Ruffles galore

{Cymbeline Carissa} {Cymbeline:Cherie}

I dig ruffles on wedding dresses, I have yet to try on a wedding dress with ruffles like the ones shown in this post, most likely because they are muy expensive. Like my bf/bridesman tells me, my taste is more than my budget. Is it weird that I love dresses with ruffles, yet I also love satin trumpet dresses with clean lines and no ruching? Not for me it isn't, in fact it is very typical for me to like two things that seem to be completely different, I think it brings balance. If I could, I would wear a ruffle dress for the ceremony & a trumpet dress for the reception, but that's not a possibility, right now I would just be happy finding 1 dress :-) . Btw I almost found "the one" four times in the last 2 weeks, I have not posted about it yet because I still have to get caught up on the rest of the dress shopping that lead up to these. In retrospect, I think I just started wanting anything that resembled what I wanted to be "the one" because I am tired of looking for it, & also I have had to invest in more boy short undies due to going to all these bridal places. I feel closer to it though, I *know* I will find "her" this week, that or I will find someone to custom make her for me :-)



{Edgardo Bonilla:Agatha} {Watters Brides:4043B}

Dress Shopping Part 4

As you may have guessed by week 4 of dress shopping I was pretty sick of dress shopping & losing hope. I happened to be looking at the Jim Hjlem website & noticed that Marylinn's Bridal in Pasadena was having a Jim Hjelm trunk sale, I quickly call them & ask if they have an appt, & as luck would have it, they had a cancellation & if I could make it there in an hour, I could take that appt. So I head on down to Pasadena but alas they don't have that particular dress. I did get to try on this Jim Hjelm dress jh8759 (shown above)and let me tell you I was not impressed. The first picture makes the dress look more glamorous then it really is, but the second & third pictures actually do a good job of showing how the dress fits, it doesn't have a nice shape and the material isn't very luxurious. Oh btw a hjelm is not even within my budget, but it was the only dress I could find that was the style I was looking for, so I thought if I could try it on I can at least know if it is the style I truly want.

I realized at this Bridal Store that I did not want something too plain. Per the sales persons suggestion I tried on the Mathew Christopher Lalique (shown below) I had never seen the dress before and when I tried it on, I loved the way it fit, (at least with the clips on the back) but the thing I loved most about it was the train of the dress, it was shaped like petals and I loved that you could see the slip. I thought the dress was too sexy for the wedding and I really did not like the way it had the upside down triangle by you know where - speaking of that I tried on a few dresses that brought attention to that space, mostly I saw it in lace patterns, what is up with that?! no need to put attention to that area, we all know what's there. Luckily the dress was not the one because it was WAY out of budget. I also loved the material and the color of the dress.

When I searched for it online I was surprised to see how it looked, one picture almost looks like a cartoon and in the one with the model it does not show how great this dress is on someone with an hour glass shaped figure, nor does it show how great the mermaid part of the dress looks when the bride is facing forward. The first picture does do a great job of showing how beautiful the train is. After this dress shopping, I added dramatic trumpet/mermaid to my list of things I wanted. So far the list is; satin, trumpet or mermaid (always on the list), beading in the top area and/or waist, strapless (prefer sweetheart), perhaps a beaded belt and buttons on the back.

Marylinn's had a lot of dresses to choose from ranging from the pouf beading, charmeuse and modern dresses, but one thing that rubbed me the wrong way is that I saw the Casablanca dress 1910 there and they were selling it for $1400, I had seen this same dress at Bridal Elegance in Torrance and Image Bridal in West L.A selling for around $900, so if you do find your dress here make sure you know what the going rate for it is before you buy.

Marylinn's Bridal

82 S Fair Oaks Ave

Pasadena, CA 91105

Dress Shopping Part 3

In part 3 of dress shopping, I am still looking for a trumpet satin dress similar to the Jim Hjlem (see pic)

Tuesday:

Wilshire Bridal & Tuxedo - They had a great selection of dresses for everyone that likes beading, lace & ruching. I explained to them that I did not want any beading but I would take a lil bling around the neckline or waist, I wanted trumpet but no ruching, or if need be I'd take the ruching around the top but nothing past the waist. I tried on 2 dresses here, and the ladies were super sweet. I like that they gave it to me straight and told me that perhaps it's best if I have my dress custom made because what I am looking for is not easily found, but after they had the seamstress talk to me about the cost, they also showed me a dress that was affordable and said I could also just alter the neckline and but a beaded sash & that would also do the trick.

Wilshire Bridal & Tuxedo

3818-22 Wilshire Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90010

Wednesday:

Glamour Closet: They had just gotten their October inventory, so I was hoping I would find something this time around. I tried on some pouf thing & once again confirmed, pouf is not for me, I also tried the St. Germain Watters gown because of it's wonder woman belt, but I was not down with the A- line and it was too big for me & not in that great of condition.

