The Most Imporant Dress You'll Ever Own?

One of the more overwhelming choices I've had to make in the planning process for my wedding has been selecting a wedding gown. My sister, Ann and I walked into a few bridal salons early in the planning process and the high prices for gowns completely blew me away. Being on a budget, I don't have the luxury of choosing an expensive dress. Heck, I didn't even know what kind of dress I wanted. And so, the search to find the "perfect dress for me" began. If the wedding gown is in fact the most important dress you'll ever own, it is worth it to take things slow and invest your time and money into finding "the right one."

If you don't know where to start, summons the experts. I found VeraWang.com to be the most informative website. If you go into the "bridal fashion" tab and click on "gown story" there is a wealth of information regarding different fabrics, textures, dress forms for different body types and more. This website really helped me narrow down they type of dress that would hang well on my petite frame. For example, I learned from Vera Wang that a ball gown type dress would only make me appear shorter and rounder where as a more form fitting dress with a v-neck may elongate my body. Being 5' 2" I need all of the help I can get when it comes to height!

Armed with that information, I began searching for styles of dresses that fit the advice that I received from the Vera Wang website. I looked on ALL of the websites, The Knot.com, Brides.com. I even went on individual designer's websites. I was convinced that I wanted a Monique Lhuillier
bridal gown, but my budget kicked my butt back to reality. To try to save money, Ann and I even went to a Lhuillier warehouse sale in Downtown LA. Still to expensive. After a ton of searching, the dress that I finally decided that I wanted was still way over my budget so... I began the next phase of research... looking for a seamstress who could recreate the dress that I wanted.

As luck would have it, there is a seamstress in my hometown who was a costume designer for many years and is now in the business of creating dream gowns for brides. I contacted her, contacted references that she gave me, met with her, showed her photos of dresses that I was considering and she encouraged me to go for what I wanted and promised that I would have what I wanted. So far, so good. If you are going to hire someone to make your dress, I recommend the following:

1. The sooner you start meeting with your chosen seamstress or tailor, the better. I began working with my lady back in February, 9 months before my wedding date. Some might even say this is too late.

2. Have images of the dress that you want from all angles possible. If you don't have an exact pattern for your seamstress or tailor to follow, having a visual of all sides of the dress will greatly aide in their ability to create what you want. Drawings (front, back and sides) or photos are best.

3. Be open and Be patient. Creating a dress from scratch can be very challenging work so don't expect your dress to be perfect the first time you go in for a fitting. I've spent about 8-10 hours alone talking with my lady, shopping for fabric, fitting mock-ups of my dress and working with her to get it just right. She has also been very patient with me and has worked hard to make sure that it is perfect.

4. Have a written contract. Any professional seamstress or tailor will have a contract for you to sign. Read through it carefully and make sure all of the important details are included. A good friend of mine suggested that in the contract, there be a deadline for your dress to be 100% complete at least 2 weeks prior to the wedding. My own contract states that my dress will be ready 5 days before the deadline that we selected and that I will also receive a petty coat (which I won't need) and a veil.

I've been very pleased with my decision to have a dress made. I've invested a great deal of time into the process however, I've ended up spending a fraction of the amount for a dress made to fit me specifically. You can't beat that!

The next big challenge for me has been choosing a dress for my bridesmaids... if you can't afford it, make it! More on that in my next post!

Pinch the Penny on Printing

Wedding Planning Goal for the Week: Print Invitations

In the early stages of wedding planning, I was able to decide pretty quickly that invitations are important to me but are not worth spending a ton of money on. A few brides have given me funny looks when I say,

"I don't want to spend a lot of money on something that will ultimately end up in the trash."

As long as my invitations are pretty and communicate important information to my guests, I'll be happy.

Being a budget bride, I've found that it really is OK to utilize resources I am familiar with using in my professional life for my wedding planning. As a teacher, I spend more time than I care to admit shopping at Staples for various supplies. Wouldn't you know it, Staples has a professional printing service! Soon after picking up my lavender card stock at Kelly Paper, I discovered that I can print my invitations (in red ink) at Staples for $0.59 a sheet + tax. Since I've formatted my invitations in Word to print two to a page, 100 invites only end up costing me about $33 in printing. Throw in the response cards and the info cards for the reception and my total cost of printing will be about $87.

