Poodles, Drag Queens, all in the bridal prep!

After a mad dash to Newcastle on Friday afternooon for strapless bra and suckitallin knickers, Saturday was a big, and busy day.

10am was my Hair & Makeup trial.

I told the girls I wanted to be quite natural, a 'posher, bridey' version of me, but that I was open to suggestions. I have straight blonde hair to about bra strap, so there were a few options. I took with me photos of hairstyles I had found online, and told the girls that I wasn't wearing a veil, I wanted to use fresh flowers.

After about an hour of hot curlers, straightening irons, enough spray to sink the Titanic, I was done, well almost.  Once she said she'd finished she held a mirror behind, and I had to stop myself from muttering 'poodle'!

I wanted a bit of body & wave, but not like a poodle ready for best in show!  So I asked her if she could pull out the curls a bit, which she was happy to do.  She pinned one side back to behind my right ear, leaving some light curls around my face, and added some fake flowers, so I could get an idea of how it would look.

Surprisingly I liked it!  I'm a ponytail girl, all week long my hair is in a ponytail, the only time it comes down is if we're going out for dinner, or I've just washed it.

So to see so many curls & waves, and hairspray (haven't used it since early 90's puffy fringe fiasco!), was a bit of a shock. But I was happy enough, knowing that my dress will probably give quite a different look to the hair, rather than jeans & tshirt I was wearing!

Next I went up the back of the salon to the makeup chair (Napoleon Perdis), I explained again I wanted natural, but joojsed up a bit so don't wash out in photos etc.

My chair was about a metre or so from the mirror and she went to work, painting, brushing, adding fake lashes to the outside of my lids, highlighting this, contouring that, etc etc, you get the drift.

After about an hour I was done, and from a meter away it looked a bit intense, very black liner on top lids, fake lashes curling up.  Then she gave me the hand mirror, holy guacamole!!!  Hello Drag Queen!

I looked like I'd been hanging out with George Hamilton, and had taken on his orange hue!  The eye makeup was the most distracting, with heavy black liner, and bronze/gold/white/green to almost my eyebrows!  I'll sometimes were a brush of glittery shadow on lids if going out, but never extending above my eyelid fold, so for me it was new, and a tad scary, in a Priscilla Queen Of The Desert way!  Except I luckily had a nude lip!

She asked if I was happy, if I liked it, I didn't want to offend, as she had put in alot of work (and used buckets of product!). I meekly said 'um I think it's just very different to what I usually wear, all the eye makeups not something I do, I guess I'll wait to see with the dress before deciding'.

A not great quality shot from my phone, of right side of my hair, after dress fitting!

She looked at me a bit like I was a rabbit ready to bolt, and I kind of was.  I almost ran to the counter, paid and got in my car, not wanting people to see me in full regalia!

I drove to the dress shop early, as my plans to drop in at cake shop & Spotlight were out the window now I was in my war paint! Luckily the girls at Newcastle Bridal, were free, and able to do my fitting early.

Another photo I took on my phone, on the way to the dress fitting, yes I'm too scared to show the drag queen makeup!

Once I manhandled myself into the strapless bra (if you're a cup size of D+ you know what I mean!), and suckitallin knickers, and shoes, the NB girls laced me into my dress, and helped me with the bolero jacket.

I stepped out, and the NB dressmaker smiled a big smile, so I felt a bit better.  I stood on the podium thingo, and had a proper look.

The poodle hair fell like waves on my shoulders, and the drag queen makeup didn't look that bad, now I was in 'bride mode', I was shocked, I didn't feel like a freak!  Yay!!

My dress, alas not me in it!

The dressmaker said with my shoes, the length of the dress was perfect, with the only alterations needed being tucking in at the bust to make it sit flat on my chest (yay Curves!!).

So after parading back and forth for about 20 mins while the girls tucked, primped and prodded, and getting some lovely comments from teenagers looking for Debutante & Formal dresses, I was sorted.

