Top 10 Worst Bridesmaids' Dresses EVER

Well, I think they're all pretty horrible, but I tried to rank them in order from the most terrifying to most tolerable.  I get these emails from The Knot & usually they are about good ideas for a wedding, how to do your hair, etc. but today's was an extra special treat because all of these dresses are just hideous.  Thank goodness they blurred out the faces!  Granted, some of them look like they were a long time ago so they're more excusable, but the bikini tops with ballroom bottoms & the pink hooker/stripper/ballerina/lingerie dresses.....really?????  I feel SO bad for all of the girls who had to wear these.  These brides must have really hated their bridesmaids to do this to them.  Girls, if I EVER get something crazy like this in my mind, please just punch me.  Okay?

O.M.G. & they aren't even skinny...at least they have shoulder puffs?

Keepin' it classy...

Sliced mangled peaches? Or demons? I don't even know.  Hopefully it was at least on Halloween.  Not that that's an excuse.

Camo...going hunting after the wedding.

Little Red Riding Hood.

Little Bo Peep.

The Sound of Music curtains?

Easter pastels.

Looks more like a really fancy funeral...

Neon for glow-in-the-dark in case the lights go out & the candles get blown out.

Hope you enjoyed the laughs! :)

Decorating Diva

Okay, okay...not exactly a diva (hopefully!) but it started with a "d" haha.  As promised earlier, pictures of all the little things I've picked up so far for our wedding.  I'm still not clear on how they'll be used in the decor, whether for pictures at my grandparents' barn or part of the reception decorations.  All of that will probably be decided sometime after we meet with & book a florist.  But they're the perfect colors & I'm sure they'll be a special part of our wedding somehow.  These are something that I haven't "included" in the wedding budget because I just go ahead & buy them myself...it feels good to know that I'm helping contribute in some little way (perhaps on of the ways that is the most "me") to everything else my parents are doing for us.  You know, besides making everything I can by hand :)  Anyway, all of the stuff up there (besides the redneck wine glasses) are from Hobby Lobby, 50% off!  The red trunk they're sitting on also matches our colors & I really want to find a place for it too!  It's so cute & it's extra special because my grandparents gave it to me for my 20th birthday. 

Left: blue glass bowl made in Italy ($5); Right: sweet little jewelry box with sequins & bead embellishments ($3) that I can't wait to hold my wedding jewelry & Anthony's wedding band in, from Ally's Attic in Snellville.

This is the wire basket that I wrote about a few posts ago from V.V.  I think it was less than $5 & Anthony has promised to fix it up for me.  It needs some serious work, but I just love it!

Well, this one doesn't go as much, but I bought it at HobLob when our colors were still aqua & apple green.  Still love it becasue it's huge & I love oversized coffee mugs.  I'm sure I'll be able to find a place for it in our home someday...probably in the dishwasher most of the time. Ha!  I've purchased a few other things for our future house, but they're in packaging paper & put up in a spare room at my mom's house.  Someday they'll be up in our house for everyone to come over & see, so no need to put up pictures of everything! :)

P.S. Two posts in two days must be some kind of record!

A Wedding Box & A Hint Jar

One of the little "handmade" things I decided I wanted to do for this wedding was boxes.  I'm big on "memory boxes"...both me & Anthony have one that we keep special little things from our relationship in.  I had started looking around on Pinterest & decided that I wanted to make a box for each of my bridesmaids.  After I painted three, I had to go back to Hobby Lobby to get a fourth (they only had three the first time I went).  As I was looking at these plain boxes, I decided that I wanted one for myself as well.  (I'm hoping to get the bridesmaids' boxes to them within the next week or two, then make the official announcement!)  I already have some things collected from planning trips I've been on, inspirations for the decor, things I'm saving to use in some way during the wedding, etc.  Above you can see the painted box (outside: left, inside: right) & below is some of the things that I have already put in it (left) & a picture of the bottom, which is probably my favorite poem in the entire world..."The Good Morrow" by John Donne (right):

