helpful. After that the “aisle” was taken so I just used a different pedestal minus the aisle and flowers to my relief.

They wouldn’t let me take pictures there unless you buy the dress, so sadly I have no pictures to share!

There was one dress that I really liked there and narrowed everything down to. Surprisingly it was a Mon Amie exclusive and was the most affordable out of everything I tried on! (Love that!) However, we still had an appointment to go and we were in need of a lunch break. (Have I ever mentioned that when I don’t eat for a long period of time and I’m in need of a meal I will get cranky?)

So off we went to lunch at the delicious Avila’s El Ranchito (also love chips, salsa and guac!) before our next destination where we found THE ONE! The rest of the story will be coming shortly…

If you are a new reader and want to hear about my first dress shopping experiences and look at some scary pictures of me, here is part I and part II of my shopping trip in San Diego with my mom.

Happy Monday!

Just wanted to give those of you in the Southern California area a heads up that Monique Lhuuillier is having a sample sale in LA this Friday, January 16th. I just got the email and wanted to pass the information on to you all!

Let me know if you go! I want to hear all about it!

If you are just catching up go this Part I to hear about the first store I went to for wedding dresses. The next store we went to just opened up in North County San Diego a few months ago.

The shop is called Bliss Bride. The two owners, Jennifer and Anne are so sweet and I had a lot of fun working with them. I really felt special and they close down the whole store just for you. If you are a San Diego bride and looking for a smaller shop then this one is wonderful. Their dresses are higher end ranging from $2000-12,000 with the majority being between $3000-5000.

Once again: MR. DUCKY DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!

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The search for my wedding dress had officially begun. Mama Duck and I went to two different bridal dress stores. You may remember my first post and then follow-up post regarding my feelings for wedding dress shopping. I’m pleased to say that I actually had a good time and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

There are a few things that began to stand out as I tried on dresses. I really liked dresses that had rouching in the bodice. To my surprise a dropped waist looked good on me. My fear was that I was not going to be tall enough. However, the height was not an issue and the dropped waist showed off a bit more of my figure.

Our first store was Here Comes The Bride in San Diego. It is one of the more popular stores down there. There is a big room that has lots of dresses and then a hall with several “bridal suites.” The bridal suite is where you try on the dresses and has a comfy couch, big mirror, pedestal and a little cabinet with water, binder clips and other things I don’t know about.

Basically I just took a deep breath and went for it. I learned the “duck and dive” move it get into the dresses. Thanks to some advice from a fellow blogger, I wore a strapless bra and some bikini panties so that my butt was not exposed for all to see. I’d say that the experience was not necessarily emotional, but kind of a “woah moment” when you realize you really have a wedding dress on.

Okay my loyal readers, I did take pictures or I guess Mama Duck did. However, she was sitting down taking some of them and then tends to just hit the button at random times. The result being that these pictures are NOT flattering. I will show them to you as long as you promise not to laugh at how scary I look. If you have never seen a picture of me before, I apologize in advance and encourage you to keep checking back for when my posts don’t contain terrible pictures of myself. I am trying to be brave and be a devoted blogger and show you the good, bad and ugly. Here we go…

NOTE: MR. DUCKY IF YOU ARE RANDOMLY LOOKING AT THIS BLOG DO NOT LOOK ANY FURTHER. I MEAN IT! YOU WILL BE SORRY…

(MR. DUCKY CAN NOT HANDLE SURPRISES AND THE SUSPENSE IS ALREADY KILLING HIM)

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Remember when I told you about my anxiety to go shopping and find“the dress”? In preparation of my first bridal dress appointment I checked out all the designers that were going to be at the store. I was excited, but a little nervous at the same time. I still didn’t like the idea of being on a pedestal with a bunch of people looking at me. I was going with mama duck and my goal was just to really get an idea of what I liked and what looked good on me.

I know we’ve looked at dresses before, but here are an example of some of the designers were at the first store we went to. Are you familiar with any of them?

Michelle Roth Couture

Henry Roth

Alvina Valenta

Tara Keely

ProNovias

Lazaro

Jim Helm

Rivini

Renella De Fina Couture

Have you heard of these designers? Or was your dress made by one of them? Any tips for shopping?

The briefing on this first trip will be coming soon…

Since I have been engaged one of the most common questions I’ve been asked is, “Have you found your dress?” or some variation of that question. I usually responded with, “No, I haven’t even gone shopping yet. I’m not sure what I am looking for.” And it’s true, I’ve been engaged since May, but have not gone dress shopping yet. Why? Well first of all I am so busy and I often do not know what my schedule will be so I don’t make the appointment at the dress shop. I want to lose weight and have worried that the dresses will look different once I do so. I think this is me just delaying, because I want to lose 15 pounds and that probably won’t make too much of a difference.

In all of my wedding planning I think I enjoy the things that aren’t “me” oriented. I love planning the decor, colors, details, stationary and graphics. I love the planning and creating something for others to enjoy. But I don’t like being the center of attention (I can’t stand the Happy Birthday song on my birthday for example) and so I feel weird about doing the part that revolves around me. I know as the bride all eyes are on me, but that is a little nerve racking. So maybe even the idea of being on a pedestal in a bridal salon with all eyes on “me” is even scary.

The biggest reason is probably that I really don’t know what I want. I haven’t imagined a specific look in my head, so the idea of hundreds and hundreds of dresses is overwhelming. I browse all my bridal magazines and see things I like, but still am unsure. I’m not sure what will look good on me since I am not a 6 foot model. There is so much pressure to find “the dress” and I think I have shied away from that big decision. I love shopping though, so I am going to focus on that and having fun instead of worrying about the pressure to find “the one”.

So now that I am done with the in-depth explanation of why I have not found my dress yet, I wanted to at least post some pictures of what I like. (Not that I can necessarily afford these dresses, but that’s a different story) Please give me your feedback or suggest any designers or dresses you think I should look at.

Melissa Sweet

Monique Lhuillier

Monique Lhuillier

Le Spose di Gio

Vera Wang

Maggie Sottero

Amalia Carrara (Probably not in pink, but I like the neckline and folds)

Oscar de la Renta

Renella De Fina

Watters Brides

Sottero & Midgley

Lela Rose

Lela Rose

Lela Rose

Lela Rose

Vineyard Collection

Vineyard Collection

I think I love anything that Abby at Style Me Pretty posts, but here are some different posts on dresses that have stood out in my memory…

Christina by Junko Yoshioka
The Quarry by Lela Rose
Photos Style Me Pretty

Elena by Junko Yoshioka (top left)
Mica by Junko Yoshioka (top right)
Lizzie by Stephanie James
Photos Style Me Pretty

What was your dress shopping experience like? Does it make anyone else nervous?