The DRESS(es)!!! And some help for those of us who are less endowed

Yes, I am a two dress bride and proud of it!  Why you ask?  Well, because once you see my wedding dress (hold on a second), you'll realize that it's just not fair to make a woman 'carry' around a dress that weighs just as much as she does for over ten hours!

That said, I am about to show you the first of my dresses - the photo/ceremony/cocktail hour/dinner dress.  And then tomorrow I'll show you the reception/first dance/dancing dress.  But first, I have not told any of my family or friends about the link to this blog.  Most of them don't even really care...but just for the sake of safety, if ANY of my family/friends or Mr Fix It happen to do some detective work and come across this blog...LEAVE NOW!  This post is not for you - you can fix your pretty little eyes on these beauties come April 16th! 

Are you gone now?  Good!

So, let me first put in a few disclaimers before I post these awful photos:

1)  The lighting suh-ucks!  The camera is actually my videocamera that doubles for photos and not well.
2)  I am not tan in the photos which does actually make a difference in how photogenic I am.
3)  I do not have hair or makeup done in these photos and they were all taken at the end of my work day.
4)  My sister is not into blogs like I am and therefore, she doesn't have the passion to shoot everything perfectly or at all angles to share with all you lovelies, so please excuse these if they do not give due justice to the items.
5)  The dresses are fresh out of their bags...no steaming or pressing yet.  So they do not look 'pretty' yet.

That said, up first - the main wedding gown - my gorgeous Maggie Sottero SaBelle!


So I have to admit that though it took me about 10 minutes, I did have the teary eyed moment when I knew this was *MY* dress.  However, I ordered her in June, 2009 and she arrived in September, 2009 where she then sat in my closet until this week when I pulled her out for alterations.  And I admit, that between September and now, I have been having serious second thoughts about this gown!  We took a couple pics of me in it at the salon when I picked it up and I was not in love anymore.  She didn't look right, she had changed.  The front didn't fall the right way, it didn't shine in the photos and wasn't all satiny pretty like the sample I had tried on.  I really wondered if I could stay committed to her.

But alas, I am one to stick it out.  And so I told myself that with some couple's therapy under the guise of alterations from my amazing seamstress, Janet, she might be salvageable.  And boy oh boy was I right!  Now I am hoping that once I have all this stuff on with my hair and makeup done up as in the trial, the full wedding effect will come across much more.  I almost regret showing these now as I don't think it does full justice to the overall vision :)

Please excuse the demon possessed eyes/expression in this photo :) 

But do notice my jewelry (necklace/bracelet) that I am sporting :)

The beautiful corset back which will allow me to hopefully gain some weight in the next 3 months.

Fat chance but I can dream.

And the ribbon bow you see tied there will actually be tucked in and not visible for the wedding. 

The gorgeous train...the beading and lace you see on the front wraps around to the back part of the train...very different...something I really wanted

And with that huge train full of satiny taffeta gathers and fabric, we came up with this idea for a bustle:  part of the bustle will be a traditional bustle with the lace part just pulled straight up to lay down flat with the rest of the dress...then the rest of the train will be gathered like a french bustle to gather up and cover any lace that doesn't look right.  Baby sister (MOH Julie) said it looked super pretty.

Janet telling me why she isn't loving the detachable straps I bought to wear with the gown.  After seeing it with my necklace and everything all done up, sis and I agreed that we were not loving the straps anymore and will most likely not use them at all.  Sorry I didn't get a front shot of what the straps looked like.

And of course, had to try to get a somewhat decent shot of my lovely red heels!

Okay, so now you can see a straight on shot with the gown and my necklace...it's not that close up but you can go back to my jewelry post to see it a bit better.  But what I *DO* want to share with those of you 'flatter' chested ladies like myself (yes, I'm a 34B but not feeling it ever), is that you must run out to get yourself some Victoria's Secret Shaping Inserts.  They're not cheap at $58.00 but Janet (my seamstress) wanted me to put bra cups into the dress instead of wearing a strapless bra.  But I knew I wanted some sort of 'cleavage' if I was going to go strapless.  So I trekked over to VS and found these beauties.  I told her I just wanted to try them out.  Well, below are my 'before and after' photos.  Now granted you can't see the before quite as well cuz my hair is down and I have the veil on...but me, sis and Janet all immediately noticed the difference when I slipped in the inserts and I was loving them!  And I didn't have to alter the dress to have insert cups sewn in. 

Before - strapless bra only (Sis caught me in mid-sentence)

After - strapless bra with VS shaping inserts inside (silly look on my face)

I didn't want it to look like I had implants but these definitely gave me the oomph I wanted for my photos and Mr Fix It come w-day!  I know that some of this may sound somewhat vain but I am a firm believer that a woman should be able to do whatever she wants (void of going all the way to cosmetic surgery) to assist her in feeling comfortable and beautiful at any time.  :)

Well, you'll have to stay tuned for part 2 to see the second reception dress.  Are any of you ladies going the two dress route for your big event?  Have any of you decided if you will use inserts of any type to fill out your proportions a bit?  And what do you think about my gown - straps or strapless?