One of my favorite things in the box is the card Anthony's mom gave us when we got engaged.  The outside said "Congratulations on your engagement--and one little bit of advice..." & the inside says "Ignore the advice.  Love knows the way.  So happy for you!"  Man, I wish I could just shove this in everyone's faces when they mention how young I am.  (If you're wondering what brought this on...among other things...a certain nosey, condescending professor just can't leave it alone).  I could go on & on about how we've known each other for 4 years, dated 3 & 1/2, both serve in our church, both have jobs, are both going to graduate college (he'll graduate before we're married), have the support of both our families (most of them at least...), have a plan & will be financially stable.  Yes, things will probably be hard, but what marriage isn't?  We have a lot of things going for us & some things working against us, that's how I think most marriages are.  What counts is how much you love each other (as in, the verb choose to love, not just the butterfly emotion), how prepared you are for the rough patches & how hard you're willing to work to get through them.  It's just so annoying to me that people who don't even know us (or even people who do) are so doubtful of our relationship making it...or are just mean or judgemental.  I dealt with the same thing in high school & after with people telling us we would never last.  Well, here we are.  I don't "need" people to agree with what I'm doing, but it sure would be nice & make things much less stressful if people could either get on board or at least keep their negative opinions to themselves...it's not like anything they say will change my mind.  Okay, stepping off the soap-box now...

While I was at Hobby Lobby in search of boxes, I noticed some sales & other things going on, so I picked up a few more things for our wedding decorations.  I didn't take a picture with me of all the blue-tinted glassware that I've gotten from them, but one day I'll just have to set it all out & get a photograph of it.  There's so much.  (I mean, seriously, how can you pass up 50% off when you know you'll use it in both your wedding & your future home?!)  But...I did buy this really precious vintage-looking aqua mirror that I can't wait to have a "getting ready" picture in.  I also took a couple pics of all the turquoise/red candles, even though I didn't buy any of them.  Just for inspiration :)

I also picked up a huge teal feather that I wanted to keep in the box I made, but it was too big & I didn't want to bend it.  Instead, I stuck it in the collage board that's hanging on my bedroom wall in my apartment.  I think it'll make a cute vintage-y prop for some of our wedding pictures!

Last but not least, I decided that I needed to procrastinate even further last night while on Pinterest.  I found this relationship suggestion called a "hint box."  It's a great way to tell your boyfriend/fiance/husband gifts or surprises that you would like, chores you would appreciate done, or dates & outings you'd like to go on without coming right out & saying it.  I think that with this wedding-planning thing, we've been focusing less on each other, our relationship & the actual marriage & more on things that we have to get done or just the wedding...at least I know I have.  I wanted a way to get back to "us."  I've also felt like I've been doing a lot more work (less two-way effort) because I'm pretty much planning, organizing, doing & making everything solo, (& Anthony can't really help much with a lot of that) so I wanted to think of some little things that he could do to take some of the stress off me and both bear it equally.  Enter hint box.  You make this thing to put ideas that you have into (that way, when you think of something you can just write it down on a piece of paper, fold it up & put it in).  When he wants to do something sweet for you, he can just pull something out of the hint box & do that.  It's a win-win. He'll feel like he selected/planned something & you won't feel like you had to tell him exactly what to do every time.  Well, I didn't have a box, so I grabbed a jar/cannister that some paint brushes came in.  I cleaned it off & wrote a little bit on it.  Then, I spent a good hour thinking of heartfelt things that I would really love & appreciate, most of them free or very inexpensive.  Some are bigger & would take more planning, but you've gotta have a few things like that, at least the way I see it :) 

Let's Get Some Shoes

There they are...my wedding shoes!  I'm so excited about them.  I got Anthony to go to the mall with me yesterday on a shoe hunt.  I know he's not supposed to see the dress before the wedding, but shoes are okay, right?!  I had to get the shoes pretty quickly after finding the dress because they have to measure approximately how tall I will be in the dress before ordering.  (It'll be cheaper to have the factory cut the fabric to fit me instead of having to alter it a lot later.) 

The first place we went to at the mall was Macy's.  Yesterday was their "One Day Sale," so naturally it was a zoo.  I didn't see any shoes that I liked, so we decided to venture upstairs for a minute (AKA, the wedding registry section)!  The picture above is some flatware that I saw in our wedding color!  I don't think we'll actually wind up registering with Macy's because it's expensive & not very for everyone easy to get to, but it sure was fun to poke around.  There are so many neat kitchen toys that I want!  I can't wait until we have a house & can decorate it & stock it with tons of little gadgets.  Looking around, I realized just how fortunate Anthony & I have been in our engagement.  There were so many things that we saw that we just didn't need because of my parents' generosity.  When my dad moved to a smaller house in Savannah from Atlanta, there were a lot of things he couldn't take with him, so he gave them to me (including a lot of things for the kitchen & home).  My mom has also bought a lot of things for my apartment at school that I will be able to take with me when I move into our house, & every once in a while I browse through antique stores trying to find cheap decorations...for both our wedding and our house.  As the time gets closer, I plan on garage sale-hunting pretty much every weekend during the spring & summer to find even more treasures.

