Their Dresses

Well, believe it or not, the bridesmaid dress selection challenge went off without a hitch. In quick fashion, H, Lamey and Coco decided on a dress (in two styles, of course) that not only come across as great bridemaids dresses but also (and I agree 100%!) pull off 'little black dress' perfectly. PofB has some great (affordable) dresses. Image 1, here, and, Image 4, here. These designs, except, obviously, in black.

I'm quite pleased - not that it really matters.

Since I'm pretty sure tux selection will be painless, I think I have some time before rounding up the troops for a fitting. Big A is with me so that leaves the mothers. I wonder what they will wear??

ps...Coco, promised she'd make this post but she's been really, really busy. Life gets that way. Happy holidays! (channeling my best GG voice....) X-O-X-O.

Since She Wont...

I guess I'll have to...

Today. After work. No - not holiday happy hour, silly. Round 1 of bridesmaid dress shopping. I think it's here but obviously in NYC. She has a store here, too, you know. Yuck, yuck.

Epiphany

* Updating this blog once a day - much less once a week - is mucho difficult.

* With that being said, I've heard bridesmaid dress selection is around the corner.

* We're getting to ready to book our flights to Rome. It's times like that this that I wish I knew someone - anyone - in the airline industry. Business/first class tickets are so not happening.

* Coco has done absolutely no research regarding shore excursions. Slacker.

* As much as I fancy the idea of wedding cake alternatives, I'm not sure the Carlyle has taken steps in that direction. Coco, you down?

* Somehow, I just don't feel badly for these guys, right Brad? Perhaps stupidty is contagious over there? I hope so.

* This story gives new dimension to hand me down wedding dresses. Guess the dress also classifies as the "something old", huh?

* I wonder if the Mets will have to include Reyes in a package for a top-notch starter?

* As far as wedding photography goes, I've come across a great link stressing about 20 or so things to keep in mind. I'm a huge fan of the family photo coordinator! Hmmm. Wonder who we'll pick....

* When do wedding invitations usually go out? 6 months ahead?

In Honor Of All Hallow's Eve and All Things Black

As you probably know, Coco would do just about anything to get married in a black dress holding black flowers. Alas, her mother wouldn't hear of it.

So, in honor of her affinity for black gowns and fauna AND in honor of the Celts that begin celebrating Samhain and All Hallow's Eve (which eventually became Halloween), I've come upon a dark tale of a couple that has decided to marry on a blessed holiday while playing homage to the awesomeness that are the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and the “Dungeons and Dragons” role-playing game. Can you say Elvira meets King Arthur's court?? Weird is an understatement.

Read more about it here.

ps...how on earth does someone really name their child 'Faith Charity'?

pps...oh, and for the record, she's come so far as to 1) look at the Cowboys schedule to see what week they have a BYE and 2) actually know what a BYE is. Way to go, Coco!

The Dress

Yesterday's missions was accomplished - The Dress was procured - not that I have any idea what it looks like....but it supposed to be that way, no?! For that may wish to read about the final decisions, she may not divulge all of the details publicly. Alas, you may be in my boat - having to wait until our wedding day. Sorry.

S-L-O-W

With things as slow as they are, I've only got the following to report:

1) I'm hoping to accompany Coco to our next floral shop visit this Sunday (Pedestals in Garden City) but it doesn't look likely - silly girl scheduled it at 3pm on the Sunday the 'Boys play the Pats.

2) This Saturday will mark the second Wedding Dress day. Only two - whodathunk.

3) We're tossing around what hotel to stay at in Rome on the front side of the cruise. Have you been? Where should we stay in? What's a must to see (since I've never been)?

4) Imagine if it's this warm come next year?!?

5) There's got to be more - there has to be.....

Dress Shopping - Take One

Dress Shoppping. It was certainly an experience and there are some U-G-L-Y bridal gowns out there, that's for sure. So many beads, so little time. Since we had a kick ass night out on Friday with G & E, 8 am definitely came early. I gave myself a pep talk and the minute I heard my stomach grumbling for some food, I knew I'd make it through the day sans hangover.

