Nesting Spoons: Wedded Bliss

I was recently asked to talk about our wedding in an interview for the locally based magazine HER Nashville. The article was titled "Reclaim Your Wedding" and features floral designer and bride-to-be Hillary Robson of Brocade Designs as well as Marie McKinney-Oates of Nashville Marriage Studio.

The article explores the darker side of wedding planning - people pleasing, hurting feelings, feeling overwhelmed or alone, inadequate or just plain bad. It's a great read for those brides out there who may be feeling some self-doubt and second-guessing when they see beautifully photographed weddings everywhere.

Almost four months after our wedding, I really enjoyed reading this article and reflecting on my own journey, a small part of which was shared for the article. Simply put, our wedding wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be. There were some issues and some let-downs. As an American bride, one has been inundated with the idea of "perfect" since childhood. When I did this interview, I was still ankle-deep in post-wedding blues. Even though I attempted to mentally prepare myself for less-than-perfect, it was still difficult for me to let go of some things that went wrong ... until lately.

What changed?

Well, life. Really. I'm married! I'm married to the most amazing, brilliant, funny man I've ever known. Some days, it just hits me out of the blue how incredibly lucky I am to have him and the life we're building. Do you know what I don't think about in those moments? The things that went wrong at our wedding. I think about the last Saturday when we spent two hours just talking. I think about his face as I read my vows to him. I think about how much we laughed driving away from the venue to our wedding night hotel.

I'm so proud of the fact that we planned our wedding together and that ultimately, it was a reflection of who we are as a couple - regardless of the things I wasn't happy with. We did it on a budget because that mattered a lot to us. But I'll let you in on a little secret ... we're just as married as the couple who spent $95 on a marriage license and eloped. We're just as married as the couple who spent $30K and got featured on a big name wedding website.

The day after our wedding, I was so pissed off at myself for not spending more money on X or Y thing. I even talked about it at the Smart Bride Workshop. (What I said to those brides is still true - be careful who you hire to provide services for your wedding.) However ... Big Spoon and I did something really big last week. REALLY. BIG. And it made us feel like rock stars. All the wedding stuff floated away, sealed tightly in a little compartment in my mind where I'll go to reflect and remember.

We paid off our second mortgage.

We felt awesome. I felt like, "Wow, I'm really glad we didn't spend more than that on the wedding. This is great!" He felt like, "Wow, I'm really glad my wife is okay with doing something practical with our money and not blowing it on something fun, but unnecessary!"

I truly believe that planning a budget wedding helped lead us to marital bliss. We spent below our means and discussed every purchase. We chose to use the money we could have spent on more important things. After a tough first couple of months of marriage for me (I had the post-wedding blues pretty darn bad), I've settled in to being blissfully wed. I love my husband. I love our life.

The Smart Bride: A Workshop

Before you attend your first bridal show or hire the wrong wedding vendor, check out The Smart Bride: a Wedding Planning Camp designed to help you get smart! AshleysBrideGuide.com has teamed with recent Nashville brides (like me!) and wedding pros to equip you with secrets, insider tips and advice that will save you money and your sanity.  Registration is free for a limited time so reserve your seat today. 

The Smart Bride is a 4-week wedding planning workshop designed to help you get smart!  Expect candid conversations with local wedding pros and recent brides at The Smart Bride camp to help you avoid common mistakes. Registration is free for a limited time so reserve your seat today! 


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Budget Review: Overview

 source

I still enjoy thinking back over the course of our two year relationship and realizing that we only knew one another for three months before we began talking about marriage and six months before we made that official. Like they say, when you know, you know, right? And I knew. But we also realized that a long engagement would be good - both financially, stress wise and for the health of our relationship. I can't say that planning was always a breeze with Big Spoon, but he made it better and we did a few things right that I would recommend to anyone planning a wedding.

First, our budget was set before we were officially engaged. I shot high, he shot low and we met in the middle at $8,000. I spent $500 of that before we set up our wedding checking and savings account. Big Spoon contributed $4000 and I contributed $3500 initially. I later added another $500 to cover the cost of our coordinator, but we did not end up needing it all. More on that later.