Any professional copy shop should be fine. Just make sure you price compare to get the best value. I'm loyal to Staples because I am a member of their rewards program and receive a % back on what I spend in purchases and printing.

You can try to print your invitations at home if you have a high quality printer, however, the cost of replacing your ink cartridges can add up quickly depending on how many invites you need.

Some final tips on printing:
*Always ask for a proof sheet before you place your final order. The colors that you see on your computer monitor don't always print out with the same brightness or richness.
*I save my word files as .pdf files on a flash drive to preserve the fonts that I've selected and the .pdf files are what I bring to the printer.
*Open up and check your .pdf files before you walk away from the computer to proof it. Formatting can change from word to .pdf.
*Take stock of your guest list and figure out exactly how many invites you'll need to print and mail. Just because you're inviting 100 people does not mean you need to send out 100 invites. (Unfortunately, I had to learn this the hard way and have been using excess save the dates as book marks for the last few months).
*Don't forget to bring your paper!

Next Goal: Assembling the Invitations...

'til then, happy planning!
-MSJ

$tart Here!

After Andy and I became engaged, I did what many soon to be brides do, I bought a stack of wedding magazines to look for inspiration. After pouring through many magazines and visiting several websites, my sister and I canvased our city to get an idea of how much a local wedding might cost. We visited possible reception sites, walked into a few bridal salons taking notes and collecting info packets along the way. All of this research sent me reeling. I didn't know how to start let alone what to focus on first. Dress? Invitations? Church? Reception site? Before you do anything else, figure out how much you can afford to spend.

Will you and your fiance´be paying for the wedding together?
Will one or both set of parents be able help out with financing the wedding?

Knowing how much money you have to play with can give your sanity and the planning process a lot of much needed direction.

Once you know your total budget, the budgeting tools in different wedding websites can be very helpful. My friend Bonnie shared her budget with me and I modified it in Excel for my own use taking some of the recommended percentages for different categories (church, gown, gifts for bridal party, rentals, photographer, dj etc.) from The Knot.

Whether you use a spread sheet or record financial information in a notebook, I highly recommend keeping a running balance (very much like a checkbook) of how much money you have to spend and how much money was been paid for deposits and other expenses.

Pretty Papel

I received an email yesterday from a soon-to-be bride who, much like myself, is trying to cut costs whenever and wherever possible. The question was specifically about purchasing paper for DIY wedding invitations. When I first started doing research on the costs of all things wedding, my very good girlfriend Bonnie tipped me off to Kelly paper.

Kelly Paper has a plethora of paper. They stock a variety of sizes, colors, textures and brands. Here is my advice:

1. Do some observational research and identify what type of invitation you want. Try looking through a few bridal magazines or go to your favorite stationary store, find the look that you are after.

2. Take copious notes about the details of invitations that you like. Be sure to list color pallets, types of paper used. Go ahead, tear pages out of your bridal magazines, that is what they are there for!

3. Once armed with the knowledge of what you want, go to Kelly Paper and have their associates lead you to the materials that they have available.

My Save The Date

Note: Kelly Paper worked for me because I was willing to compromise. There is a brand that my local Kelly Paper is carrying now called "Colors & Cuts." These are pre-cut invitation type papers comparable to what you might see in a fancier stationary store. There is a limited selection of colors to choose from. They did not have the exact shades that I was looking for in that brand, however, I was able to get a ream of cardstock paper in a shade close to what I wanted for $10. Out of that 1 ream (500 sheets) I've turned standard colored cardstock into "Pretty Papel." I have created my save the date postcards (above) and I am in the midst of making my invitations, response cards, and I may be able to make all of the programs for my wedding as well.

Michael's craft store is also worth checking out. Another one of my very good girlfriends, Megan, purchased all of the papers and materials for her wedding invitations at Michael's and her invites were gorgeous.