Hooray some (decent quality) photos are trickling in, which means I can start revealing more teasers! Problem was I got bottle-necked because the second teaser photo was something of which I really wanted to get good photos.
Read MoreYes, I had 2 wedding dresses. Only one of them was an actual "bridal gown" while the other one was just a cocktail dress, but they were both wedding dresses. I got the Singapore dress - a simple, flattering, red dress - from Spoil Yourself. On sale. Score!
The more intense affair, however, was the bridal gown I wore for the Perth wedding. As you may know from my first post on the matter, I went to Pearls Bridal to get my dress off the rack. I got a fantastic deal on the price, which came well under budget. This is my review of my experience with them.
Read MoreIt's the last Friday of yet another month, which means I got to wear jeans to work and it's time for yet another progress report!
Since my last report card, here's what we've managed to accomplish:
At this stage in the planning, though, deliverables start popping up. Items we've ordered are coming in now, and a more concrete idea of how things will look on the day slowly solidifies from the murky, misty daydream. The second-guesses begin in earnest, and this means that things start going wrong.
Many of these hiccups will be shared and talked about in their own little blog posts, though, so I'm not 100% keen on sharing them here. What I will say is that there's yet to be a big drama because there's still plenty of time to remedy any issues. It's hard to predict whether or not this will still be the case in a month's time!
Keep it simple, stupid. That is, in essence, what I've been trying to do in planning the celebrations in both Perth and Singapore. There have been exceptions, usually when something's importance supersedes that priority, sure, but ultimately it's been a brilliant guide.
I called to arrange appointments at a number of bridal places within 2 days of getting engaged, initially very happy to shop for a red or white dress, even to wear a bridesmaid dress as a wedding gown. See, I'd already heard from a few mates that dresses can take anywhere between 4 and 8 months to arrive when ordered. So I figured doing things that way could keep both time and money in my pocket.
I invited a small panel of ladies to join me on the day and checked out a few bridal shops where I knew I was likely to get good service. Fortunately, as a bridesmaid in my mate Courtney's wedding, I'd already been to a few and definitely knew a few places to avoid.
Anyway, by the end of the day, the camp was firmly in the "white" side of the equation, and I'd found dresses well within my price range and well under budget - costing not much more than a bridesmaid dress. There was one that appeared to tick a lot of boxes, including being one of the few that everyone loved. It happened to be one of the last ones I tried on the day.
The problem I had was that I went home skeptical. The bridal shops didn't let us take photos of any of the dresses I tried, which meant it was down to my brain and maybe a few stealth-shots to help make a decision. I slept on it overnight, woke up still skeptical, and by the evening of the next day, I found myself looking at more dresses. Not a promising sign. (That my arthritis flared up in a big way after the dress shopping probably didn't help much.)
Style aside, that dress would not arrive until 4 weeks before the wedding at the earliest; I'm not down with playing things that close to the chest. So that was also adding to a slowly growing list of realisations that I was not on the right track.
I solved this problem by calling up Blake's sister, Jade, at the very last minute and inviting her to return to the first bridal shop where we'd found some possibilities - Pearls Bridal, which was near both of us and easy to access. They squeezed us in at the last minute (I think I gave them 5 minutes' notice?), and I tried on one of the top options from the first time around, which was a bridesmaid dress that could arrive in 2 months. Nope, didn't look as good as it did in my memory. I tried a new wedding dress that caught my eye, and it looked great, but this one cost quite a bit more and also would arrive with very little time to spare before the wedding.
Eventually, it came down to just keeping it simple. The lovely ladies at Pearls had me try on what had to be the simplest wedding dress yet, with no embellishments except what we could add ourselves. Jade and I got excited - this sounded like HEAPS of fun. The best part? The dress I tried on was in the size I would've needed to order.
Done deal - got a discount for it off the rack, and no more worrying about whether I'll get it in time! Sure, I have some extra work to do now in finding a few extra accessories to dress it up a bit, but I'm actually having a lot of fun with that, too. KISS, indeed.
Many thanks to the ladies who came with me on the day; I honestly don't think I would've known what to do or what looked good if it hadn't been for your feedback!
As of last Friday (4 days ago), we've been engaged for one month. In that time, here's a short list of what we've managed to pull off so far, in no particular order whatsoever:
My current tasks are to actually place the order(s) for the rings, look at accessories for my dress, and book flights/accommodation for Singapore. And maybe choose a hair person, but I figure that can wait. As it is, my family has been brilliant at managing the Singapore side for me and I haven't had to worry about a thing on that end.
Blake's jobs are to organise the wedding cake and the DJ, mainly because these are things he wanted that I didn't prioritise but wouldn't mind having.
What's starting to freak me out is that we've reached the point in the planning process where we actually have to let go of some dollars. And by "some" I mean a "buttload", with plenty more buttloads to follow. It's awfully intimidating and I almost want to put it off, even though that doesn't mean much since it's money we'll have to pay eventually anyway.
It dulls the excitement a little bit, but knowing that we get to make these decisions on our own because it's our money is actually a nice feeling. I reckon I just have to keep that in mind as the guilt re: THE GUEST LIST starts to set in.