I'll pick up my dress in 2 weeks. Woohoo. Now all I have to do is dye my ivory shoes green, and all will be sorted on the clothing front.

So to wrap it up, I loved my hair in the end, and I think with a bit of tweaking I'll love my makeup, and I already love my dress.  All in all a great Saturday, and when I tried my dress on at 2pm, was exactly 1 month till I would be donning it to walk down the aisle with my man!

Trimming down! Eek 5 weeks left!

This Saturday is 5 weeks until our big day, it has come up so quickly it's crazy!

When I went dress shopping back in mid April I gave myself an aim of losing 10kg before the final fitting, and hoped to lose around 15kg before the big day, over the 3 and a bit months.

Well it's 5 weeks to go, and I have lost 6 kg, not as much as I hoped, but given I was sick with gastro for a week (yes should have meant weight flying off me), then sick with a shocking flu for 2 weeks (no exercise boo!), it's not too bad, at least it's a loss!

I have 10 days until my final fitting, I know I won't get to my 10kg target, but hoping I can get pretty close!

My dress is a lace you up, suck the air from your lungs type, the bonus of which is if I do lose more weight the dress won't look funny, I'll just get my Brideslave to put her knee further in my back and rip those laces tighter  :)

A small challenge is I'm away from home with work from this Sunday till Thursday before the fitting, staying in a hotel in Sydney, so eating right will be numero uno on my agenda, not giving into the temptation of restaurants, fast food, room service!!

My plan is to head to the supermarket Sunday morning before starting work at midday, and buying food for the week, fruit, breakfast supplies, lunch and snack supplies so I don't venture to the cafe at the venue for anything more than coffee!!  I won't be getting to Curves which sucks, but I'll be walking km's a day with work, and dealing with a couple of 300kg+ horses for the week will give me a good workout!

Wish me luck!

My Dress - The Tears and Triumph!

If the title seems a tad dramatic, believe me it's pretty spot on!

Seeings as our wedding is 3 and a 1/2 months away, I bit the bullet on Saturday and went dress shopping.  I was hoping to leave it a bit longer to give myself the chance to lose a bit more weight, and to be honest, to delay the agony!

On a good day I hate clothes shopping, anyone who has ever been clothes shopping in the size 18+ range will know what I'm talking about.  Going clothes shopping often makes me sad, sad that I'm not a 'normal' size, sad that I can rarely walk into a 'normal' store and buy off the rack.  Just about every time I leave feeling horrible about myself, I know it's a situation I caused, and only I can fix, and I'm on the way to that, but still, it's not something I think I'll ever look forward to.

So 9am Saturday I hit the road to Newcastle, some of the lovely ladies on Simple Savings had given me a list of shops to visit.  So armed with that list of 8 stores, I hit the road.

Arriving at Hunter Street Newcastle, I didn't realise that it was a bridal district, I parked in front of Calabro Bridal, but as I pulled up the store across the road - Newcastle Bridal House - caught my eye, so I headed there.

Entering the store was intimidating, I've never been in a bridal store, let alone tried anything on.  Luckily Angela at NBH was just lovely.  She asked me if I had any thoughts as to style, I showed her the photos I'd collected & printed, she told me she would pick a few out and I just had to go strip down to bra & knickers and she'd be with me (1st embarassment of the day).

So I strip down to bra & knickers, holding my tshirt over me (yes body image issues), then Angela came in, opened the curtains (hello embarassment) told me to drop the tshirt, turn around, arms in the air.  Luckily I only had about 10 seconds to think about it (and I'll be honest the option of pulling on pants, top and bolting to the car was high in the thought list).

The first dress was ok, but when I walked out to the mirror, I was popping out the top and my arms looked HUGE, and standing at the next mirror was a skinny mini size 6-8 who looked like a model in her white gown, my confidence immediately hit rock bottom, so I embarrassingly said no not this one.  She stripped it off me, said be back in a minute, and I stood there, almost in tears, feeling like a whale, and about to tell the lovely Angela to not worry about it.