I met my mom and Lames at 9:30 am at Kleinfelds. The store is on 20th street in Manhattan. We waited about 15 minutes in the lobby (BTW - its by appointment only) before we were matched up with our "consultant". The only problem - I would have killed for something to drink - anything to drink. Anything. A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G. I wish I was offered water or coffee or iced tea or iced coffee - just SOMETHING while we waited. Trying on dresses is tiring and us brides-to-be need to keep up our energy level, people!

Our consultant, Barbara, came out to greet us and promptly escorted us to her dressing room; it was labeled as such - "Barbara's Dressing Room". I have heard mixed opinions about Kleinfelds from various brides-to-be saying that the consultants were, mostly, difficult to work with. This was anything but the case. Barbara was perfectly lovely. She listened ever so patiently while I gave her my list of requirements for the gown of my dreams:

1. Nothing too poofy (read: poofy = bad)
2. Nothing that looked like The Bedazzler had something to do with the design and manufacturing process.
3. No Tulle. Absolutely. No. Tulle.
4. No Bunching. I like the occasional frech croissant but I don't want to look like a french pastry.
5. Simple and elegant is key. (read: simple and elegant = good)
6. A-line or Trumpet cuts look best on me as I have childbearing hips (read: child-bearing = good; the groom-to-be says so.)
7. Mermaid cut is bad as are skin tight dresses.

I didn't think my list of demands was anything too outrageous and thankfully, neither did Barbara. She had sent us into "the racks" where there were hundreds upon hundreds of dresses to choose from. Barbara said to grab 5 and bring them back to the room while she pulled a few dresses that she thought I might like. I felt like I had walked into Macy's in Herald Square. Completely overwhelmed, I felt my first jolt of panic. Thankfully, mom expected as much and went to right to work grabbing armfuls of dress and mumbling something that sounded like; "Stefania, sweetie, calm down. This is so exciting! Breath, sweetie, breath." Lamey did the same - without the mumbling of course - and I even started to get on the action. After finding about 8 or so, I decided it was time to start trying them on.

Kleinfelds, thankfully, supplies all brides-to-be with a strapless/backless bra to wear while trying on dresses. Barbara, thankfully, reminded me to NOT go out and buy any undergarments until after my first fitting. AS I found out, most stores tell you exactly what you should purchase. Also, practically every dress I tried on was a size 10 which meant they had to be clipped in the back to fit my hopefully-soon-to-be-size-4-but-still-a-size-6-figure.

I started trying on a few dresses but I wasn't getting that "holy crap this is THE dress" feeling. Uh-oh. Lamey was cute; while she liked every dress she wasn't exactly thrilled to the core about any of them. Barbara was a real trooper and kept at it, leaving me every so often to pull another dress off "the racks". Like a golden (and wonderfully gay) ray of sunshine, Randy knocked on my door. Randy is the Fashion Director at Kleinfelds and absolutely loves his job, and I, absolutely love him. He started pulling dresses for me to try on as well. He has vision. Every time I remotely semi-loved a dress, I took a walk, put on the matching veil and shoes and took a walk down the aisle, err I mean, hallway. He offered his best criticism and gave the proverbial thumbs up or thumbs down.

Finally, nearing the end of my appointment that just happened to run 30 minutes over, I put on a dress by Christos; a dress that gave me my first "holy crap - this is the dress" feeling. But alas, I almost started to cry, my mom had goose bumps and I thought this was it. Well - almost. To me, there were more dresses to be tried on. Much like a great pair of shoes, there is always something better around the corner.

Randy, my new found confidante, equipped with his honest, and best, opinion, thought that this dress was the best dress - so far. (What does that mean really??) As expected, he talked me and my mother out of my other goose-bump factor dress; a beautiful Ulla-Maijer design. You know what?!? Randy was 100% correct. I left Kleinfelds feeling confident that that would be the dress...

