Well I am sitting in the airport getting ready to head back to cold Minnesota from Florida
I had a wonderful week with my parents but now it's back to reality.
So I soooo love the Ramona Keveza dress! I can't stop thinking about it and how lovely it is and how perfect it makes me feel! I feel the dress is appropriate for an encore bride but that I still look like a bride- plus it has a little bit of subtle sexy to it... something perfect for the 2nd time bride... forget the innocence and purity
That said- it's just WAY more than I intended to spend on a DRESS that I will wear ONCE! I decided I will keep searching for a dress that is more reasonable BUT if I don't find something I love I will get the Ramona Keveza dress
... on my wedding day I want to feel 100% amazing- not be thinking about a dress that I didn't buy. Although the dress is out of my "budget" I can probably stretch the budget to include it- the "budget" is more so what we want to spend even though we could maybe "afford" more we just don't think it's wise to spend a TON of money on a wedding... we'd rather put a larger down payment on a house. We are paying for the wedding and will be able to pay for it all in cash... we just don't want to go into debt over a wedding which even with this dress we won't- it's just a matter of deciding how important this dress is to me.
I did go back and try on the dress again and took my mom, dad, and aunt with me. This did not help discourage me from spending the money on the dress at all. They loved it. Even my dad who is very frugal said he didn't think I would be able to find something comparable for cheaper
My aunt (who has very similar taste to me) LOVED it and thought it was very "reasonably" priced
She said her step-daughter who just got married got a "steal" on her dress... she said it was a $15,000 Vera Wang dress on "sale" for $4,000... she said she thought it was "normal" to spend several thousand for a wedding gown and the store owner agreed with her (of course
). Her step-daughter is also somewhat of a TV "celebrity" and has even been on Oprah- so I don't really think our lifestyles compare
. But then I started to think that maybe my original "budget" was "unrealistic"... so I posted a poll on the main board and it seems that plenty of brides get their dress within my original price range.
So yesterday my mom and I went to another bridal store. This dress had a much better selection of dresses within my price range and I liked them okay but none of them had the WOW factor or made me feel like it was THE dress. However, they did let me take pics! Keep in mind I am very petite so all these dresses are several sizes too big- we did the best we could to hold them back so you could get an idea though...
Dress #1... very simple which I love but no WOW factor whatsoever...
and the back was just plain boring...
Dress #2... has the subtle sexy to it but too much clustery jewels...
closer pic of the clustery jewels and pearls...I woudn't mind a little bit of sparkle but this is just too much for me...
The back I like on this dress... but without the clusters of jewels... the way the material flows and how it is low cut is KIND OF similar to the Ramona dress... Note to self- for wedding make sure there is no tan/burn line
Dress #3... very pretty dress but too poofy... part of it is it's too long but even after being shortened I think it will still be too much dress for me... plus it strikes me as more innocent and I think I want a little bit of sexy.
So definately nothing that I love... I am going to start the search in Minneapolis which will be sad because my mom won't be there but atleast she got to do the first bit with me! I'll let you know how it goes!