Angela came in with another dress, I think she could tell I was feeling horrid, so started some smalltalk which got me out of the funk a little.  The next dress was better, lace ups sucked it in at the waist, and it fitted better at the bust, so the mirror image wasn't as horrifying.  But still not the exact right one.

I tried on 2 others, then Shizam I found the one.

One of the first dresses that caught my eye in my online search had rouching across the bust and waist.

One of the first dresses I liked online 

This dress had embroidery and bling on the bust over chiffon, then the chiffon fell in rouch style down across the waist and into the skirt.

Another dress I liked had a bit of bling on the shoulders, and back, I tried on a similar grecian style dress and the style really didn't do much for me, but the dress I tried on that I was warming to had a bit of bling on the skirt and the back.

Another I'd liked, with a bit of bling

The dress is a lace up and the cross overs under the bust really help bring the waist in, and made me feel secure across the bust.  It's made from chiffon, and I think the soft fall is really flattering, plus with the rouching, helps hide the bumps!

So all is going along swimmingly, I think I've found my dress, then Angela asks when my wedding is, I tell her 23 July, she replies 'oh excellent, that's plenty of time for alterations (the one I tried on was a little small, puckering at the back)', I'm thinking woohoo excellent, job done, then she says 'you're very organised having your dress sorted a year ahead of your wedding!

UHOH

I tell her no, it's not 23 July 2012, it's 23 July 2011, as in 3 and a bit months away.  The look on her face makes me feel sick straight away.

She says that all of their dresses are 6+ months minimum, even with a rush order (more expensive) you wouldn't have it before late August, early September.

So we're standing there looking at each other, me close to tears, she with a concerned look on her face.  Then she says head out to our Boolaroo store, they have more sizes and might have something similar.

So I leave NBH and heading to my car decide to have a look in Belles & Beaux, recalling the positive comments on Simple Savings.  The store was packed to the brim with deb dress hunters, brides and bridesmaids.  I had a look, found a couple, tried them on, but wasn't taken with them, plus they said 5-6 months to get anything made.

So I head to my car, I'm deflated and tempted to head home and forget it, Mr Mel calls to ask how I'm going, I try to keep it together so he can't tell I'm an inch away from crying, but he can tell.   He says 'chickadee go to Boolaroo, don't give up, your dress is out there'.  I call my sister, and she gives me a pep talk also.

So after I have a bit of a cry (due to Mr Mel's sweetness & the dress situation!)  I head to Boolaroo, with not a great deal of confidence.

The ladies there were lovely, I told them straight up that I was on a time crunch, so they knew from the get go I was a bit shall we say, emotional!

Again I went and stripped off while the ladies go picking dresses for me.

The first 2 were nos before they were zipped up.  The next one was very nice, but satin, and the shiny-ness (word?) was offputting, and not overly flattering on my figure.  I tried on a few grecian styles, nope, a 1 shoulder one, nope, a halter neck NO!  Then she brings in the chiffon dress I'd tried at the Hunter St store, in the next size up.

I try it on and I know straight away it's the one, one of the ladies comments that she'd never seen it on a girl before, that it was much nicer than on the hanger, the lass who was dressing me (yes I've forgotten her name!) had the biggest smile she'd had all day.

I tried on the satin one again, tossing up between the satin & chiffon, trying both with a chiffon bolero to cover the arms a bit.  And there's no competition, the chiffon dress is divine, I ask both ladies to give me their thoughts as I was flying solo, and wouldn't be able to have anyone come back with me. They both agreed the chiffon one, and seeings as it was cheaper than the satin I'm pretty sure they were being legit.

The next thing was the time crunch with getting one made in time.

While I was getting dressed the ladies had a bit of a pow-wow, then said that while they don't usually sell the samples, if I wanted the one I'd tried on, I could have it.  I could have kissed both of them.

I said yes please, I'll have the dress and bolero, and bonus Saturday was 15% off all in store, woohoo!

