Erg! Adventures in Gown Preservation

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Last week I took my gown to David's Bridal to have it cleaned and preserved by a third party. This morning I woke up in a panic. My grandmother made a hand kerchief for my mom to carry when my folks were married. I pinned the same hankey under my gown on our wedding day. Well, guess who forgot to take out the hankey before shipping off her dress? Ugh.

The hankey is more important to me than my gown so I am kicking myself, hard. I called the preservation place and they said my gown was not yet entered into their system. In order to find it in their shipping dock I would need the UPS tracking number. Of course, my luck, David's didn't give me my copy of the tracking slip so they have no record of the number either.

My options were either to call the preservation folks back every day and hope to catch my gown in between being entered in their system and being cleaned. Or to just have them ship it back to me in all its poofy dirty glory. I chose the latter. Now the tricky part is no one knows where my gown is exactly. It is probably in with the 200 gowns the preservation place receives per day. In a box, under hundreds of other identical boxes. They took down my information and said when they enter my dress in their system they will just ship it to my home as is. Fingers crossed.

The manager at David's who helped me resolve my alterations issues back in the day was once again very helpful. It was their mistake not to give me the tracking info, but I am the one who made the bigger mistake of leaving the hankey in my dress to begin with. She said that once I get my gown back and retrieve the hankey, just to bring it back into the store and they will ship it out again for free.

I am a goober.

UPDATE: Already! Mary Ann, the woman who I called 3 times ths morning in a panic, just called me. She went out back to see which gowns were being checked in and guess what? They had my box in their hands! She retrieved my hankey and is going to ship it back to me today. She said she will call back with all the tracking info. Sweet!

Sometimes people are so freakin' helpful and I love them.

Am I alone in my gown preservation blunder?

A Wedding in a Week: Getting Ready

After this post, it is time to say goodbye to our wedding in a week and get back to planning our October wedding. I just wanted to share with you some final photos and tidbits, beginning with a little better shot of my dress:
The reason for the wrap was two fold. Since I didn't have time for any alterations the fit was not quite right. The top of the dress was a bit too loose. No one else probably would have noticed, but it made me more comfortable to wear the shall. I am going to take it to a seamstress to add straps before it makes another appearance for the rehearsal and dinner. The second reason was the coming of fall. It was a bit chilly out and I felt silly bearing so much skin.

When my parents were married my paternal grandmother made a hanky for my mom to carry with her down the aisle. She tucked it into her waistband and I pinned it under the lace of my gown.
My grandmother passed away when I was 8 years old, so it was really special to have something that she made with me.

Getting ready was not the normal big to-do for this wedding. Mr. Pineapple left about 20 minutes ahead of me so I could slip on my dress without him seeing and add a little lip gloss. As you can see, I decided to wear my glasses fearing I would start to cry and loose my contacts.

Did you carry anything special with you down the aisle?

A Wedding in a Week: Hair Flower

Earlier this week I posted about my new 'second first wedding' dress. I wasn't sure if I should wait to wear my veil for the October wedding or if I should wear it to both. A few readers suggested I wear a hair flower. What a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?

I would have loved to order one from Etsy, there are so many cute options, but time is against me. So, I decided to try and make one myself. I headed to Michael's not really knowing what I was doing and armed with a short shopping list:
Silk Flower
Feathers
Barrettes
Here is a close-up of the peony I picked out:
I then took apart the peony (like Miss Shortcake taught me) and this is what I was left with:
I chose some of the smaller petals and glued them together. Then I added a couple feathers and a pearl I had left over from another project. Here is the final product:
I took me all of five minutes and I am pleasantly surprised with the results.
Here is the cost breakdown:
Peony: $2 (50% off)
Barrettes: $1.50 (50% off)
Feathers: $1.50
Total: $5

What do you think? Have you ever tried your hand at making a hair flower?

