Don't stress about the dress

So, if I was going to buy a dress, I had some requirements:

1. The construction had to be high quality. The workers who put the dress together should be more skilled than me. If I feel like I can do a better job I'm certainly not going to pay someone else to do it!

2. It had to be something I couldn't make myself. Not only did I want the skill in construction to surpass my own, but I wanted a design I couldn't even make myself.

3. The materials should be higher quality than I could find in the Boston area. While I could make a fabric shopping trip to NYC, I would probably end up paying more for materials (especially lace or silk) than a finished dress would cost.  True bridal lace STARTS at $100 yard.  Other fabrics like satin easily run upwards of twenty or thirty dollars a yard. And if I made a mistake I would have to buy more fabric. Keeping in mind that there many many yards in one dress it makes sense to buy a dress if buying the fabric alone would cost more than buying a finished dress! This wouldn't necessarily be true for the "gala appropriate" styles, which are not as full and use less fabric, but for full skirted bridal gown, which often have over a dozen yards of fabric, it certainly is.

These first three reasons are why I didn't fall in love with anything at Alfred Angelo. The designs were gorgeous, but I wasn't impressed with the construction details up close. The quality of the fabric was also not stellar. In my mind, the dresses should have cost 50 to 75% less than the retail price considering that they were using really cheap fabric.

I knew I wouldn't have those problems at Vows. If you're not familiar, Vows is a designer bridal outlet store. They carry big name designers like Vera Wang and Monique Lhullier, generally at least half off regular retail. What they have in stock is what they have- these are sample dresses (generally in sample sizes) and if you don't like the color you're out of luck.

1. I wanted something inherently bridal. Not a dress I could get in a different color and wear to a gala or fundraiser. This ruled out trumpet, fit and flare, mermaid, and sheath dresses. I wanted a big old skirt and a train!

2. I wanted something classic, but with a wow factor. Not something too traditional, but not something my kids will laugh at thirty years from now!


And this afternoon, with my fiance's mom and one of my bridesmaids, I found the dress! Gorgeous fabric, alcencon lace, and there is NO way I could have put this together myself!

Want to know what it looks like? Sorry- only moms and bridesmaids get to see it before the big day!
And I am MUCH less stressed now that I'm not pressuring myself to make it!