After some lunch, we tried our luck at Nordstrom.  Holy snootiness!  Man, I felt seriously uncomfortable in there.  A prim & proper man took my shoe measurements before he decided to bring me the pair of shoes that I wanted.  They were pricey, but sooooo beautiful.  Unfortunately, they were also like 5 inch heels, which I just can't handle.  Especially not all day.  Especially not on grass.  & especially not walking around as much as I will be.  I can just see it now: putting bruises all over my dad & Anthony's arms because I'm having to hold on so tightly to not fall.  We took a small detour around the dress area in search of dresses for our moms...no luck!  I found a couple online, but they weren't in the store.  If my mom decides not to go with the dress I already have, I like the one on the left for her & the one on the right for Mrs. Camp.

Anyway, after a failed trip to the mall, Anthony suggested that we hit up DSW across the street really fast.  I had to be back home within like an hour & a half, but I agreed in the hopes that we'd find just the right thing.  Well, we did!  A few seconds after we walked in, Anthony walked right up to this pair & insisted that I try them on.  I did & they fit & I could walk perfectly in them.  Not to mention they weren't cutting off my circulation & I didn't feel like I was going to fall in them.  For about half the price I would have had to pay at Nordstrom, I got these amazing shoes & we can now go order my dress!  That's on the To-Do for next weekend :)

Sidenote: when Kera & I went to YourPie on Tuesday, this is what the deck was decorated like.  I want some of these lights hanging on the fence at our venue so bad.  Christmas lights are banned in the contract, but I'm hoping to get by with the "but these aren't Christmas lights...exactly" argument.  I think it could work, right??

Say Yes To The Dress...Twice

 

Don't freak out everyone...that's not the dress I chose.  Take a deep breath because my dress really isn't even similar to that one.  But it's the only picture of a dress that I got yesterday that isn't the one.  I am trying my best to keep the other dress under wraps until the big day from just about everyone besides some very close family & friends :)...AKA don't ask to see a picture unless I offer because I'll probably say no & then feelings might get hurt!  Just figured I'd show you all kind of what the experience was like!  I'm glad that I got a ton of pictures of the dress though because my parents & friends were all taking lots of illegal pictures.  Hah!

My mom & I had an appointment yesterday at Bride Beautiful in Sandy Springs at 10 A.M.   I wasn't even planning on going to this store...until I got an email Thursday about a trunk sale they were having on Sunday (today).  I decided that I would go before meeting up with everyone else to check the place out & see if any of their sample sizes fit me or if I liked any of the dresses on sale (some of them discounted up to $1,000).  When we walked in, I was shocked at how rude one of the women at the front desk was.  I felt like she was laughing at us the whole time & was afraid that she would be our consultant...thank goodness she wasn't.  The place was also super crowded & my mom didn't really have a place to sit & "watch" me try on dresses, so she just came with me everywhere.  A nice lady, Jala, was the one consultant assigned to help me.  She gave me 5 blue clothespins (her color) & told me to clip the dresses that I liked & wanted to try on the most & that she would also be pulling a few that she thought I would like & that I would look good in.  I liked a few that I pulled (mostly from what I had seen in wedding magazines) & some were downright terrible on me.  It was a bummer to realize that stuff I had liked in pictures didn't look like I expected in person.  So my consultant brought in one that she pulled for me, a type that I thought would look awful on a petite frame like mine.  It wound up looking good, but was a little too plain for the look I'm going for.  As I was changing, she came in with another dress...one that I wanted to ask her if she was crazy for bringing.  I thought there was no way that I would like it, but I put it on, took one look in the mirror and fell in LOVE.  Seriously.  I did not want to take this dress off!  Then, she grabbed the veil that matched & "jacked me up" as Monte would say on Say Yes To The Dress: Atlanta.  Man, that did it for me.  Unfortunately, by that time we were running late for lunch with everyone & had to get ready to leave.

