Here comes the Bride... and she wasn't Bridezilla!

This past Saturday, my daughter, Gina and her entourage went wedding dress shopping.  

Her entourage included: 

Colleen, (Maid of Honor, very best friend, College roommate and sister from another mother)

Lindsey (Bridesmaid, very best friend from Kindergarten thru High School and beyond)

Leah (Flower girl and Lindsey's daughter)

Jane (Mother of the Groom, seamstress making all the bridesmaids' dresses and the flower girl dress and all around awesome lady)

me (Mother of the Bride ... nuff said).
** note:  I just re-read this and got choked up and teary-eyed!  It's just beginning to hit me... my little girl is getting married!!!!

We met up at Gina's house and went to the Bridal and Tuxedo Shoppe in Newark, DE (Gina lives in Delaware).

Gina gave me permission to show you pictures of the dresses she tried on.  Actually what she said was, "You're doing a post with the dress rejects, right?"

So, without further ado, here they are!  Gina likes ruching (I learned a new word!) decorative pleating, gathered fabric, so a lot of the dresses have it.

This was the first dress Gina tried on.  A mermaid strapless.  Very pretty!!

Dress #2 got nixed fairly quickly.  I thought it looked too much like a night gown.  Pretty, but... no.

We called this dress Strapless 99 because it happened to be on the clearance rack and it was only $99!  This one was a definite maybe!  I think Gina's making that face because it's the first one she really liked.  I think this wedding is beginning to seem REAL to her!  I have a few shots of detail and backs of dresses too. That's Lindsey in the background in the blue top. I heart her.

Here is some detail on the Strapless 99 dress.

  The back.  This dress was a little big, so they use those clips to give the bride a good idea of what the front of the dress will look like when it fits properly.  

Dress #5.  I'm not sure what anyone thought of this one!  It was certainly pretty enough.  maybe Gina can comment here.  I was running outside in between to send pictures to Dani, who was away at school and couldn't be there.  So I missed some commentary.

This is the back of the same dress.  The girl in the mirror in the pink sweater is Colleen, aka maid of honor.
I heart her, too. A lot.

When Gina walked out of the dressing room in this dress, I gasped and nearly cried.  This dress was just gorgeous in it's simplicity.  I loved it!  She didn't choose this dress because she'd have to wear her hair in an up-do for the whole package to look right and she really wants to wear her hair down.  

This was the back.  Look at those lines!  Beautiful!

This dress was in the running for a short time.  Lindsey (she's the girl standing to the left in the picture) thought the brooch under the left breast made the dress look too "old lady".  So it was nixed.

This one shoulder dress was in the running for a while too.  I think it was the third dress she tried on.  I wasn't crazy about it, but Gina liked it.    Dani didn't like this one either.  I'm not sure why this didn't stay a keeper for long.

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So it came down to Strapless 99 and THE DRESS!  Strapless was, of course, $99.  THE DRESS was $1,000. A few hundred over budget, but it's so gorgeous!  As soon as she put it on, everyone knew it was THE DRESS!  

Because Gina purchased (well, made a down payment on) THE DRESS the first day, they took $100 off.  And Jane will do the alterations, so that will also save at least $200. 

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Not to be outdone, Gina's flower girl, Leah spent the time trying on one flower girl dress after another.  We aren't sure if Leah will let Jane make her dress or if Lindsey will buy one for her.  Leah certainly enjoyed trying on all these dresses!  I managed to get a couple of pictures of her.

Leah in Dress #1!

Leah in Dress #2!

And Leah in Dress #3!

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Gina doesn't want anyone to see THE DRESS until her wedding day, but she did post a photo of some of the detail, so I'll post it too.  You have to remember that Gina wanted simple lines, little, if no beading, not strapless.  This is what she chose. It has lots of beading and appliques, and it's strapless.  It's GORGEOUS!!!!

Then we went to TGI Fridays for lunch because I get a 50% discount!

You can read Gina's account of the day HERE on her blog My Inner Monoblog.