So, don’t judge me, but I just picked up my dress from the cleaners yesterday.

Sure I got married two years ago and I put my dress in the cleaners almost a year ago. But whatever. Life happens.

Anyway, being the miser that I am, I didn’t want to pay the extra money to the cleaners to have them put my dress in a preservation box. They simply cleaned it and hung it back up for me in a white bag.

Aside: I’m pretty disappointed that they couldn’t get all the dirt and marks out of the hem area. The rest of the dress looks good, but I was had my hopes up for that part I guess. Oh well.

Anyway.

So my dress is hanging up and I need to find a way to actually preserve it. One day I may sell it, but I’m not really planning on it any time soon. So I need to figure something out for now.

Here’s what I gather from doing a little research.

• The dress should lay flat to avoid undue stress and sagging on the seams from hanging
• The box should be lined with acid free paper and be acid free itself
• The box should be taped to keep out any bugs while the dress is in storage

A lot of the DIY preservation kits I’ve seen online are in my opinion too expensive. My other issue with them is that the creators of the boxes tried to be too fancy and ended up putting gold Victorian features all over it and making it look super gaudy.

It’s like wedding dresses have come up since the 80’s but the preservation boxes haven’t.

So as usual, I’m trying to figure out how to make my own preservation box.

So far, I’m thinking I’ll get a big white box and some acid-free tissue paper from Jo-Ann’s or Michael’s. Some of the pre-made boxes have windows into the box, bu I don’t need to be able to see into the box to make sure the dress is still there. I’m sure it’s not going anywhere. Since the box won’t be going on display in a museum and will likely end up on top of my portable closet in the basement, I think this should be sufficient.

What do you guys think? Have you seen any decent DIY preservation kits or should I just do it my way?

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Technorati Tags: acid free paper, acid free tissue paper, Bridal Gown, Bride, DIY, Preservation, preservation boxes, storage, Wedding Dress

Top o’ the morning ladies! I’ve got some good news!

This morning when going through my normal routine of checking my available Groupons and Living Social deals, I was pleased to find that Roma Sposa in Birmngham, MI. has a deal on Groupon today.

The deal applies to their big upcoming sample sale and goes like this:

• For $100, you get $500 toward a sample evening gown
• For $250, you get $1,000 toward a sample bridal gown

Clearly I’m super psyched about this. For all of you keeping to a strict budget like I was, this is the perfect way to get your hands on a gorgeous, good quality gown at a fraction of the price.

And keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be perfect right off the rack, just close enough. You can always take it to a seamstress to get the perfect fit and look just for you.

Get your Groupon

Happy Shopping!

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Technorati Tags: Bridal Gown, roma sposa, sample sale, Wedding Dress

It’s one of those commonly overlooked details.

You pack everything up the night before nice and neat, labeled and organized. Your dress is steamed and bagged and ready to go.

Your wedding comes and goes and it’s time to look through your pictures.

But what is that awful metal and plastic contraption supporting your gorgeous dress?!

It’s the hanger that you grabbed last minute and didn’t even imagine would rear its ugly head. But it did.

Now all of your wedding pictures are super perfect and everything you imagined – except of course for the hanger.

Thankfully, our photographer was thoughtful enough to mention to me beforehand to bring a nice hanger for dress pictures. I happen to have a dress form that I used, but there’s no way I would’ve thought to bring it on my own.

So here’s my nudge to you, my fellow brides. Take a few minutes and spend a few dollars if you have to. Find yourself a hanger that you won’t mind looking at over and over again when you’re taking a trip down wedding memories lane.

A friend of mine recently attended a bridal shower and instead of just mentioning it to the bride, she went all the way and gave her a custom hanger as a gift. Both practical and thoughtful. It’s perfect.

My friend found her personalized hanger at the Etsy Shop, The Painted House and More. There are a bunch of different options. You can have a common word bent in the wire like love or Mrs., but you can also take it a step further and order a custom name, like Mrs. Williams, for instance.

So do yourself a favor and remember the little details like this one. Believe me you’ll be glad you did.

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• Shoe #3
• I found a wedding band!

Technorati Tags: Bridal Gown, Bride, Dress, Hanger, Pictures, Wedding Gown

So.. a little back story about my dress. I’ve had this dress since early 2008 when I bought it for my friend’s wedding.. She wanted it as her bridesmaids’ dress. I ended up not being in the wedding and despite several futile attempts to sell and give away this dress -it was still hanging in my closet when it came time to write up my wedding budget.

Let’s just say that already having a perfectly good dress and spending $1000 on another dress (I think I want – because I haven’t actually gone to try it on) – seemed silly to me.. And with a great seamstress – I can totally look JUST the way I want to look – fabulously chic and elegant.

So… I have a perfectly good J. Crew Dress:

Which will look totally different once my seamstress (FMIL) is done with it. We’re adding crystals to the waist, a very beautiful and sparkly lace train and matching veil and dropping the shoulders. I also have one more surprise planned that I’m going to keep secret until the reception (of course I’ll be sure to post pics after the BIG DAY).

And let’s just say that I paid more for the fabric (at 50% off than I paid for the dress) because evidently J. Crew wasn’t impressed with this dress and put it on clearance way back at the end of 2007 and then brought it back at full price about a year ago.

