PARASAILING WAS FUN!!!

I WONDER WHAT'S NEXT? ZIP LINING MAYBE???




Monday, August 30, 2010

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.



17 comments:

Sprite's Keeper said...

Beautiful dresses! But Gina is gorgeous, I think she could probably carry off any design she goes with. Here comes the bride!

Mellodee said...

Choosing the gown is one of those tasks that can be easy or miserable. It sounds like Gina's was easy. Great!!

(If it were me, however, I would not look any further once I saw the gown that you liked! It is gorgeous and the shape looked wonderful on her....classiclly beautiful. I would have had a hard time trying not to talk her into that dress. Hair up or down, that dress was HER dress, even if she didn't think so!) :)

linlah said...

Looks to be shaping up to be a beautiful wedding, it all starts with the dress.

Unknown said...

I'm in tears, I love all the dresses and can't wait till July.

Garret said...

Great post. On flower girl, the dress form body is above her head and looks funny - like a hat. Funny.

Sueann said...

All the dresses are gorgeous! Can't wait to see the DRESS!! And Gina is gorgeous! As are all the other girls. The flower girl is adorable and loved her dresses as well!!
Hugs
SueAnn

Anonymous said...

They are all beautiful. Glad she went with the one she really wanted and not just for price.

Looking forward to flower pics next.

Captain Dumbass said...

The dresses are beautiful. Wait, no. The ladies are beautiful in those nice dresses.

Unknown said...

Gina looks great in them all, but I'm glad she chose The Dress 'cause that's my favorite too.

Amy said...

Beautiful! Can you believe that you are the MOB?! Can't wait to see pics of the real dress from the real day! (When is it again?)

Joanna Jenkins said...

Aww, she's going to be a stunning bride!
It looks like you guys had a blast.
xo jj

Heather said...

Can't wait to see the final result! The dresses were all so beautiful. Loved that simple v-line dress, such a shame it wasn't picked. If her dress is prettier than that one, she is going to knock the guy off his feet!

Diane Ridpath said...

Joanie, your daughter is beautiful and the dress (what we can see of it) :) is stunning. She is going to make a beautiful bride.

Anonymous said...

I went into "SERIOUS MODE" when I saw there was going to be a fashion show lineup. When I got to #2 (I'll call it the dirty slip) I started hoping I wouldn't have to leave a comment saying "Yes. Number 2 (good name) is the dress I would have chosen also. (Hey, I'm nice like that)

#99 got a yowzaaa from me, but mainly it's probably due to the fact it was on your daughter.

If it had been on me.....well.....there wouldn't have been a need for clips to hold it on.....and a lot of exposed skin would be visible as the zipper wouldn't be able to go up....

I can't wait to see the winner....and naturally the winner was the $1,000 one.

Anonymous said...

After one last look, going backwards, I fell in love with #5. Yep.

Return the $1,000 and send me the difference.

Anonymous said...

I am SOOO happy for you Gina and of course MOB,, Joanie! I truly love the $$$ 99.00 one I t loooked beautiful. I know all look as beautiful as Gina was wearing them. Can't wait for Pics. Thank for making my day!!!!

mommompeg said...

soory!!! Made a mistake above is me...Peggy-Soley Dyer