Next stop - the Saks Fifth Avenue bridal salon. Again, unfortunately, we were not offered anything to drink -what gives anyway!?! Champagne would have been perfectly acceptable and appreciated. Hopefully when the dress is purchased I'll get my glass of Champagne. Hopefully. Champagne aside, I met with our bridal consultant Stephanie, who, totally got me.

She brought in a variety of designers - Vera, Carolina, Ulla-Maijer, Melissa Sweet,and Amsale, to name a few. When I first heard her say Vera Wang and Carolina Herrera, I thought "Um, yeah that's definitely out of budget, but alright, twist my arm, it can't hurt to try them on." But I was in for a nice surprise when the Herrera dress came in within budget! Cha-ching.

Alas, Vera, was not....but can you really put a price on beauty (dad)?!

To my shocked surprise, Charles Bunstine (aka the designer from Ulla-Maijer) was at the bridal salon. We small talked and got along great but I'm pretty sure my mom insulted him. She didn't like the first dress I tried on that just happened to be his design. GASP. She said something about "the bunching" and "draping" and how she didn't like it. He wasn't too pleased. Oh well. "On to the next dress" I said.

After more than a dozen or so dresses, I didn't think that I would find anything I loved more than the Christos dress until I tried on two dresses; a black and ivory Carolina Herrera dress and a different Ulla-Maijer dress. My mother, forever perplexed, had an even more perplexed look on her face. I wasn't sure she liked it but as it turns out, she was too confused about which dress she liked best! As am I. Or was. I left Kleinfelds so sure that I had found my dress, and now, I just can't decide!

After all is said and done, the deciding factor will be this: I need to see the Ulla-Maijer dress with the detachable train. Somehow Saks "misplaced" it. In fact, Saks was disappointing over all. A lot of their dresses were missing pieces, a bow here, a train there. The dresses looked as if they had been through a war - white should never look gray. I was shocked and I'm an SFA groupie. Also, they did not have the sample size 10 in all of the dresses. Some were made for mannequins! The mannequins I know are clearly diminutive, zero or maybe a 2. I couldn't get most of them zipped up which was a real letdown. Charles reassured me and asked me to go check out the dress I was interested in "in all it's glory" (aka with the train) on the Ulla-Maijer website. I have to say, he was right. Once I saw it with the train I fell in love. This might be the dress. I just now need to find it with the train.

Randy, of Kleinfelds was nice enough to give me his cell phone number if I had any questions at all. Well, I had plenty of questions today and I am currently waiting for him to return my call so I can find out if he can get the Herrera and the Ulla-Maijer dress in stock. I need to see them side by side and then my girls can come and give me their opinion. If not, then I will start making phone calls all over the city to find this darn dress and train. But let's wait and see what Randy has to say...

Random Ramblings

Wedding Insurance

With the cost of weddings forever rising, it seems only natural to provide oneself a safety net just in case things don't go as expected. I still haven't pulled the trigger on this. My only real concern is how far in advance do I need to secure it. I obviously understand that going to contract a fews days before is most likely not an option. Thoughts?

I would tend to argue that insurance should be procured as soon as we start putting down deposits on the reception venue, band, photographer, etc.

Doh! Better get on it.


The Dress Ordeal

Rockstar designer Monique Lhuillier has this to say about dress shopping:

1. Go in with an open mind. You may think you know what you're looking for and what works for you, but you have to try on several different dresses.

2. Don't shop with too many people. You'll just get confused, because everyone has an opinion. Listen to the little voice inside of you.

3. Fit is key. Be as comfortable as you can in your wedding gown. The better it fits, the happier you will be on the big day.

Talk about enlightening.

Did you also know that she is teaming with Royal Doulton in October to launch a fine china and stemware collection??

Here's more juice on her.

Watch out Vera Wang - your designs seem to resemble targets.

P(ark)S(lope) Wedding Dress Blues

Damn! I feel so (not) badly for this lil lady. Her PS dry cleaner shut down abruptly whilst still having in their possession her wedding dress!!! Eeek!

