July 2012 Brides and Grooms

wanchai_2

Morning all!!!!!!!!

I'm going to ANOTHER dress shop on Saturday, shouldn't really but the last few shops have been a bit disappointing!! :rotfl:

I'm debating getting my teeth whitened for the wedding - my dentist has quoted £300 for the custom made trays and bleach :eek: but it will be worth it to be confident in the photos!!!

I have taken control of the house - finally! Did a massive clean/tidy yesterday evening, threw out lots of cr*p and feel much better already! It was as good as a workout too lol! Now to tackle the upstairs...

Oh and I went to the gym on Tuesday, feel all proud of myself...

wxy wrote: »

:j Wanchai - It's a beautiful dress - I love all of the dresses you've shared with us so far!

Price wise that's a tricky one. I would say the costs would depend on a number of factors:

1）Material - it is hard to tell what the dress in the pictures is made of but my guess is silk. If you are not bothered about using polyester satin for example, then the costs would be sooo much less! The dupion for my dress cost £10 per meter (1.5m width which is pretty much the widest that you can easily get hold of) and I bought 10 metres of it and only have 2.5m left - and I still need to use some for my finishing touches. Just to give you an idea.

The dress in the pictures looks like it has quite a full skirt so I would expect quite a lot of fabric to be used. If you are using silk then chances are you will need to underline it (to strengthen the fabric and avoid seam slippage) so I then spent about £10 per metre on silk organza... I bought a lot of that...

Then I had to buy fabric for the lining layer - again in silk. That wasn't as expensive.

Tulle/dress net - my dress is quite pouffy at the bottom/it's quite full but judging by the photos you may not need a lot of that. It's not very expensive anyway.

Also if it's silk then you may want silk thread to match the fabric - not cheap...

If you would wear polyester then I would expect the cost to be at least half the price.

2) Does the dressmaker need to draft a pattern or can she/he just buy a commercial one? for this I would google 'sewing patterns uk' and have a look at the available patterns that are for sale to get an idea.

I had a quick look for you and didn't think any pattern was particularly similar to what you're looking for...

I started off with a purchased pattern and had made lots and lots of changes to it. but it does make it a lot easier to have something as a starting point.

3) Labour - now this is the part that I don't have experience on. time wise, because I'm using silk, I had to hand sew A LOT - would expect to have spent maybe 100 hours handsewing so far... but if you are not bothered about hand finished seams then a machine would be able to finish the seams in a much quicker manner but will add a bit of bulk (bearing in mind almost all RTW dresses are overlocked by machine it shouldn't really be an issue).

I think the most time consuming part is to decide/finalise the pattern and the hand sewing...

Hope this helps - let me know if you have more questions

Thanks a mill for taking the time to explain all that wxy, it's really helpful xxx

MrsDrink wrote: »

Erm, I can't say as I only looked at two shops. In my mind my dress is the dream dress... but I saw it, fell in love, and ordered it. I haven't carried on looking 'just in case'. There may be a better dress out there that I don't know of, but to be honest I don't care. The dress I've ordered is an amazing dress and I cannot wait to wear it. To me that is what matters not whether I have the best dress. If that makes sense.



Not a case of 'changing' his mind - more 'making up' his mind. Until now he's been undecided. Now he has to decide what colour, what metal, (I'm hoping for a silvery colour so we can go down the tungsten type cheaper metals lol), what thickness, what shape, and what width band he would like. It does make me really happy though that he wants to have a wedding ring (he did say even if he then puts it on his chain). In my mind it goes another step to show that he really is keen to marry me and isn't just going through the motions because I nagged him into it lol.

Oh, I intend to stop looking once I've decided lol!

Glad that your OH is wearing a ring after all, how exciting Mine doesn't want to but I really don't mind (saves us money lol :rotfl:).

FutureCooper wrote: »

Wanchai - My dress isn't really my dream dress. I brought it because i really wanted a shorter tea length dress and the one i purchased will alter really well and it was in the sale as the top layer of tulle was damaged. At the moment it looks like this huge meringue of a dress (think puffy princess :eek:) but i can see that after a LOT of the tulle skirt is removed and shortened it will be the sort thing i want. The spare tulle and lace edging is going to be made into a small, short bolero to cover just enough of my bingo wings and back fat! I did post a picture a while ago but i find it difficult to show my dress as even i go WOW that is a big dress! and it does scare me as i never look at a picture of it and like it,i have to look beyond that and imagine what it will be like when its altered. I have to wait a whole 6 months yet though.

I can't wait to see a pic of yours, and well done on customising it! :T

wanchai_2

PinkPrincess83 wrote: »

Could someone send me some energy- I am soooooooo drained at the mo. Feeling a bit better in myself today- was having a real down day yesterday, which is really unlike me- Im a very bubbly happy hyper person usually but am feeling much better today!!:D

Sending lots of energy your way xxx

lovecake wrote: »

Hi Ladies,

Natalie - Well done on paying off more of the honeymoon! :jWe haven't even thought about ours yet!

Wanchai - I think I mentioned on your other thread - I am having my dress made because I really couldn't see anything I liked in the shops. I thought I would find 'The one' but I didn't and didn't fancy going for the next best thing - especially when having one made is not costing any more. Let me know how you get on with your dressmaker!

