For my whole get up for the wedding I am extremely proud to say that I spent less on everything put together than what many brides spend on their pair of shoes. I loved having given myself this challenge to give myself the look I wanted on such a tight budget.
The Dress
When I started thinking about the dress style I wanted and I also knew the challenges my body shape would give. There was no way I would ever wear strapless, I couldn’t go for a princess style dress as I didn’t want that kind of look and it would look ridiculous on me. I have always loved Jackie O’s look for her wedding and searched for photos of vintage brides from the 50’s to get some inspiration.
Here is ones of Jackie’s wedding portraits –
I love the style of the top of her dress so much – but the chances of finding that style in this day and age I realized would be slim to none. So I knew the look I wanted and had actually started looking at dressmakers in Utah as I found Mormon style dresses were the ones that appealed most to me as they gave the right amount of coverage that I wanted and didn’t look like every single other wedding dress out there. Then I found ‘the dress’ and I covered how this happened on a wedding update blog post –
When Emma was over in NY, she spoke about the show ‘Say Yes To The Dress’. It is GREAT viewing! We were watching it on a Saturday afternoon when I had a freak out over one episode where the the bride told the salesperson quite clearly what her limit to spend on the dress was and the sales person still went and got her one that was over the limit. It absolutely infuriated me. Watching them poke, prod and march out in front of other people… I couldn’t think of anything worse. I had had a look on some websites so I knew the style of dress I wanted and I know quite clearly what suits me and what doesn’t. I was dreading actually having to deal with sales people like this. Ugh! It was then that I went onto the David’s Bridal website and saw THE dress. It is only available online. I sent it to mum, Bill’s mum, Nadine and Shannyn saying “This is IT!â€. They all wrote back with an united YES. So the next day, I had Bill do all my measurements (how many grooms do the dress measurements for the bride?!) and worked out my size and… ordered it. Then on Tuesday it arrived at work. I wanted to wait to try it on until we were in Albany the following weekend. Once I tried it on, it was perfect and it got approval from Bill’s mum, his sisters Eileen and Pauline and nieces, Rebecca and Emily. It will need to be slightly altered but nothing major and it is exactly what I wanted. So it is staying for the next year at Bill’s parents home and I will start looking at alterations during summer next year. This is just the biggest relief for me – I didn’t have to get out of my pyjamas and I didn’t have to deal with salespeople. Hooray!
I cannot believe how lucky I was to find the dress so easily and without any hassle. I got it altered in Albany as it needed some taking in and that cost only $35! I know people go “Ughhh.. David’s Bridal.. cheap and nasty!” But this dress suited me more than any I had seen anywhere else as I started just looking at some other dresses online again about six months before the wedding as I thought maybe it was all too good to be true. After some searches, I knew it was silly to doubt myself and that I had made the right decision. It was meant to be!
The Shoes
I got my shoes off Zappos.com and they cost $40.. they were white satin and matched the retro look of the dress perfectly. As an added bonus they are just about the most comfortable pair of shoes I have ever worn!
Accessories
In all of my research looking at old wedding photos, I found one thing from that era that was in every photo – white gloves. So I made it my task to find a vintage pair that would have something different than just a plain white cotton pair. I actually think that the gloves are what made the whole look come together so well – without them the dress looked like a dress, with the gloves I looked like a bride. I scoured eBay and Etsy and found a pair exactly what I wanted. They had a small wrist detail and were new with tags and still in their bag – from about 1954/55!!! I could not believe it!! Even stranger… the seller was from Upstate New York and even better? I got the gloves for $8!!!!
Here you can see the edging in a bit more detail –
For my earrings, this was the only thing I left until the last minute as I wasn’t too bothered either way as I would just wear my pearl studs. Mum and I were at Burlington Coat Factory on 6th Ave when I found a cute little set for $5 (!!!!!) and I thought they would be perfect. We were nearly at Albany when I realized I left them back in the city. I was so angry I couldn’t believe I had forgotten them! After our ‘parents meet parents’ dinner I quickly got Bill to stop by the mall as they had a Burlington Coat Factory there. Mum and I ran in as I thought they would have the same stock. They had every single set of earrings that we had seen at 6th Avenue EXCEPT the ones that I had bought. Then, just by chance at the back of the rack there was a pair that I had not found at 6th Avenue and they were just there on their own. They were more perfect than the other set I had bought and I knew they would suit my face shape. These ones were also $5 and I knew they would suit the dress so much. The next day when I put them in my ears I thought to myself that it was almost fate that those earrings were still there and that I left the old earrings at home when I never ever forget anything!
My necklace was a set of pearls that mum had. Nana actually gave me a set of her pearls to wear but they were too creamy/yellowy in color for the dress which was a shame.
I am going to do a separate post about the veil… but this is how the whole look came together.
You can see the detailing of the ‘wrap’ style of the dress here –
One of my favorite photos… I remember feeling so chill and relaxed by this time!