Wined and Dyed

A little while back I asked for the hive's help in trying to decide what color to dye my crinoline/slip. After reading your suggestions to dye it yellow or orange as a nod to my pineappleyness, I thought it would be funny if I tie-dyed it like this:

It's a pineapple!

However, when I saw Miss Avocado's post about helping her friend dye her crinoline, I fell in love with the wine color. I thought it would look just oh so pretty with the color of my gown. Plus, trying to dye my crinoline like a fruit could have been a nightmare.

So, this weekend Mom Pineapple, the washing machine and I got to work.
Here is a before shot of the slip. Clean and white and not too much fun.

We used two bottles of the RIT liquid dye to make sure the color turned out nice and bold. I was hoping for a deep wine rather than a pink.

We did not have to add salt to the mix because the fabric is 100% nylon.

While Mom Pineapple read the instructions, I gave the slip a bath in good old fashion spring water.

Finally time to stuff the washer. Mom Pineapple dove in and started loading the poof, but soon realized she would need a tool in order to keep her hands from being dyed. So, she reached for one of the only tools in our combination laundry room/bath room -- the plunger.

She was worried about dying the plunger. So I had to remind her what a plunger was used for and that wine colored dye was the least of a plunger worries.

After two agitation cycles and three rinse, project color my crinoline was completed! You may notice that we did some tie-dying after all, on accident. The top of the slip is splotchy. Not pretty, but no one will see that part anyway. The bottom came out pretty evenly dyed:
Seeee? We should have taken it out between the two aggitation cycles and untwisted everything, but we didn't. Overall I am so excited, the color is very bold and it will be fun to wear on our wedding day. Also, it looks awesome with the color of my gown (click here to see...no peeking Ryan).

Did you color your crinoline?

A Something Old What to Do

When my parents were married in 1980, my mother borrowed her sister's gown and they had a pot luck reception at the local church. My mother's "something new" was her veil. 28 years later my mother has offered her something new as my something old. I already have and love my veil, so how should I use hers?
We would like to make more than one piece from the veil so my sister can have a something old for her wedding day. We have thought about making it into handkerchiefs or wrapping my bouquet handle, but we just are not in love with those ideas.

What do you creative readers think?

UPDATE: Dress (Not) Fitting Number One

Last week I wrote about my traumatic first dress fitting at David's Bridal. To sum up the back story...

I only went dress shopping once. I tried one a few gowns and found the one I loved. They only had one size in the store and it was a bit too big. They used clips to show me how the gown should fit. After deciding to purchase the gown my truly lovely David's Bridal assistant and the head seamstress thought it would be best if I ordered a size smaller, so I did.

Flash forward to about a week before. I went into David's for my first fitting and it didn't go well. Long story short the seamstress (a different one than before) said my gown wouldn't zip and basically made me feel like poo because of it.

Well, a couple hours and almost 50 reader responses after my post appeared on Weddingbee I got a call. Guess who it was. Go ahead... exactly, David's Bridal.

Somehow, someone in their corporate office read my post. (I am not sure if they have staff to monitor such things or maybe it was e-mailed to them, I don't know.) The corporate office found out my full name (somehow) and therefore which store I was writing about. It was the manager of that store who called. She was so kind and very apologetic. She said she read what I had written and was horrified. She was very understanding about why I had a bad taste in my mouth. She invited me to come back to the store and try on both the gown I already own and a size larger.

So, the next day I made the two hour trek back to my old stopping ground, Pittsburgh. The head seamstress brought out my gown (the smaller one) and helped me into it. When it came time for the gown to be zipped I held my breath waiting to hear the zipper stop. But guess what? It didn't! She zipped it right up! The same exact gown that just a fews days ago would have to be let out an inch and a half, fit perfectly. An inch and a half really isn't much to sneeze at. In fact, I can stick my hand down my gown if I want to. :)

So, why did the previous seamstress insist my gown was way too small and make me feel like poo? Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe I was having a fat day or maybe someone felt the need to tack on extra alterations (ahem). Whatever the reason, I am relieved. I love my gown again. If I had not gone in today my gown would have been much too big after alterations and I would have been out $70! They did offer to embroider the lining of the gown with "Emily & Ryan | October 18, 2008" which should be a nice keepsake down the road.