Secondly, we set our priorities early on because it was obvious that we valued different aspects of the wedding. We bargained, we grumbled, we compromised. It was a VERY IMPORTANT step. 

I've really patted myself on the back for those above two things - budget and priorities. Everything else fell into place once we had those things in place. Big Spoon and I learned a lot from planning our wedding together - about each other, about our families and friends - but especially about the wedding industry, some of which we'll be sharing as we do budget and vendor reviews. We will start with budget and move on to the vendors later, because that is where you will learn all the things we did wrong. And yes, we did some things wrong.

What I won't do is give you a "to the cent" breakdown. I don't have time and I don't want to go back through a mound of receipts and do math. I hate math. What I will do is tell you what we budgeted and a really close, sometimes rounded up estimate of what we actually spent. 

I will be covering the following categories: 

Venue 

Photography

Videography

Catering (Food & Cake)

Attire & Accessories

Gifts & Favors

Wedding Rings

Stationery

Flowers

Beauty (Hair & Makeup)

Decorations & Miscellany (linens, rentals, licenses, hotel)

Again, I'm very hesitant to start anything - vendor reviews, budget breakdowns or wedding day overviews until we get our pictures. I really, really want to include pictures as we do the reviews. We've been married three weeks today, so I expect them any day now!

Happy Halloween!

Vendor Spotlight: Artisan Flowers

via Artisan Flowers

What happens when one of your best friends from your first graphic design job branches out into the world of floral design during your engagement? You get really friggin' lucky, that's what!

via Artisan Flowers

Please welcome Artisan Flowers to my arsenal of vendors/friendors who are starting new businesses in the wedding industry. I really enjoy collaborating with folks like Jasmin, Sarah Mallory and T30SB because, like myself, they enjoy working with brides, helping people problem solve and love this niche of the creative industries.

Jasmin has a blog and will be adding to her portfolio over the next few months. I'm very excited to see how my flowers turn out as we are using muted but lush fall colors that don't scream pumpkins and hayrides. Don't get me wrong, I love the fall. It's my absolute favorite time of the year. However, I didn't want our wedding to have the "typical" fall look. She plans to use red spray roses, hypericum, bear grass, ivy, Ivory roses, red roses, khaki roses and cinnamon roses. I love roses and I'm not ashamed of that.

We'll hang my hand-made & hand-dyed coffee filter pomanders around the venue as well! We'll be making those on Sunday with a few other wonderful friends who have offered to help me wrap up the wedding projects.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, everyone!

DIY Wedding Handkerchiefs With Faux Embroidery

Back in the day when I thought our wedding would be all "vintage-y" and whimsical, I fell in love with the idea of making heirloom handkerchiefs for my bridesmaids & Moms & grandmother.

Yeah. Ahem.

Our wedding didn't exactly go that direction and more importantly, embroidery is really expensive. Even when I was willing to pay for it, I couldn't find someone local to do it (who would actually give me a quote, but that's another story). So I did the only thing a girl can do ... I cheated.

That's right, my "heirloom" handkerchiefs have faux embroidery. They ended up costing fractions less. My mom actually hemmed and hand-sewed the lace on to each one. I cut out the batiste and ironed on the faux embroidery letters.

I cut (1) 10" square of ivory batiste per handkerchief and you'll also need lace, thread and these cute little faux embroidery patches from Hobby Lobby. Mom turned the hem twice and hand-stitched them. She then hand-stitched the lace on each one. I picked the best corner, centered up the letter and ironed on as instructed on the package. Easy cheesy.

I do have two fully hemmed handkerchiefs left over (without lace) and a few yards of off-white batiste to sell. Email if you are interested!  SOLD

130 Days Update

In 130 days, I'll be walking down a little brick path on my Daddy's arm to my groom. In the meantime, I have a ton of little details to attend to!

