Wow. Another wedding dress post. You guys must be ecstatic. You probably woke up today and hurried over to your computers to check this blog. “I hope she’s written another post about dresses!!!!”
Well, who am I to let you down? Here it is, in list form. Because Becca from A Los Angeles Love wisely advised me to make a list of real wedding dress criteria. You know, to get my thoughts down, to figure out what’s most important and all.
So here goes.
- I am looking for something just near ground-length or shorter (perhaps tea length). We are having an outdoor ceremony and reception, in a courtyard where the ground is covered in deconstructed concrete. I had never heard of such a thing before I encountered it at our venue. It looks a lot like tan dirt, except it’s not dirt; it’s kinda powdery, but not dusty. Are you even following this? I’m not, really. The beau, on the other hand, apparently knows so much about it that he’s taken to referring to it via acronym. “I just don’t want a big long train dragging all over the ground,” I’ll suddenly announce, completely apropos of nothing, like I have some kind of wedding Tourette’s. “Well yeah, because the ground is D.C.,” the beau will say, casually, like the supreme gangsta of deconstructed concrete slang. “Because huh?” I always say, blinking. I’m slow on the take sometimes, you see.
The deconstructed concrete in question.
- More than the fact that I don’t want fabric dragging all over the ground, a formal dress with a train just doesn’t suit the feel of our venue, nor does it suit me. I’m kinda funky, in a way.* I like offbeat things. That A Los Angeles Love post I linked to up there, by the way? That post contains the pictures of the first (and only) dress I’ve ever actually kind of liked. I particularly love the bottom of it — go see if you haven’t yet clicked through. But that was the first time I ever thought, wow, so dresses can be kind of cool, huh? It’s flowy without being prissy, bohemian without being hippy, gorgeous without being ostentatious. And Becca looks amazing in it. Sorry to keep calling you out here, Becca.
- I want to be able to bust a move in this dress. No corsets or boning or lacing up. I want to bend and twist and shout without feeling like A) I am about to rip some seams out or B) I am about to pass out due to breathing restrictions.
- No strapless. No beads, or sequins. No shiny fabric. No poofyness. A little lace might be OK, if gingerly applied. No bows need apply. I am getting married, not getting dressed for my first day of grade school. A V-neck is preferable to a scoop neck or high neck, because it just looks better on me that way (shows off what minimal assets I have, as it were).
- When I first started imagining what I might wear, wayyyyy back in June or July, the colors that came to mind were sunflower yellow or cornflower blue. But all the dresses I’ve seen since are white or ivory. So I’ve begun thinking, what if I’m missing out on something by not wearing an ivory dress? I know, I know. I get the message that it’s OK to go your own way, but sometimes I worry. I am, after all, a human with a sometimes overwhelming urge to be one with the rest of the pack. Especially when I don’t know just what the hell it is that I’m doing — like looking for dresses — which is when I turn to others for cues on how to act.** Anyway, I may end up deciding that an unusual color is right for me, but I want to see what the ivory dresses look like on me first. Who knows, maybe ivory is my way after all.
- Budget. The dress should come in below $1,000. Well below $1,000, actually, I’m hoping. And I’m thinking that if I don’t find a nice sample dress off the rack, I might just have a dress made. Maybe! Who knows?? It’s a zany world out there, after all.
Well, there it is. Have a good dress-free weekend, ya’ll.
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* But not in the smelly way.
** This would explain the phenomenon of the wedding blog community, in a nutshell.
You have such a long list. I wish I didn’t buy my dress so fast! I just went to the Salon and bought it. I was both fantastically happy and sad. Cause I wanted a long way of choosing the right dress. But I found it the first time I saw it. Lucky you are!
I wish you to buy the dress you are dreaming of.
Wow, this D.C. is a whole new concept for me. I can see how that would mess with dress and shoe plans. I wish you luck on your dress adventures. Mine turned out to be the total oposite of what I was looking for, but it looked unexpectedly amazing.
Wow. your excitement about dress shopping is contagious. 😉
P.S. Just buy the same dress as Becca. easy peasy.
P.P.S. I hated dress shoppping.
Yeah for your list! And yeah for your taste in dresses (she says as she blushes). Btw, if dress shopping in D.C. (the place, not the concrete description, obviously) doesn’t work out, I recommend coming down to the Nicole Miller shop in L.A. Some dresses are very much in your price range and, even if the dress you like isn’t in the shops any longer, there are similar dresses in the shops and a ton of pre-owned Nicole Miller wedding dresses for sale online.
And just try to have fun playing dress up and trying different things than you expect to like. And have a glass of wine before you go. I’m a firm believer that wine helps with everything wedding-related. 🙂
plz report back on your dc/va dress hunt. i’m in the area, and share your (and a los angeles love’s) dress criteria, but have so far been coming up FAIL. amazing how hard it is to find something interesting, flattering, <$1k, and not bedazzled, trained, mermaided to the point of not being able to walk, 20 pounds, crappy-polyester-despite-costing-over-$500, or poofy.
also, you should totally go to nicole miller in la. i loved the woman who helped there and she helped me get a sense of cuts that would look best on me, even though the dresses i liked (but didn't love — not sure if the latter will happen for me) were out of my price range. so sad that they don't make the 'los angeles love' dress, which i'd hoped to try when there, anymore.