Dress (Not) Fitting Number One

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Last week I had my first dress fitting at David's Bridal. When I walked into "the alterations department" I was a little nervous. Basically it was a big dressing room filled with other brides, their moms, and women with pins.

I was alone with my big poofy dress, crinoline and cowboy boots. I was shown a smaller dressing room and told to put on my gown. So I did, well I tried to. (Did they really think I could zip it all the way up on my own?) So there I was, standing in my half-zipped wedding gown in the middle of a crowded room not knowing what to do next. Eventually, I spotted someone carrying a clipboard - a good sign! She directed me toward the mirror and told me to step onto the stage thing in front of it. I did. So there I was standing on a platform in the middle of a crowded room halfway into my gown. Honestly, I was really embarrassed. Everyone was staring at me. I assume they were wondering why I was holding up my gown instead of actually wearing it.

Finally, a seamstress came up to me to help with the zipper. She had it almost zipped up when she started yelling "I can't get it to zip! I can't even... you see? I can't zip it! I don't want to break it! It won't zip!" Really, she was yelling at me. I felt so horrible. In a room full of people she was yelling at me. I know my boobs and I was not so surprised that it didn't want to zip all the way up. I kept saying "ok, ok" and she just kept yelling about how it wouldn't zip.

When I ordered my gown they suggested I buy a size smaller than the one I had tried on. Apparently, the waist on the bigger one would have to be taken in. Well, the smaller one was too small in the boobage department. Not a big deal. Well, at least I didn't think it was a big deal. Either you take in the waist or take out the boobs. The seamstress on the other hand made me feel like the biggest bride, wearing the smallest dress, in the world. I was beet red and sweating. I was so embarrassed.

So, they would take out the top. Problem solved. Then, she told me my dress was too long. When I tried it on the first time the head seamstress commented that the length was "perfect." How come all of the sudden I would have to pay $75 to make my gown an inch shorter? I just told her "no thanks, I'll look for different shoes I guess." (I was wearing the same shoes I had been wearing all along.)

After I got myself out of my gown and back into my real clothes they told me they needed my measurements for their records. After my fitting? With my jeans and jacket on? They haphazardly threw the measuring tape around me and shouted out the numbers to someone else in another room, behind a curtain. Maybe it was the wizard of Oz. I assume the reason for the measurements is so that if your gown does not fit they can possibly blame the bride for gaining or losing weight. Or maybe at this point I was just being cynical.

Since then I have been haunted by the words "IT WON'T ZIP!" I wasn't going to even write about my first fitting. Maybe buying a dress at a high end boutique would have been worth it after all. Maybe.

Did you have a traumatic dress fitting?

Color My Crinoline!

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Ok, I need your opinion.

I have been trying to decide what color to dye my crinoline. At first, I was leaning toward a color that matched our wedding palette. Then I wanted something really vibrant and unexpected. If I had a favorite color it might be orange, but that changes so often I can't really go that route either.

Here are the dye options:
So, I am leaving it in your hands. What color should I dye my crinoline? (here is a reminder of what my gown looks like)

• Dark Green
• Kelly Green
• Teal
• Evening Blue
• Royal Blue
• Denim
• Navy
• Pearl Grey
• Black
• Aubergine
• Mauve
• Rose Pink
• Fuchsia
• Scarlet
• Wine
• Yellow
• Golden Yellow
• Ecru
• Taupe
• Tan
• Light Brown
• Dark Brown
• Tangerine
• Orange
• Aqua

Specs!

Last summer my car was broken down -- again. This time a squirrel had built a nest on my engine block while it sat unused for two months. What I had on my hands was a dead battery and a whole lot of squirrel hair under my hood.