First, an update on my wedding band: it worked! About two weeks ago, I found a fabulous deal on a diamond wedding band, which I talked about here. I dropped both the band and my engagement ring off at Wholesale Jewelers on Saturday. I really hated not having my engagement ring for a few days, but boy, was it worth it! The thing is, my diamond was not set properly. Having the wedding band sized was a great opportunity for me to ask the store to reset my engagement ring. It looks SO MUCH better that it's almost unbelievable.

The total cost of my wedding band including sizing is $83.52 - I know that I am going to love wearing these two together for a long, long time!

Next up, I have completed our wedding invites! I have one or two more pieces to print, but it's relatively minor. The invitation suite is three parts plus an envelope: invitation, RSVP postcard and an information/map card. And I trimmed them ALL by hand (that's called "glutton for punishment" folks) Would you like a sneak peek of our invitation suite? It's the RSVP postcard ... I'll have to photograph better when I show you the real deal.

I'm hosting a "Crafts & Cocktails" party in three weeks and I'm so excited about it! A few of my girlfriends are coming over to help me assemble the invitations (and hopefully some other things as well, like wedding wands and shower invites!) It's a little soon, but the more I have off my plate before July, the more time I have for other projects!

Rue La La: Style. I Do!

GO! Go sign up now on Rue La La because they are having a fantastic boutique today called Style I Do! There is a boutique for bride, groom and guests! There is only one day left to buy anything from a suit to a $199.99 bridal gown. 

Rue La La is by invitation only, so click here to get started today though my personal invitation! Check out this gorgeous Aidan Mattox Ivory Silk Chiffon Gown for only $199.00!



{photo via Ru La La}

* edit: Rue La La did not in any way, shape or form, ask me to post this, pay me to post this or give me free goods for posting this. I'm simply sharing a cool website & great deal for brides. The end.

Bargain Shopping & New Toys

I've made a couple of big purchases in the past week. I've been scouring the local sales ads like a crazy person and found fourteen 120" round white table linens with thirteen ivory runners and an ivory overlay for super cheap. I am beyond thrilled with this purchase.

I will only be short banquet linens for the food and beverage tables. I am no longer short on the banquet table linens for food/bev as I found LinenTableCloth.com tonight! They had 90" x 120" white linens on sale. I found their Twitter page, became a follower and obtained this code (twitter50082010) for 20% my purchase. An additional 10% was added automatically for their Valentine's Day special as well as free shipping! This is so much better than renting because we have the option of selling them after the wedding.

I had originally planned on black for the food tables, but it bothered the crap out of me for them to be a different color than the tables. I'm weird, I know. So, white it is. Shades of white, ivory, cream, champagne, tans and of course, black.

 

{image from the knot.com}

Over the weekend, I started working on our invitation designs. I'm too critical for my own good, but I feel like we are making progress toward compromise. Anyway, my printer crapped out on me. I've had my HP for something like 6 years. I printed almost my entire Sr. Thesis on that thing!

I wanted another HP and did a little digging on the net to come across this AWESOME offer at Staples. For a limited time, you can trade in your old printer for a $50 credit toward any printer that is regularly priced at $199.00 or above. Luckily, the printer I wanted was not only $199 reg price, but $75.00 off! Cha-ching!


If you go to the Hermitage Staples, be warned that not all of their associates realize that you qualify for both the sale and the credit. One of the associates told me that I couldn't get the $50 credit because it was on sale. Big Spoon (he's so smart) told me to go find a sales ad. It's plain as day on the front of the ad!
I walked out of there with a $200 printer for $80! I also recycled two print cartridges toward my Staples Rewards balance.

Yay for bargain shopping!

Every Last "Detail"

Once upon a time, Little Spoon and Miss Jasmin began planning their weddings together ...They were three weeks apart. I was going to be Miss Jasmin's bridesmaid and Miss Jasmin would be floral artist extraordinaire for us.

