So David decided to take me to David's Bridal the day my original dress was ruined. It was last minute, but the ladies there were very nice. We decided it would be okay to try and find a dress within my original budget, which was still kinda pricy to me, as I am not comfortable with spending much money on myself.

When I walked in there was a dress I loved on a mannequin. The girl helping me measured me and started pulling dresses in my size, within my budget, in styles that I mentioned. The one on the mannequin was within our budget, but they didn't have it in the size she was looking for for me, but the mannequin was wearing just a size larger. I tried it on and loved it. I continued to try more dresses on, pretty much in tears the whole time, with Dom running around and the baby crying added to it. Nothing topped the first dress, but I knew alterations would be expensive. We talked to a lady in their alterations department (at this point I'm not gonna risk going somewhere else) and the estimate is about 75% of the cost of the dress, putting it way over budget. So I continued to try on more dresses.

We found a dress on clearance and alterations wouldn't be that bad for it. We bought that dress, though there were things I wasn't quite happy about. We left to go get David a tux before the tux place closed and on the way there David said he'd buy the other dress that I loved because he wanted me to be happy. I had to think about it. After we left the tux shop a thought occurred that the dress I bought fit me and was a size smaller than what the girl was looking for for me, so we decided to go back and see if they had the first dress in that size because that would save about $100 on alterations. They did! It fit and David exchanged it for me. 

2 days later I went in for my alterations appointment and let me tell you, this dress looks amazing on me. I felt guilty that we spent so much (which in actuality was nothing for a wedding dress), but after that appointment I felt it was worth it. It really makes me feel like a bride!

I don't get the dress back until Friday 10/11, only 2 days before the wedding. It kinda makes me nervous, but the alterations lady seemed to really know what she was doing. I can't wait.

So when I originally started looking for a dress I decided the most I would want to spend is $500, including alterations, veil, undergarments, and accessories. That sounds a bit unrealistic, but I am not comfortable spending much money on myself and this wedding is something we are doing all on our own.

I looked online, but actual wedding dresses are expensive, so I figured I could check out white formal dresses and prom dresses at department stores. I happened to find a $130 dress on clearance at Macy's for $38. I tried it on and bought it, even though it was a few sizes too big. I figured for the price, why not. After taking pics and showing friends, people seemed to like it, though I wasn't thrilled about it. I didn't really feel like a bride, but I was happy saving the money though and decided to go with it. I figured I could really play up accessories to make it unique and with alterations it would work. I have included a picture of this dress.

I researched alteration places and read horror stories about ruined wedding dresses. With only a little more than a month left, I finally took it to the place I found that had the best reviews and was still affordable, Anna's Alterations in Brea. I went in and told Anna the alterations I needed, she pin marked everything, but didn't write down any notes. She had 2 other customers, so I figured she'd write it down after they left. She quoted me $100, which I was fine with since I didn't spend much on the dress. So I had to come back in for her to finish the hem. When I came back in, all the alterations I wanted (except hem) were done exactly how I wanted. Now I only wanted the dress hemmed in the front to just above my toes. She pin marked it and I told her again not to touch the back, to keep it long because I wanted a train. Again she didn't make notes, but she only pin marked the front hem and since I sew myself, I assumed she would remember that she only needed to hem the front because that is the only place she pinned. Wrong!

When I went to pick up the dress, I tried it on and everything looked great, until I noticed the back hem. She cut it! She didn't leave it long, in fact, the back was shorter than the front! Since she had only pinned the front, she cut the whole hem all the way around, the same length, not even allowing more length in the back for my bum, which is why it was shorter in the back. I came out of the fitting room in shock and tears and told her it was wrong. She was nice and seemed to feel bad. There was no way to fix it, plus she was going out of town the next day until 3 days after my wedding. She gave me a discount of $20. So I paid $80 and left, not knowing what else to do.

I came out to the car in tears and told David. He ran back in to chew her out and demand a full refund. She of course tried to say I never told her to keep it long in the back because she didn't have any notes that said that. After embarrassing her in front of a customer, who ended up walking out, and asking her to look him in the eye and tell him whose fault it was, which she couldn't do, he got $30 more back for me. 

He came back and told me he'd buy me a great dress, and not to worry about the price. Then we headed to David's Bridal. I love him!

So we are about 2 weeks away from our wedding day. This week was a major wedding week. Took care of a lot and there was a major fiasco involving my dress (I'm writing a separate blog about that). We got most of our RSVPs in. We picked up David's ring, now the correct size. David picked out his tux. We also met with out venue to discuss details of the wedding. Let me just say that Angela at Orange County Mining Co. is super awesome. She's throwing in a bunch of extras that we wanted, but had decided our budget wouldn't allow. We also found out that we won a prize from the raffle at the Bridal Expo we went to at Orange County Mining Co. last week, a 2 day stay at the Double Tree Hotel in Orange. We're gonna hang on to that for a rainy day. There's still a lot to do, details, but most of the big stuff is done.

This week we booked our rehearsal date at the venue, something else I was stressing about. It is going to be the day before, Saturday October 12th, 12:30pm-2:30pm at The Orange County Mining Co. We do not have a rehearsal dinner planned though. We will notify all those that need to be there soon.

We finally have a clear picture of how our table settings will probably look. This past week I have been putting together center pieces, at least as much as I can. Our favors are gonna be so cool. I have been painting them all week to match everything. Here's a little sneak peek.

So, I haven't had a chance to post in a while. The wedding planning is coming along, but there is still a lot to do and I am still stressing. We got all our invites out, which you probably know if you are reading this since this site is only listed on our invitations. We also got our DJ booked, which was a big weight lifted. We still have to go over the music we want played, but I have ideas.

Also, I have a few of my details taken care of. I got my something borrowed, gorgeous orange pearls, from Sonja Thomas. I also found the shoes I was looking for, which was almost accidental, but worked out so perfectly. I'm including a picture in this blog.

I am still worried about dress alterations. I have not found a place yet and there's only 6 weeks left. I also don't have a veil yet. Yikes!

I don't think we are gonna be having a bachelorette party, maybe a co-ed bachelor/bachelorette type gathering at some point. We will see.

I did however get my night before the wedding hotel room booked for me and my Maid of Honor, Carrie. We plan on taking it easy and relaxing and having some girl time the day before and rushing to get ready in the morning. Hahaha.

We will be staying at the Holiday Inn by John Wayne Airport ( http://www.hi-oca.com ) thanks to a gift certificate I won from my work at our Holiday party last year. Thank you Medieval Times! You didn't even realized that you helped contribute to my special day.

One more thing crossed off our list though.

So last week we finally got our cake ordered. One less thing to worry about. It will be two different flavors: Red Velvet with a sweet cream cheese filling and Lemon with a lemon/raspberry filling.

I am hoping we have enough to feed everyone and still freeze the top layer for our 1st anniversary. We might not get to though because the whole cake feeds about 50 and I think we will have a handful more than that including us and guests' children. We are gonna try and have them be conservative when cutting it.

The cake is being done by Amazing Cakes. You can check out their work on their website at www.amazingcakesanaheim.com

Our wedding is only 80 days away! Ahhhhh! So much to do still.

Today I find myself with a little bit of time to work on our website and actually start this blog. Woo hoo! I am pretty sure I will be the only one posting entries here, but David could surprise us.

This week we are working on getting our invitations all printed, set, and ready to mail out. It's so hard to find the time to do anything, certainly not anything we need to colaborate on together. I am fairly confident everything will work out though.

-Kim