The squirrel nest, on a road in a neighborhood called Squirrel Hill, go figure.

I had my car parked a little ways away because parking at our house was very limited. Mr. Pineapple was out of town on a business trip. My plan was to use his car to pick him up from the airport. As I was heading out, I realized I had left something in my car that I needed, so I drove to my car in Ryan's car. As I pulled up behind my car I hit a piece of metal sticking out of the curb and BAM his tire explodes. Not only that, but I dented to rim too. Meanwhile, Mr. P is at the Philly airport and his flight has been canceled. He and his coworkers ended up renting a car and driving back to the burgh. Which worked out on my end since I had destroyed both of our cars.

The next day I went to the eye doctor. Go figure, Miss Running-Cars-Into-Curbs needed glasses. So, almost a year later I am pretty used to my specs (well, that is when I remember to leave the house with them). I definitely think they change the way I look. I am still not sure I want to wear them for the wedding though. They kind of drop low and "cut my eye in half." I think I am going to give contacts a test run soon and see if that is an option for the big day, but I haven't decided.

my "goggles"

I could also just go completely corrective eye wear free. My eyes aren't that bad. Everything just looks kind of wet, like I am swimming in a pool with my eyes open, when I don't have them on. Although, I may actually want to see my groom as I begin my walk do the aisle.

You don't see many brides in glasses. So, I did a google search and found this post from Offbeat bride, Brides in Glasses. Some of those glasses make for hottie brides. Mr. Pineapple, who has been wearing glasses since forever, will be sporting his new copper specs.

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So ladies, I am asking the same question once asked by Mrs. Kiwi... glasses, contacts or nothing? Anyone opting to wear their glasses on the big day?

My Other Dress is...

When I picked out my gown, it was a one stop shopping experience. I did my research ahead of time, found several possible gowns, tried them on, and bought one. I love my gown, I think it is very "bridal" and it makes me feel pretty.

Every once in awhile though I think of the dresses that weren't. What would my dress look like if I was built like a hanger (you know the kind of woman who looks good wearing anything)? What if money was no object? What if I wasn't worried about not feeling like a bride on the big day?

In my fantasies my other dress is:

{ Alfred Angelo 1142 }

Short. I love the look of a short dress, I think it is so fun and adorable. But, I didn't go short for a couple reasons: 1. my wedding is in the fall and I didn't want to be cold and 2. I was worried I wouldn't feel like a bride (whether or not I would feel this way is debatable).

{ St. Pucchi 9298 }

Slightly Outrageous. This dress is wonderfully unique and breathtaking. Could I pull it off? Questionable. Could I afford it? Laughable : )

{ Pattis Bridal 1327 }

Mermaid. Nothing quite save va va va voom like a mermaid gown. (Seriously, check out Miss Cookie - everyone except you Mr. Cookie.) This one is particularly girly and pretty with the lace and light ruffles.

{ Maggie Sottero Fiorenza }

Red. Bold and passionate with a whole lot of wow. Red gowns are definitely stunning, but if were to walk down the aisle in one my family might not have been able to recover.

{ Carolina Herrera 35806 }

Country Bumpkin Chic. I adore this dress. If I were getting married outdoors or a warmer time of year this would be the dress for me.

What dress would you have chosen if you could have thrown all caution to the wind?

Seeing Copper

Mr. Pineapple will be starting a new job next week and decided to have his prescription updated and worn glasses replaced before switching insurance companies. He took me along to help pick out his new frames. (I guess I will be looking at them more than even he will be.) Here is the pair we chose:

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What does this have to do with wedding planning? They are copper, one of our wedding colors! Mr. Pineapple will be so coordinated, without even trying. They will even match his rose gold wedding band after the big day. We picked them out, because we both loved them , not because it was one of our wedding colors. But the fact that we have been buying and creating so many coppery things has defiantly influenced our tastes. We now love all things copper - copper cookware, copper mail boxes, copper paint, copper jewelry, copper planters, and I will certainly miss the penny if the mint stops making them.