Like many plans, things changed. Miss Jasmin decided that having a wedding in her native state of California would suit her nicely. I was very sad because, being my wedding year too, I have no extra vacation time to get to a remote location in NoCal. I struggled with what to do for weeks and finally told Miss Jasmin that I might not make it and in a gesture of fairness, asked Miss Jasmin if she still wanted to make beautiful flowers for our wedding.

And she does! Whew! I'll keep you updated on how things unfold, but in the meantime ... on to the announcement ....

Big Spoon and I talked for several weeks about the possibility of not being at Miss Jasmin's wedding, during which the idea surfaced that we should hire a wedding coordinator. Big Spoon was not on board at first due simply to the question of "they're going to do what for how much? Um .... " There's a lot more to it, but we'll skip along.

After contacting several reputable planners and companies, I narrowed it down to my top three and met with each of them within a week. All are delightful, lovely women who are excellent at what they do. It mostly came down to a gut feeling (and the budget) that Margaret of Details by Margaret was the best fit for us.




I first met Margaret at the Elegance Bridal Gala back in August 2009. We immediately clicked and I entertained the idea of a coordinator for a little while, then realized that we didn't have the budget for it. I won a set of customized wine bottle labels from her and that kept us in contact up to this point.

August was a long time ago, so I met up with Margaret again and instantly remembered what I liked so much about her - she's very proactive, has a "can do" attitude and goes above and beyond because she truly enjoys helping budget brides. We are so excited to be working with her and I'm happy to eat my previous words.

As of now, we're going over the budget for this service. However, I'm hoping some of that my budget estimates are overestimates (perhaps the stationery?), and I can shift some money around to cover at least some of the cost of coordination.

Hermitage Bakery

Big Spoon and I had a cake tasting at Hermitage Bakery today during which we reserved our date and discussed our wedding cake.

I drive by the bakery every morning on my way to work and it was a matter of calling and asking for a price late last year. After we decided to go this route, I realized that part of my problem with the exorbitant prices some vendors charge for wedding cakes is due to the fact that I just want a plain cake. No fondant (um, ew!), no fancy-smancy decorations - plain ivory cake.

The "look" for our wedding cake is based on this picture. It will be a three-tier, ivory cream cheese frosted cake with a cream/gold ribbon. The top and bottom tiers will be traditional white wedding cake, the middle tier will be chocolate.

They are very easy to work with and have reasonable delivery rates, although we have opted to pick ours up the day of rehearsal because we have run of the reception hall and kitchen. That saved us $50! Also, we lucked out by scheduling our consultation today because, although they have not changed their prices in 14 years, they are in fact about to change their prices.


Needless to say, it's exciting to have another check on the planning list and enjoy the delicious cake samples we brought back with us.

Thoughts on Planning a Budget Wedding

A dear friend of mine, who has been an active participant in my wedding planning process, got engaged on Halloween. She and her fiancé will be getting married exactly three weeks after we do. There's a whole lotta planning going on! A few days later, she text messaged me "where do I start?." Hey, I'm not an expert (yet), but it helps a lot to start with the money. 

I consider us a budget couple. Right from the start, we were on the same page about finances. You know, the "big stuff." We have a few differences, interests and quirks that make us a well-rounded couple (doesn't everyone?), but money matters is not one of them. When we developed our wedding budget, I shot high, he shot low and we met in the middle. We feel like the amount we are spending is reasonable and most importantly, sane. We even have a separate checking/savings account for the wedding. Does this mean we can hire a specialized vendor for everything under the sun? Nope. We had to prioritize.

Perhaps "Simple and Sane" could be our other wedding mantra, but however we spin it, my goal is to create a day that is reflective of who we are and what we value most. So far, its been more than fun to plan the wedding together and with our loved ones. At the end of this adventure, I want to reveal our budget breakdown, just like {The Thirty-Something Bride}! For now, I’ll settle for telling you a few of the things we’ve passed on paying for and what we’ll be doing ourselves:

• Flowers – The aforementioned friend works for a wholesale florist. She’s hooking me up (and she’s really really good!)

• Coordination – Again, my amazing friend will be handling this for me. I love her. 