So I have my dress, yay, sigh of relief.  I am leaving the dress at the store, and will go back in 5-6 weeks for alterations/fitting, am considering having cap sleeves made out of chiffon, embroidery and bling added.

Between now and the fitting I need to sort underwear & shoes, compared to the dress shopping, it should be a breeze!

So now my spiel is over, this is my dress, it's not a great photo, it looks so much better in person, ivory chiffon, adding caplet type bits of chiffon, with an ivory chiffon bolero (very plain).

Not a great photo - but this is my dress!

Cap sleeve - probably going to add to my dress, similar to these

Extra warmth for winter wedding & to help hide arms! (couldn't find my exact bolero online)

And it goes without saying, when I rang Mr Mel to let him know I'd found my dress he was very relieved, he said if I'd not called in the next 1/2 hour he was going to ring my sister and ask what to do!  How sweet is he!

After calling Mr Mel, I rang my sister, and she said she'd been stressing since speaking to me, and was so happy to hear I'd found a dress I loved!

I would have loved to have had her with me for the dress shopping, but living in different states makes it very difficult, as soon as I got home I emailed her a photo from the website, and she loves it too.  She'll be the first one to see it, as she's my 1 and only bride slave.  Plus she needs to lace me up/in!

Another thing crossed of the to-do list, woohoo!!

Dress Options - 2

Have been looking around online at dresses, as I'm yet to go shopping or meet with a dress maker, so have been looking for inspiration.

Also I'm still trying to decide if I want a dress I can wear again (I love that Sherry of Young House Love dyed her wedding dress to wear again) or if happy to have it as a one-off, and also if I want a 'bridey bridey' dress or something really casual.  Maybe a compromise is one that can be changed afterwards?

As you can tell I'm totally unsure on any aspect of the dress!

Keep in mind I'll be size 16-18 for the day am a tad busty and about 5'5" - 5'6", so itsy mitsy dresses worn by waifs just aren't gonna cut it.  These are some of the ones I'm liking at the moment, putting together a portfolio of sorts, to take with me when I eventually go meet with someone, to see if any of them are realistically 'do-able' for me & my bod.

Given it's going to be the middle of Winter, I'll probably wear a stoll (stole?) or similar, which also helps hide the upper arms, not a fave body part!

Gorgeous (photo source)

This is the style I've liked from the start (photo source)

Casual yet still bridey, and like the flouncy capped shoulders (photo from google search oops)

Love this - Kyra Sedgwick in Vera Wang at 2010 SAGs (photo source)

Gorgeous - but in ivory - Christina Applegate in Roberto Cavalli at 2010 SAGs (photo source)

I'm loving the Christina Applegate one at the moment!

With the big day less than 4 months away I really do need to get cracking on the dress!!  If anyone knows of any great (and not overly expensive) dress makers in the Newcastle/Hunter Valley/even Hills district of Sydney, feel free to let me know!!!  (melissab9@hotmail.com)

I've definitely got a crush on the Christina dress, just found the view of the back.

Just lovely

Dress Options

To set things out from the get-go, I'm not a girly girl, I rarely wear dresses, the last one I wore was a couple of months ago to an engagement party, and that was the first dress I'd worn in 15+ years.  Plus I'm no skinny minnie, so while I'm on an urgent health kick/weight loss extravaganza for the next few months I need to be realistic, I'm not going to be a size 10 any time soon!

So my dilemma is, I don't want a big fancy dress, but I do want something that says yes I'm getting married.  I obviously will also want to disguise the bulges as well as possible. Plus I'm quite well endowed in the bustages area, so may need some scaffolding or some over shoulder securing!

I'm not sure yet if I want to wear white, remember I'm a tad up the range of sizes!  I don't want to look like a schmozzle of white, so I'm thinking maybe cream/offwhite, not sure as yet.

From first few searches online the dress below (photos stolen from Ebay!) has caught my eye, I'd prefer not such a flouncy skirt, and I'm not yet sure if it meets my above outlined criteria!  But at least it's a start!

Any advice, suggestions, etc gratefully accepted!