Melanie - where are we at on the countdown? :rotfl:

I thought I'd update you all on the engagement shoot we had on Sunday - it was really good fun, the weather was perfect, crisp and cold, but clear blue skies and our photographer was fantastic! We both feel really comfortable with her now and we know what sort of poses and things she'll ask from us on the big day. I think it helped to boost OH's confidence in front of the camera too which is great! So glad that it came as part of her package!

I'll post some pics when she's edited them...

Good luck to everyone in trying to be good for dinner tonight

FutureCooper wrote: »

I thought i would put this link on for my button bouquets. I have had to photograph mine in a sturdy bag as its to heavy to stand anywhere. I have not covered either as yet as i am going to make felt handles to line them and make them more comfortable to hold. I will post again when i have the ribbon and lace on:

http://s1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd515/FutureCooper/

I have put together a 70 stem bridal one in creams for the local shop to display but it needs to look fuller i feel, so i am going to use some from mine as i have over 100 and mine is huuuge! I have ordered my business cards which i am really pleased with and now i have to wait upto 21 days!! I want them NOW . . . . its worse than waiting for Xmas!

Wow, fab bouquets! You are very talented

Your cards will probably arrive sooner than you think xx

lovecake

Hi girls,

I thought I'd let you know of discount code for Glitzy Secrets. It was on the Love My Dress Blog this morning. 25% off with the code SPARKLEWEEK. Lovely stuff on there - lots of lovely vintagey looking stuff too! Necklaces, earrings, brooches, hair combs and clips, tiaras and headpieces, garters etc. I just ordered a necklace, pair of earrings and brooch for the big day! The code is only valid until 08/12/11.

Here's the link - http://www.lovemydress.net/blog/2011/12/glitzy-secrets.html Xx


P.S Great work on the button bouquets Melanie!
P.P.S Wanchai - I'm thinking of getting my teeth whitened too...

wanchai_2

Ooh, thanks for the code!!! Must check out that site

How much is your dentist quoting, lovecake? Xx

PinkPrincess83

I love glitzy secrets! I think for the price you pay the quality is fab and it looks a lot more expensive. I love my glitzy secrets tiara- i really cant wait to wear it!! May have to have a look to see if anything else catches my eye!

Thanks for the energy Wanchai- Im feeling much bettertoday! Im also impressed with my dinner choice last night- I went for grilled chicken breast and a jacket spud (makes up for the chinese im having tonight!!- whoops!!)

lovecake

I haven't had a quote for my teeth yet Wanchai - although I think i remember seeing a sign saying £299 when I was in last. When I get a quote I'll let you know!

This is what I ordered from GS -
http://www.glitzysecrets.com/radiant-starlet-earrings.html

http://www.glitzysecrets.com/radiant-starlet-necklace.html

http://www.glitzysecrets.com/posy-of-charm-brooch.html

Which tiara did you go for Emma?

FutureCooper

Thanks for the code i really like that site. I have loads on my wish list, i just can't choose!

I watched a new bridal accessories programme on WeddingTV where they had a tea length dress with detailing like mine and they dressed it up with simple jewellery like that on Glitzy secrets and simple satin shoes and then they went for another totally bling look and added red and black shoes. I loved the simple look and really hated the colour one so it has made me totally re think having purple sparkly shoes. Their advice was that with detail and lace on the dress to have coloured shoes detracts the eye away and makes people look at my feet and ankles. What do you think?

wanchai_2

FutureCooper - hmm, tricky one! I would maybe go for pale gold shoes - not too 'bridal' but at the same time don't 'take away' from the dress - but then I have seen some really cute brides in tea length dresses with red shoes!

lovecake - your jewellery is fabby doo!!!!! :j

PinkPrincess83

lovecake- i will inbox u at the weekend as i am worried who may see ( although i nay have let slip which one i have!). i love it thought and as my dress is very plain its quitr detailed so is perfect.

melanie- i think it really depends on the dress and the detail on it and also the style of shoe and also the kind of and colour of accessories that u are having.

MrsDrink

Melanie - that is exactly what I'm thinking - my dress is the focal point so I don't want anything to detract from it. I think if I'd got a fairly plain dress (like just satin with no detailing or bling) then I'd go for something a bit more wow in my shoes/necklace. I'm still on the fence when it comes to my shoes - whether to wear my silver ones or whether to get some rainbow club ones.

Oh and today is Day 1. I actually cried last night about feeling really fat. I have 1st7 to lose. It is possible but I need to pull my finger out and stop all this tooing and froing. I have decided every 7lbs lost I will put aside £50. Then at the end I will have £150 to spend on something dive related. (Maybe a nice dive bag to take everything on our honeymoon! Especially now I have my dive fins - not sure they will fit in our suitcases they are quite long lol).

Two weeks 1 day left at school - I break up on 19th Dec. The day after I'm off to get my hair done - am going to get it all cut short again (well chin length) and I'm going to go brown to see how I feel about it for the wedding. Then I'm popping to MrD's mums to pick up all his childhood/family photos to start scanning them. Hopefully I'll have them done by Christmas so we can give a copy on a CD to his sister and his mum. I'm really looking forward to it. Then after Christmas, before New Year I'll do my childhood/family photos