• Videography – I love professional wedding vids, but honestly, its going to be one of those things that never gets watched or looked at. No, really. I’ll ask a friend with a handheld.

• Transportation – Eh. This was a no-brainer because neither of us really care. I have a new car named “Hatch” and he’s gonna be sporting a $2 Martha “Just Married” banner like whoa.

• Expensive Wedding Cake – Big Spoon let me work this one out for myself. I blogged about it a lot. Here and here. Oh, and here too. We’ve found a local bakery for fractions of the cost of other vendors. Hellooo real wedding cake!

• No Alcohol – Big Spoon doesn’t drink and our families don’t drink. It is also a two-hour reception. That isn’t long enough for me to feel safe serving alcohol. 86 the booze.

• Other – No professional lighting, no bridal portraits, no day-after shoots, no “second” dress for the reception, no bouquet or garter toss. 

• Invitations – I’m ever-so-happy to be designing our wedding stationery! I’m cutting some corners, DIYing and the like to make it all wonderful and affordable.



So, those are my current thoughts on the budget. Do whatever makes the most sense for you as a couple, but don't sell your firstborn child in order to pay for one day. 

Design & Style Update

I *just* finished designing our save the dates and I am planning to upload them to our printer tonight. I've only designed a few options for our invitations thus far, but how cool would it be to have no multiple inserts and junk! However, I can think of only a handful of guests who would really appreciate the artistic effort of hand-sewing 75 booklets together.

Also, our style is kind-of established at this point. Like relationships go, Big Spoon and I had to meet in the middle with our tastes for the big event. As the pieces start coming together, we seem to be weaving a modern-traditional budget wedding.  My design style is mod, clean and simple and that works for Big Spoon as well. Our venue is historic and Southern and I'm wearing ivory and pearls. So there ya go.

I like to call our wedding "Budget Elegant." Do you have a wedding motto?

We're "Delight"ed

Remember the Engaged Nashville event I blogged about here? I walked away from that event with some major caterer envy. Luckily for us, our original catering option fell through and I contacted Rita Rowland of Down South Delights. She is super easy to work with and her food is simply delicious!

From her talk at Engaged Nashville to our first meeting, I had a great feeling about Rita and her team. She was willing to work within our budget, offer suggestions and answer a multitude of questions.  Not to mention she is just a delight to be around!

Big Spoon and I talked through and submitted a menu to Rita and we just returned from our tasting tonight. Just, wow. The food is even better than I remember! We are oh, so happy with this vendor choice and thus, we put a deposit down tonight to reserve our date.

Also, for the benefit of Tennessee/Kentucky brides, I want to note that Rita offered us an all-inclusive price. Read: no fees. I hate fees and it's almost comedic there are so many of them for the most ridiculous things! Again, we are very pleased :)

Wedding Shoes ... the search ends

 

Tonight, I met up with a former colleague for dinner at the Yellow Porch in the 100 Oaks area. I had a wonderful time! Its always good catching up with friends.

Afterwords, I dropped into TJ Maxx and found my wedding shoes! The VERY thing that I have been searching for! Closed, round toe, shiny but not satin, a color matching my "pearl" colored wedding dress, small heel height and budget friendly. I love me some Liz Claiborne!

I walked around the store in two sizes before I took one of them home with me. For $29.99, even if they didn't "match", it would be okay, right? They just happen to be a perfect match. I have several ideas for "customizing" them other than my "shoe bling" (see picture on right), so look for updates.

Happy Thursday!

Venue Reviews, Part 1

Today, I'd like to wrap up my thoughts on some of the venue's that I have looked into this week for our 2010 wedding. I'll talk about the ones I've visited and some I didn't and why. I hope this helps someone out there looking for a great place for their ceremony or reception.
Click here to expand and read reviews.

Hermitage Golf Course
Old Hickory, TN 37138

This is by far the nicest looking golf course I've seen to this point. The Future Mrs. Smith had her ceremony and reception here in September, which is how I found it. Kara Torphy is the special events coordinator and she is wonderful to talk to. She shoots straight and answers any and all questions. She seems to be a great person to work with and coordinate wedding details. I especially liked their garden and gallery. You can rent all their spaces (minus the course) for $2500.