So – discounted dress WINS over $1000 dress and TOTALLY helps keep us close to our 12K goal.

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Technorati Tags: Bridal Gown, DIY, Dress

So a little birdie (Twitter, of course), told me that Anthropologie is going to start offering wedding gowns. I’ve only discovered Anthropologie myself in the last couple years, but I loooove their stuff. It’s always so girly and feminine. Sometimes a little too vintage-y for me, but overall, very nice stuff.

Now, all you brides getting married this summer, don’t get your hopes up. The line of bridal gowns isn’t set to debut until next spring.

Check out the full story at InStyle.

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Technorati Tags: Anthropologie, Bridal Dress, Bridal Gown, Urban Outfitters, Wedding Dress, Wedding Gown

If you’re in the Metro Detroit area, chances are you’ve heard of Roma Sposa. It’s a couture bridal salon in Birmingham. While there’s no way I could deny that their dresses are gorgeous, I will tell you that they probably carry several gowns that cost more than our entire wedding.

But you’re in luck, my dear readers. Turns out they’re having a sale during the last weekend of this month. They’re calling it the Bride on a Budget Sales Event. There is a $5 entrance fee, but apparently it’s to benefit a charitable cause.

And get this:
Gown pricing will start at $599.

My advice is that you not go in with a single no-other-Vera-Wang-dress-will-do in mind. That’ll likely still cost you an arm, a leg, and your first born child.

Instead, go in with an open mind. Shoot, try on a dress opposite from they style you think you want for yourself. You might be pleasantly surprised. And if not, no harm done.

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Technorati Tags: Bridal, Bridal Gown, Dress, Wedding Dress

1. Hold your wedding on any day other than Saturday. Saturday’s are priced at premium rates so try a Friday or Sunday instead
2. Negotiate with your vendors. They might be willing to cut the rate if you’re willing to go without some of their services that aren’t essential
3. Share décor/supplies with another bride
4. Provide liquor yourself from a wholesale store, like BevMo, Sam’s Club or Costco
5. Purchase a used dress from a site like OnceWed.com, PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com or the WeddingBee.com Classifieds
6. Purchase a bridesmaid dress as a bridal gown
7. Create your own bouquet with store bought flowers. Check out DIY Instructional videos like this one here
8. Get ready at home and don’t pay for a hotel room
9. Drive your own car and don’t rent a limo
10. Get married at a public place with little or no rental fee like a local community center
11. Shop for décor at the dollar store. Just be aware that they might have a better in-store selection than online
12. Wear borrowed jewelry from a friend or family member to add a free personal touch
13. Wear shoes you already own
14. Don’t use flowers on the reception tables. Use other items that are less expensive but that have just as much character, like feathers, moss and books
15. Don’t give out favors. Guests usually throw them away anyway, making them a general waste of moneyDon’t rent chair covers. Use the chairs that come with your venue. In most pictures the guests will be sitting in the chairs anyway
16. Don’t rent chair covers. Use the chairs that come with your venue. In most pictures the guests will be sitting in the chairs anyway
17. Skip the aisle runner
18. Buy Christmas lights on clearance after the holiday and use them to set the mood at your wedding
19. Use weekly coupons mailed from craft stores like Michael’s and Jo-Ann Fabrics. Each one is usually good for about 20% off
20. If you’re purchasing the flower girl dresses, look for them during or right after the Easter holiday for deep discounts
21. Instead of expensive gifts, give your attendants handwritten notes of thanks
22. Put the money you don’t need right away in a CD to allow the money to grow for you with little effort. Check rates on a site like bankrate.com
23. Purchase décor from an auction site like ebay.com
24. Visit sample sales at local dress boutiques to find your bridal gown
25. Instead of buying bridal magazines, check them out from the library for free

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Technorati Tags: Bridal Gown, Bridesmaids, Budget, Caterer, Decor, Favors, Food, Venue

I thought I was done with progress reports in school, but I guess not.

Here’s where we stand after and including the last progress report:

We have

• booked the location
• booked the DJ
• booked the photographer
• sent most of the save the dates
• got a friend to commit design the invitations (more on this later)
• gotten 2 caterer quotes (more on this below)
• stored my dress for the last 6 months
• ordered the bridesmaid dresses

We’ll just go with this list for now. No need to bring attention to the mile-long list of un-done things.

The caterer situation is really in limbo right now. The tasting I thought we were going to have fell through because the event was cancelled. They have another big event coming in March. We can either wait to taste the food then (if the event is not cancelled again) or we can pay to have a private tasting before that. This happens to be the most expensive of the two quotes.

The other caterer sent us a very generic one meat-one starch-one vegetable-plasticware-coffee and lemonade quote. I really dont want run of the mill. Of everything at the wedding, I’m pretty dead set on this because I like food way too much to compromise. So I replied to them with this message and I’m still waiting for their answer. This, of course, is the less expensive of the two quotes.

I’m thinking all the other stuff not mentioned above in the back of my head. Right now though – it’s one thing at a time.

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Technorati Tags: Bridal Gown, Bridesmaid Dresses, Caterer, Checklist, progress, Reception, Save the Dates, Venue