324 South La Brea Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90036

Friday:

Mon Amie Bridal Salon: They have you fill out a form when you are asking for an appt through the web, one of the questions was my budget – I got a nice response from them that they would be happy to give me an appt but perhaps I would be more interested in their Outlet which is within the store. I hear a lot of girls get their dream dress here, so if you have the money & you want the beading & pouf then you should check them out. Cousin/MOH accompanied me to the Mon Amie outlet, the sales lady there was very nice and helped me find a few dresses that fit some of my criteria but all in all I thought the dresses in the outlet were way over priced and many of them were missing beading, threading or dirty. It’s one thing if they looked like that and cost a couple hundred, but the cheapest dress I tried on, and I used cheap loosely, was $1800.

355 Bristol St.

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

After Mon Amie, I did a google search for “bridal store” but nothing came up, so we head to The Cerritos Mall for some BM dress shopping (separate post about this one).

After the mall and more google searching we end up in Downey at Quinceanera Dream (translation sweet sixteen dream, insert pink pouf). By looking at the window of the dress shop you may think to yourself why didn’t they just run the other way? Nope not us, we face fear right in the eye and headed in. They don’t have any bridal dresses there, instead what they have our catalougs and you can order your dress or (bridesmaid dress) from them or show them a picture of a dress and they will make it, for around $300-500! But considering I still was not sure what this “dream wedding dress” of mine looked like, I could not take them up on the offer.

Quinceanera Dream (see pic)

8731 Firestone Blvd

Downey, CA 90241

Gorgeous wedding at the Bride's Cafe

This gown is GORGEOUS, as is the bride...check out her wedding at the Bride's Cafe *here*

Dress Shopping Part 2

Week of Dress Shopping:
Monday:
The Image: Small store in little Japan, friendly service, and great prices but was the first place that I felt they were pressuring me to make a decision and buy a dress. They had the Casablanca 1910 that I had tried on in dress shopping part 1 & it was for a great price. The sales lady was helpful in listening to what I had to say & making me realize that #1 I do like some bling on dresses just not too much, #2 One of the reasons I don't like ruching is because I like symmetry and many dresses with ruching are not symmetrical.
The Image
2130 Sawtelle Blvd #209
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Wednesday:
Glamour Closet - I did not find anything to try on the first time I came here, but they did have a good selection of designer gowns for about half off. Instead of me giving you tips for this place, check out A Los Angeles Love's post about her trip there, she has all the 411.
Glamour Closet
324 South La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Thursday:
Marylinn's Bridal: This is where I realized that many of the dresses online do not look the same in person, I don’t know if it’s the weird way many of the models pose (see pic to the left) but surprisingly some dresses look better in person then online. I tried on an Alvina Valenta dress that looked ok online but when I put it on it looked way better- I loved the is exactly what I was looking for, but it didn’t seem “bridal” enough, I felt more like I was going to a Hollywood Gala then my own wedding. I came here in hope that I would find the Jim Hjelm dress I thought resembled what I wanted in a dress the most (minus the hefty price tag), but nope it wasn’t there. Luckily the Alvina was and it confirmed that I did indeed want a trumpet dress. They have beautiful dresses here & the ladies are very sweet & oh so stylish. They had a beautiful hair flower made of feathers that they put on me & it also confirmed that I did indeed want that as well.
material and the way it fit, these aspects of the dress
Marylinn's Bridal
250 South Robertson Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Friday:
Winnie Courture: This was the first place that actually had the two dresses I had seen online & I was finally able to try on the dresses. I had a few dresses from other designers that I had printed, then looked at the “locations”, went to the store and they did not have the dress. I would soon find out that over 90% of the dresses I had listed as “fav” were no where to be found in L.A, so I could not even try them on – if it’s like that here, I can’t imagine how it is for brides in the Mid West! I liked both dresses I tried on, but was not crazy in love with them, I wanted more of a dramatic trumpet but one thing I really liked on the Winnie Couture Sonnorra dress was the paneling, it gave it a nice structured look. The dresses confirmed my love of what my cousin/MOH calls the “wonder belt”. I first realized I was attracted to the bling belts at Bridal Elegance when I put on the Casablanca 1910.
Winnie Courture
9393 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Coordinating the wedding party & BM dress websites

In my continued search for bm dresses I came across Dessy Group, apparently I had bookmarked it a while ago but had not really checked it out till today. For those of us that are color challenged like me or those that just want to see how their colors would look on their wedding party, should check out Dessy Group.
If you are looking for bm dresses, here are some links to bm dresses:

1. Jordan
2. DaVinci
3. Impression
4. Eden
5. Mori Lee
   
6. Alfred Angelo
   
7. Watters & Watters
8. Bari Jay
9. Jessica McClintock
   
10. JCPenney
    

Dress Shopping Part 1- One Day Shopping

{ Maggie Sottero- Lara & Paloma Blanca - 3966}

I thought I would share with all you So Cal ladies info on dress stores that I have gone to. Keep in mind, what I am going to share with you has already happened, day 1 was back in late September. Since every one's taste are different the reasons I may not like a place maybe the exact reason you do like it, so overall I would say go to as many places as you can, especially if you are like me and never opened a bridal magazine or looked at bridal site in your life, until 1 week after you were engaged. The things I wanted from a dress were, strapless, little or no beading, buttons on the back and trumpet or mermaid. Apparently, this style is not that easy to find. The two above dresses were the only ones I kind of liked from Day 1 of shopping, but the Maggie was A line so that didn't work and the Paloma had ruching so that didn't work either.
This was Day 1 :

Brides of California: Small store, we walked in without an appt right when they had just opened the store, I did not look at any of the bridal dresses but MOH did try on a few dresses here & the girls that work here were able to find bm dresses really fast, just based on a few things I told them. 1445 Marcelina Ave Torrance,CA - 90501 310-783-6523

Bridal Elegance: I had an appt, the lady who helped me was awesome, she listened to what I had to say and kept me at my budget. They had a great selection of dresses under 1500, only thing is that many of the dresses had ruching and beading which I did not want in a dress. I don't think I can get my groove on the dance floor with a dress that weighs the same as a toddler. That being said, I saw some brides looking very happy & beautiful in their ruching & beaded dresses - it's just not me. Torrance,CA - 90505 310-406-3917

La Soie: Come here only if your budget is over 2K. Lucky for me I did not like anything they had & could not have exited the premises sooner. 19800 Hawthorne Blvd. Suite 212 Torrance, CA 90503

David's Bridal: I wrote about my experience already, I think people either hate this store or love it. Although I did not find anything & I did not feel that the sales person was listening to what I wanted, I still think everyone who is on a budget should check it out for themselves because you never know & this way you don't have to wonder about it. 20140 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA

What I learned about bridesmaid dresses

{ Source: Personal collection}

The picture above is of my mom & my aunt (MOH's mom/Concepcion/co blogger} on my aunt's wedding day. I love this picture of them, I wish they had more from the wedding, but this is the only one I could find. I also wish my mom had that dress and especially those heels so I could borrow them. I don't know if you guys can tell, but the heels she is wearing are nude colored and the ankle strap looks like a gold ankle bracelet. But I digress...
What I learned from bridesmaid dress shopping:

1. You may want your wedding colors to be say - yellow & grey but the bm dress you like does not come in yellow or if it does it's an ugly yellow. Where the heck are all these brides finding pretty yellow for the ever popular yellow grey wedding?? and don't say J Crew, although their dresses are cute they are not always flattering & are too casual for our wedding.
   
2. BM dress sizes are similar to bridal dress sizes, they are not the same as your street size.
3. Some dresses can take 3 months to order.
4. The dresses you see online may not be available at any of the stores near you, even if the store is listed in the designer's website.
5. You should choose/buy your dress first because you may change your mind about the style.
6. It is very hard to find a dress that is flattering for everyone, affordable, available, not taffeta (per MOH) and in the color you want.
7. You will have sales people tell you that you should choose a color & style that is flattering to everyone (um this is not easy when you have a wedding party like mine that is like a United Colors of Benetton ad) AND you will also have sales people tell you that it's your wedding so you can do what ever you want - personally I want the wedding party to look hot & feel as amazing as we do, so I am really trying to find something flattering.
   

2010 Designer Gowns

Still looking for THE dress...I think I have looked at thousands of dresses, no joke. To make matters worse or better the 2010 dresses premiered and I looked at ALL 73 pages on Brides.com, so many pretty ones, you can check them out *here*

The groom wore white

One day, 5 months ago, my BFF/Bridesman tells mi amor that he should wear white

on the wedding day to which mi amor responds "that is a great idea!" I was not sure if he was joking or not because those two joke around all the time, and since I am going dress shopping this weekend (gasp!) I needed to know if he was serious because it would kind of set the tone for the wedding and would be a factor in the color of my dress & the BM dresses, so I asked him if he was positive if he was wearing white and he enthusiastically said YES! BFF/Bridesman and mi amor are suppose to look at tuxes soon, he is very excited about it and told me that since he can't see me in my dress, I cant see his tux. I think he was joking but now I am not too sure.

Although I still don't know my wedding colors at least I know what color the bride & groom will be wearing!

I wonder if he will go with the all white tux, or with something similar to what Sean Connery is wearing in this picture...