Pros: There are two built-in rain plans.
Cons: You can only use an outside caterer if you pay a buy-out fee.

Hazel Path Mansion
Hendersonville, TN

If you are looking for an all-inclusive historical venue on the north or east side of town, this might be the place for you. Located in the heart of Hendersonville, this mansion has really been kept up. It's gorgeous on the inside, with numerous chandeliers and rooms to use for the wedding party, buffet line, etc. They will also work with you if you do not want a package.

Pros: It rivals many other historic mansions in beauty and price.
Cons: You must tent the reception. Tables & chairs not provided if you don't go with a package.

Timothy Demonbreun House
Nashville, TN

This is by far one of my favorite finds. The owner is an ancestor of Timonty Demonbreun and named the B & B in his honor. If you are interested in a more intimate gathering with great anemities, contact Richard Demonbruen. He is so very pleasant and helpful. They sell alcohol at cost, can handle the catering (because they are a B&B) and also have wedding weekend packages.

Pros: Lovely place and lovely prices.
Cons:  No Sunday weddings. (Which was the downfall for us).

Baber House
Gallatin, TN
  
If I could do this thing over again, this would be the first place we would have looked at. I think my heart was set on a Nashville venue, but 45-minutes outside of Nashville, this place is this gem. I've never been there, but I've driven by it for YEARS on the way to my hometown and had no idea it was used for special events. The pictures are breathtaking - an old historic home meshed with contemporary styling. We were really disappointed to find that this venue is booked for our wedding weekend. They only book one wedding per weekend, which could be a pro I guess.

Pros: It's gorgeous and the price is fantastic!
Cons: They are BOOKED. Our date plus two back-up dates for 2010 are already taken.

The Great Cake Debate

My last post about cake involved a faux cake DIY project. In thinking about all of the DIY projects that I have planned for the next 12 months, some of them had to go away - this one in particular.

My ideas about wedding cake and its importance to our wedding vision has been a hot topic of conversation since our engagement trip. Big Spoon and I both agree that it is not a high priority: its just cake. People eat it (and usually not all of it). How disappointing to purchase a $400 cake and half of it go to waste! However, I've had some reservations (and fear of regret) about not having a "real" wedding cake.

I decided to call around for prices on my lunch break Friday afternoon and found a bakery close by that seems promising. During our weekly "wedding talk" on Saturday, I discussed with Big Spoon that in the way of stress and time, it makes sense for us to consider adjusting this category. We discussed logistics of each plan and prices. I proposed that although the former plan is budget savvy, it's not stress-savvy.

After talking, we decided to visit the bakery and ask a few questions. We both left feeling confident that this decision is close to being final. And if felt great! There has been something nagging me about it forever - and suddenly, that feeling was gone. I felt like another piece of our planning puzzle fell in to place.

Planning Tools via the Unabridged Bride Workshop

At last night's Unabridged Bride workshop, I really enjoyed hearing from CJ Dickinson of CJ's Off the Square. She spoke to us about how to build a realistic budget, manage our funds, keep our expectations in check, and work productively with potential vendors. Although we are a bit ahead in the planning process, all of this information was still helpful.

CJ suggested a "weekly wedding meeting" with one's fiancé so that a wedding doesn't take over one's regular day-to-day life. The meeting would consist of a regularly assigned time to talk about any issues, ideas, and especially a budget.

You can't talk about the budget without talking about the guest list, right?

Taking our number into consideration and dividing by our budget, I started thinking about our real "price per guest" and what that means to me. More on that later.

There are a couple of things I wish that I had started in the beginning:

• Set up a separate email account for all bridal related correspondence.
• Set up a separate bank account for the wedding funds.
• Set up a weekly "date" with Big Spoon to talk about the wedding.

Now that I am more informed, I intend to discuss this "weekly meeting" with Big Spoon. I think it's a great idea!

