Today I had a virtual fitting with Adrienne. She was in a bridal shop in Atlanta and I was on the phone with her while she tried on dresses and got measured. So now we have all the bridesmaids’ measurements and we are ready to order the dresses!!
Last Thursday, after hitting endless dead ends with finding someone close by to do my alterations, I went back and forth with a manager at Kleinfeld trying to convince her to let me come back to the store. In the end I was told there are no exceptions. However, she did tell me that the women on the list they gave me are the very same women who do the alterations in the store; they do work from home on their days off. I told her my frustration with how far they all are from Astoria, so she told me which seamstress was the best, and I made an appointment with her for today.
When I got there, I told myself I would be cautious and not work with her unless I was 100% comfortable with leaving my dress with her. Well, Stella is amazing. It was so worth the long drive to get to her. She has been a seamstress at Kleinfeld for 26 years! I stayed with her over an hour and in that time she completely transformed my dress to the vision I had in my head, with just a few pieces of scrap fabric and some pins. She also showed me how it will look with the bustle, and it’s fabulous. I felt very comfortable with her personality and I know my dress is going to be amazing because of her.
I have been wondering how I make sure the gown is not wrinkled after traveling out to the Hamptons. I guess because I’ve never been a bridesmaid or helped plan a wedding, there are so many little things I don’t know about. Stella is going to be with us the day of the wedding and steam the dress in the morning and help me get in to it. She also helps the moms and bridesmaids, does the bustle so we don’t have to get stressed out about doing it right, etc etc. I feel so relieved today after meeting with her and so blessed that she will be there on the day. The only sad part is that now I don’t get to see my dress again until my next fitting in July!
Today Maria came down and we went to the bridal shop for her measurements. I really liked the dress on Maria, and I can’t wait until we get them all in and start on the alterations. I also showed Maria & Mrs. M. the dress Laura picked, and they had some great suggestions as to how to make it look more similar to the other dresses…but still unique at the same time! Now we only have one more bridesmaid to finish her measurements…
So I have a wedding gown that I could love, if only I could get the alterations I want done. Apparently, no bridal shop will alter a dress they didn’t also sell to you, and Kleinfeld (the bridal shop I bought it at) won’t alter my dress either, because I purchased it in a sample sale. Kleinfeld gave me some recomendations, but the only one that is within a reasonable distance for me is a woman who doesn’t speak English very well and won’t even give me a ballpark estimate of the time or cost of the alterations I want unless I cart the dress over for her to look at. I was so happy when I saved myself over $2000, but now I’m paying for it in headache. I have been scouring all the posts on liweddings.com and other sites to see what other ladies have done. Surely I can’t be the only person in this situation? There must be someone reputable to do the alterations? Any ideas?
On Friday, I had picked out a dress for Laura that was different from the other bridesmaid’s dresses in cut, but the same in every other way. I really like the idea of the maid of honor having a unique dress. Today Laura came to the store with me to get measured. The dress I picked was okay, but we found an even better one. I think it’s going to look amazing on her once we get the alterations done. I’m pretty excited about the dresses, and now we are half way done with the measurements!
The dresses we picked are by Jim Hjelm. They come in a fabric called “satin faced taffeta” which I am in love with and they are a soft oceany blue-green (they call the color lagoon) and there is a taupe accent fabric. I just love the look of it. Here’s a sample of the color on another dress:
I met Stacy at Penn Station this afternoon and we walked to the bridal shop where we are getting the bridesmaids’ dresses (RK Bridal). We both tried on a bunch of dresses that came in the fabric I had picked out. Once Stacy found the best one, she practiced her walk, dancing and her entrance! I thought it was really cool to have someone brave enough to do this in the store, so I could see how the dress moves etc. One of the other customers took it the wrong way and thought Stacy was the bride. She said she was scared for me because she thought Stacy was demonstrating what I had to do at her wedding!
While we were there, I talked to the staff about the fact that the bridesmaids are all from other places and we can’t all come in at once and they had the perfect solution for our situation. I filled out a sheet with each bridesmaid’s information, and which dress she should be fitted for. Then they keep the sheet there and hold it until everyone is measured and then order all the dresses at once. That way we make sure they are all from the same dye lot and the color is identical on each dress.
Yesterday was a very long day, but a lot of fun. All the bridesmaids and our two moms went on our first trip to look at bridesmaids dresses. For a long time it seemed like I picked a color that didn’t exist. So then we started picking out different colors and styles just to try them out. At one store I found some dresses that were not only in the mermaid cut, but also looked like mermaid skin. I picked out one for everyone and I think I really scared them. They thought I was serious, and once Laura had hers on she said, “If you make us wear these, you’re the worst bride ever!” I was glad I asked them to try those dresses on because we all had a good laugh and I think the trip became more fun after that. We also eventually found a dress by Mori Lee that comes in the color I want (a soft medium blue-grey) and the taffeta fabric it comes in looks rich and beautiful. I am also thinking about pale turquoise but I didn’t see much in that color either. The search continues…
Last night Laura drove up to New York after work so we could go look for a wedding gown today. Not only did we look, but I bought the best wedding gown!! We grabbed some bridal magazines to look through on the train on the way in to the city, and picked out all the different elements that I liked and didn’t like. Then we got in to Kleinfeld and I only found one dress that I thought would fit all the criteria I had chosen. So my sister (wisely) told me to pick out some others just to try the different styles. The main thing that was limiting my choices was that I thought I wanted a pure white dress. I didn’t realize that the dresses that were pure white were the polyester ones (oops!). So I ended up getting a “pearl white” dress in 100% silk. It’s so luxurious and I really love it! I don’t want to reveal too much, because Peter will probably read this later and I want him to be totally surprised when he sees me appear at the end of the aisle.