We met up with my dad, Haley & Kera at Olive Garden at the Mall of Georgia (after dad randomly passed us on 85 & I scared the crap out of him by honking).  We had a good meal accompanied by the craziness that is Haley Rae Davis who made sure to "keep it spicy" by asking what undergarments I was wearing in front of my dad.  Thanks for that, friend! ;)

After a fun lunch, we headed to Charme Bridal & Prom in Buford for our 1:30 appointment.  I went in to it afraid that I wouldn't find anything to rival the other dress & ended up being right in that instinct.  For one thing, the selection there was a lot smaller & the consultant was not as knowledgeable or helpful.  I pulled a few dresses I wanted to try & started trying on.  Nothing worked like I thought it would from pictures.  The consultant tried pulling a few more, but it was like she had no idea what I wanted & wasn't listening to what I wanted/didn't want.  This was compounded that it seemed like the appointments were double-booked because there was only one place for girls with dresses on to stand/model them, and I was sharing the space with another bride.  Not that this is a bad thing, but everyone from her group was giving me the dirtiest looks ever when I was up on the stand.  Rude.  The consultant finally picked a dress that I sort of liked (even though it had beads down the sides, which I can't stand because my arms are so sensitive & it makes the dress so heavy) & that everyone else was a big fan of--see picture above.  This made me confused because I didn't get the same feeling in that one at all as I did the first one that I loved.  Finally, mom suggested that we take everyone else to the first store so that they could see it & help me decide...or confirm the decision that had already been made...instead of going to a third store that carries most of the same brands as the other two. 

The one good thing about going to Charme was that we found a veil that I liked a lot better than the one at BB, was cheaper & still matched my dress.  It's like half the price of the other one, so we'll probably end up buying the veil from there :)

I called our consultant to make sure it was okay for us to come back by & try the dress on again.  The place was even more of a zoo by the time we arrived at 4.  It was a lot more crowded, but luckily there was a place for everyone to sit.  Walking in, I was so excited to put the dress back on & could. not. wait. I got the dress back on & waited for the consultant to bring the veil again until I went out to show everyone.  The minute I walked out onto the floor, everyone agreed that this was the one.  They all told me that it was so me, that it totally went with the theme of my wedding & they all came up onto the stage with me to look at it closer.  To seal the deal, our consultant brought out jewelry to go with it & "jacked me up" for a second time.  This was one of the most special moments of the day, surrounded by people I love that love me in agreeance with me that this dress is perfect.  The one thing that I want for this dress is for it to knock Anthony off his feet when he sees me & have one of those "Pinterest" reactions.  It's going to be so hard to keep the dress under wraps for almost 10 months (I'm a terrible secret-keeper/surpriser).  I'm not going to look anymore & as soon as I find a pair of shoes to get measured with, mom & I are going back to order it!  I'm saying YES to the dress!!!  They have to measure for height before they order it because it is a lot cheaper & more practical for the manufacturer to cut the dress for my height than it is to have it altered (which is practically impossible with this style & fabric).  After that, the dress will take 7 months to come in & will need at least 6 weeks for alterations.  I guess that's why they say to buy your dress at least 9 months in advance :)

After looking at wedding dresses, we started to poke around in the bridesmaids & mother-of-the-bride section.  We decided that the best fabric for the BMs will be chiffon because of how hot it will be on the wedding day (it is a cool fabric & doesn't show sweat).  While trying to settle on a color and style, my mom started poking around at dresses too & even tried a few on.  I definitely want her in the deep red (Claret) that goes perfectly with the blue that I want & our consultant was kind enough to give us a swatch of the fabric for references.  I think I've decided that I want both of the moms in this red color & all of the grandmothers in a dark tealish/turquoise.  I just keep getting more & more excited about the day that is rapidly approaching faster than I can keep track!

Really quickly, I just wanted to thank the four of you for coming out yesterday (if you're reading this)!!  It meant so much to me that you were there suppurting me & were able to share that special day with me!  I love each of you very much :)

Anyway, when I started to go to bed last night I saw one of the dresses I got on sale (for $25) at Priscilla of Boston (I originally bought it to wear at Christmastime) hanging in my closet door.  I noticed it was this exact same color as the swatch & then got to thinking.  My mom & I wear the same size now (she's lost a little weight & I've gained a little)...the dress was way too long for me to begin with & she's at least half a foot taller than me.  On a whim, I brought the dress downstairs & made her try it on.  What do you know...it fit her like a glove & looked great on her.  She's still not convinced that it's what she wants to wear to my wedding, but for now I'm saying yes to this dress for her!  You can see a picture of it below (don't tell her I put it up online!)...she's on the left & I'm on the right :)



P.S. Here are a few of the dresses that I had picked out from magazines/online that didn't make the cut (the shorter ones are ones that I was considering for the Rehearsal Dinner):

Afred Angelo

Allure

Allure Exclusive

Casablanca

 

Essense of Australia

Justin Alexander

          

Maggie Sottero

Pronovias

Sottero & Midgley

San Patrick

WTOO