Has anyone else become obsessed with their wedding colors outside of wedding planning?

To Boot or Not to Boot?

I have not had any luck finding copper heels to wear with my gown. Metallic shoes are quite trendy right now, but copper does not seem to be as common as silver, gold, or bronze.

I am seriously considering just wearing the cowboy boots that Mr. Pineapple bought me for my birthday. I wear these boots (or my black pair) every time I wear jeans, without fail. I love love love them. They are perfectly molded to my feet, they have a heel, I know I can wear them all day and they were a gift from Mr. P.

I was already planning on wearing them for the reception so I can get my cowgirl line dance on, but I am not sure they are "nice" enough to wear for the ceremony and photos.
As you can see, they are pretty well worn and I will probably wear them another 140 times before the big day. The tops of the boots are stained with the dye from my jeans.

What do you think? Any other suggestions?

My New Housemate

After a 20 minute ride home in the passenger seat, my dress is now in my hands! I was worried, because that is what I do, that my dress would be somehow delayed or the order lost. My first attempt at picking up my dress didn't go perfectly and they had to order me a new one. Well, two weeks later and it was in! I picked it up after a thorough inspection and brought it home.

The only place I could hang it was on the back of the door to our guest room. Our closet is much too full and the other closet it too short. So there it hangs, at least for now.

Picking Up the Dress - Round 1

I went to David's on Saturday with my Bridesmaid Katie to try on and take home my gown. (** Don't you dare click that link Mr. Pineapple ;) **) It was a size smaller than the one I tried on in the store. When I first put it on it was too tight in the boobs. Luckily though, not way too tight. The dress has built in boning and such that allows you to go bra-less. Initially I thought I would feel really uncomfortable without a bra. However, one I took it off I couldn't even tell and the top of the dress fit perfectly. Loosing the bra (which went down to my hips) made the waist too loose, but nothing alterations cannot fix.

The dress end up with a failing grade though. Katie noticed a light spot on the front of the dress. It look like some sort of discoloration in the fabric rather than a stain. So, David's said they would "fail the dress" and order me a new one. Hopefully it will get here soon! I can't wait to take it home!

Has anyone had any trouble with David's Bridal? Should I worry that this is a sign of bad things to come?

The Buzz About the Blogs

Everyone these days is talking about the Etsy Handmade Wedding Series, and for good reason! There are great articles from blogger you may know such as Style Me Pretty and Poppytalk.

I bookmark pages from Esty everyday with inspiration and items to add to my wish list. Here are some of them (I am on a bit of a jewelry kick at the moment):


Row 1: Persephone Necklace, Copper Dome Key Chain, Seven Sisters Stacking Rings
Row 2: Copper Plated Bell Charms, Copper Satin Fabric, Vintage Copper Star Flower Earrings
Row 3: Hammered Copper Earrings, Samanthas Earrings, King Midas Garden Necklace


Row 1: Lola Lola Necklace, Copper and Silver Leaf Mirror, Victoria Bobby Pins
Row 2: Vintage Carved Ivory Flower Necklace, Vintage Paper Roses, Turning Leaf Votive Holder
Row 3: Ivory Rose Earring, Pocket Album, Embossed Copper Notebook

What are some of your treasured Etsy finds?

EW!

I thought it would be fun to go a little funky with the shoes I will be wearing to the ceremony and for photos. So began my search for copper 3" heels. Yeah and as you can see from the photos, it is not going so well. Also, I have big feet - size 10, so that doesn't help matters much.

I will only have them on for a couple hours, tops. I have a special pair of shoes to wear to the reception, more on them later!

Any suggestions?