Who gets a wedding dress cleaned these days anyway?? I hope it was after the wedding and not during some "at home alone" time. And here I thought the latest trend was trashing a wedding dress. What? Don't believe me? Read about it here and here. For the record - this guy started it all.

In any case, trashing one sounds like a great way to salvage a dress that will be worn only once granted it's actually being purchased. Is renting one that wrong?

Wedding Attire Threads

Conde's Glamour ran a brief piece under the MSNBC banner about a bride's style Dos and Don'ts. I'll quote (and possibly comment one) the important points:



1)"DON’T spend the down payment for your home on a wedding dress."

I concur.

2)"DON’T obey the old rule that bridesmaid gowns must always match! There are very few dresses that flatter all body types and your bridesmaids will thank you for taking their sizes and shapes into consideration."

Umm. I'm not sure how Coco will take to this but I think she'll forgo 'staying on their good side' for the same black dress they can actually wear after the wedding.

3)"DO make sure your groom fits in with the rest of the bridal party."

Well, yeah. Obv.

4)"DO find an 'of the moment' It dress that is timeless and classic."

This seems like a home run to me. If there is one thing I can count on is Coco picking something timeless & classic. Go Coco. Team Brefanie rules!



In true related fashion (pun intended), all Dress Day references will heretofore be referred to as D-Day. Dress Day = D-Day. Get it? Similarly, all Tuxedo Day references will fall under the T-Day moniker.

Question: If I am purposefully excluded from D-Day, does this imply that Coco is excluded from T-Day? Seems only fair, no? I'll take it from here, baby.

Random Thought of Weddingness

How will she and I incorporate ethnic customs or cultural traditions into the wedding?

Politely speaking, we're mutts whose families are at least 3 generations removed from whatever coasts they left from. What little culture or ethnic traditions I have, and please note that I am not including my like of scotch, I'd like to tie them into the wedding. Somehow. I don't know about you but when I see ethic weddings I get jealous.

Latin weddings make me want to tango and salsa and samba and all that good stuff. (Man, I hope Renegade can do something with a latin twist and I don't mean 'Santana-inspired'.) Indian weddings are so beautiful with endless floral displays and eye popping colors. (Ash rocks.) Asian weddings are equally rich with color, movement and meaning. And Israeli/Jewish weddings, as large as they usually are, are chock full of tradition. And if I may, to G$'s benefit, I'm always involved with the chair lifting. His body can't take the abuse anymore.

So, where am I going with this? [Pause] I'd like to incorporate who we are culturally into the wedding. I almost guarantee that Coco may not be up for this since this means messing with her Vision but here's how I see her responding:

"Culture? You want to infuse culture and tradition in my, I mean, our wedding? Culture? What does that even mean? We're not cultural. You're only cultural on St. Patrick's Day. And then you're annoying and can't keep your hands off of me after drinking all day. The only culture I think we have in us is NYC and Brooklyn. That means the only color you'll see is Black and White. Besides, you'll see color in the bouquets - dark, blood red, almost Black, flowers. How's that for color?"

My response:

"Great. Sounds just like a funeral." [Feel free to insert your own wedding-day-really-a-funeral-for-a-bachelor joke here. I'm not that brave.]

Alas, fear not, for I have a solution. I'll start with one suggestion and see where that gets me - I plan on incorporating the McNamara tartan. (Have I mentioned this before because it sounds awfully familiar?) Here, have a look. Not bad right. I'm not sure how just yet to incorporate it but what about as a ribbon around the boutonnieres for the groomsmen? A tartan tie? A pair of suspenders? Handkerchiefs for the wedding parties? Or as a garter - hubba, hubba. I think it can be done with style and class. It's not like I want to wear a kilt. I'm not asking for a lot - just a bit of color. A splash, per se.

I'm rather confident The Mothers will support my efforts. Thoughts?

[Coco, care to parry and riposte?]

Question - The Right Attire?

Tuxedo tie avec vest?

Tuxedo tie sans vest

Bow-tie et cummerbund?

Bow-tie sans cummerbund?

Ou absente de ce qui précède?

Decisions. Decisions.