The Dress - Part 3

I HAVE A WEDDING DRESS!



It is much sooner than I had anticipated, but I found "the dress" at the Elegance Bridal Gala in mid-August. I tried it on while I was there and loved it. I made a few appointments and planned to put a deposit down at a trunk show and order the dress later, however, Cherished Memories Bridal and Formal is closing its doors in October.

My parents came down today to go with me and after I was laced up, we determined that the sample actually does fit ... but a few more pounds won't hurt me. It wasn't dirty or worn, so I felt comfortable buying the sample. The dress seems quite easy to alter and I'm confident that my mother or aunt can do the alterations for me for free!

Hoping to get the dress for a bit more than 30% off, I asked about the Elegance Bridal Bucks card, which she will not honor now that her dresses are clearance priced. Just wanted to throw that out there for anyone going out to the shop to look around.

All of the above aside, Lisa is very nice and reasonable. I ended up offering her a cash payment in exchange for a small additional discount and took my dress home with me. However, she is still offering deposits/payments and short term garment housing.

Now my dress is hanging in an upstairs closet, waiting for our wedding day. Next year. 58 weeks. 407 days.

Learning As I Go

I've been checking on prices of styrofoam at local craft storesfor the faux cake DIY ... and I have to tell ya, I'm probably better off going to a bakery and ordering a cake with delivery. To make the faux cake stack properly, I'm going to need several pieces in two sizes ... and even with a store coupon, the task seems daunting (and expensive).

However, I have located "cake-dummies" online that are much more affordable. This must be what the cake bakeries use to create their mock-ups. Since I have a recipe for royal icing, I should be good to go. Those Michaels and Joanns coupons will come in handy for for other things, I'm sure.

The Dress: Part 1

I tried on my first ever wedding dress on July 15 at David's Bridal in Madison, TN. I posted about the dress I hoped would be the one here.

It wasn't.

Nor were any of the other half dozen or more dresses I tried on that day. I hated them all ... except one that I felt mildly interested in and when I got the snap shots home, I almost cried. It's not that the sales associate was bad or that anything was wrong with the dresses, per se, but I felt very foolish in most of them ... and fat. The florescent lights are not flattering and to say the least, I came home quite discouraged that day.

Fast forward to today ... I planned an entire day of dress shopping with my parents. I made two appointments and planned to visit four shops. We began our second shopping excursion at the White Room in Lebanon, TN. The consultants there were lovely, attentive and intuitive. I liked almost everything I tried on.

Yes, the opposite problem than I had had previously. To make matters more confusing, I liked two different styles in Lebanon - this ethereal, beaded beauty and a lovely, minimally embellished A-line.

After stopping in at a consignment bridal shop and having lunch, we realized that the third store had already closed for the day. We called to get directions to the White Room's sister store in Murfreesboro.

Another great experience, the consultants were again attentive and helpful. I walked in without an appointment and they saw me right away. I tried on a few more dresses before realizing that they had this one in a much much larger size. I tried it on and did the clamps in the back to help me see how it would actually look on me. I even tried on two birdcage veils and a "bubble" veil with the dress, both of which look fine.

I then tried this dress. Now I was torn again. Three dresses, all equally flattering - and all different. In total, I've had on the first dress five times today.

At this point, it was time to wrap up our shopping for the day and I headed over to David's Bridal with my parents. I had set up the appointment several weeks ago after discussing with a sales associate that I was looking for specific style numbers that the Madison store did not have in stock. She assured me that they would have anything I wanted from the Fall 2009 line.

They had two. Out of six dresses on my list (that Madison did not have), they had TWO.

So I tried on the Galina dress again. I felt more comfortable in it this time, but I'm still very undecided. I think it will be best for me to actually secure the venue we have been "penciled in" at and then make a decision.

PS. I forgot to mention that I ran into Little Miss Southern trying on wedding dresses at the White Room on Saturday morning. Check out her lovely blog! I can't wait to see what dress she picks!