Let's Hear it for the Boys

Since the ladies will be wearing all black, I will be in champagne, and Mr. Pineapple will be in black, he and I thought black for the groomsman's suits would be too much dark (it's a wedding not a funeral). So, we decided on gray. In keeping with the different dresses for the bridesmaids we will have the boys wear any gray suit they would like, a look such as this:


I prefer the light gray, but it really is neither here nor there.

Our wedding colors still had not come into play with the attire at this point (other than my gown). So in order to incorporate a bit of copper and champagne we decided to buy ties for all the men. Again, they are all in the same color family, but different.

My fiance will be wearing the solid copper tie on the right. We got a great deal on these ties at Macy's. We dropped in to check out the selection after attending a fairly traumatic bridal show.

Has anyone else left this much up to chance as far as attire is concerned? How did it go?

What to Wear

One of the very first decisions I made about my wedding was concerning the bridesmaid's dresses. Only one of my maids lives in the same state as I do and I knew it would be a nightmare trying to get everyone together to get the perfect dress for everyone. I also want my bridesmaids and best friends to feel pretty and comfortable in what they are wearing.

So, I decided on letting each girl pick out any black dress they wanted. My only request was that it be tea-length. Here are some great dresses I found from J.Crew:


How do you feel about the black? Too dark or chic?

Horray!

My dress has arrived!

This is very exciting! I have an appointment on March 22nd to try it on and take it home! After it comes home it will probably be moving to Mr. Pineapple's Dad and Stepmom's house for safe keeping. (The kitties loves to chew on dress bags - go figure.)

Hopefully it will fit with very few alterations. The size ordered was a size smaller than the one I tried on so of course that is one more thing I get to worry about for a week.

Dress Shopping!

My bridesmaids and mother live all over the east coast. My sister (MOH) lives in NYC, The other girls live in Boston, Orlando and West Palm Beach. I have one Pittsburgh gal, Katie, and I am glad she is within arms reach - and crafty! I am lucky to have amazing friends who flew all the way to frozen Pittsburgh to help me find my gown. Since everyone was only going to be here for one weekend, I had to make it count.

I heard some bad things about David's Bridal, but really wanted it to work. I had a back-up appointment about an hour away just in case, but I didn't need it!

Here is the dress shopping adventure, you will notice some of the dresses I have on are ones I posted about earlier.

I really loved the waistline of this dress, it made me feel super skinny! The beading looked a little cheap or something.

This dress did not meet requirement number three, too much boobage.

I loved this dress, well the idea of this dress. Once I had it on it did this weird pucking thing below the waist, very disappointing.

This was my least favorite of all the gowns. It made me feel like a fatty. The waist was really wide. You can see me trying to make myself skinny in the left shot...didn't work.

This was my favorite from the pictures. However, I am not built like the model wearing the dress and I didn't want to get my hopes up. It was also the most expensive dress I had planned on trying on, so in the back of my head I was almost hoping I wouldn't like it on.

Then, once I had it on I loved it! I loved the color, I loved the ruffles! This dress was a size too big which threw me off a bit, but once it was clipped tighter I loved everything about it!

As soon as I put this gown on I said "Um, what is this made of? It's crunchy." It was also shiny and not very pretty. Not a winner.

I also really loved this dress on. The halter top kept me in place and was flattering. Other than that there really wasn't anything special or unique about it. It was still in the top two of the day. Also, after looking at is in the photos, I'm not impressed.

Now this dress my maids and Mom Pineapple picked out as a joke. They picked the biggest (and heaviest!) dress in the store. I was completely lost in it. Oh the poof! It even stood up on its own without anyone inside it!

Trying on all the gowns still felt somewhat surreal. Like I was trying on costumes for a play. Until, the veil and headpiece. As soon as she put them on me I turned completely red all over and had to fight back tears. The dress looked so different with the accessories. The veil is perfect, slightly girly, slightly vintage. At first I was anti-headpiece but this one was perfect for me- champagne and ivory pearls.

The final choice!

Anyone else find THE dress on their first try (in less than and hour and fifteen mintutes for that matter)?