what the WHAT??? i have my dress!!!

i said YES to the dress! my PLI girls, susan and claudia, came with me yesterday. and here comes the irony. here i am telling everyone that i don't think my dress exists in a bridal salon, and where do i end up getting a dress? at a freakin salon in beverly hills. we had a 2:00 at panache. walked in and WOW, it was the largest amount of dresses i had ever seen in a salon. racks and racks of gowns. huge place. somewhere behind these racks i'm sure the counter existed... and yes, there it was in the back left corner. i told my girls to act like we got money to blow, in case they felt like treating us... uh, differently.

we were promptly greeted. my consultant asked me what i was looking for. then she gave us time to browse around. i had to try on that paloma blanca dress again to see how i looked and felt in it. this bridal salon was one of the closer ones that carried it, which is why i came here. i thought it would just be another day to help me solidify the kind of dress i wanted, with the opinions of two fashionable and close friends. :) when i put that paloma blanca on again, i smiled really big! the girls noticed it too. however, i just didn't like that it wasn't as figure flattering. i think something in me still wanted that dropped waist. the girls also weren't digging the contrast of the satin and the organza-ish material in the ruffles. they wanted to like it as much as i did, i think. they saw how much the dress made me smile. i liked it even more after i requested a stone-colored sash. then the consultant added this feathery flower pin thing. cute! then she gave me the bouquet. oh man, i was in trouble.

after a while, my consultant pulled a dress that had similar ruffles, but had a dropped waist. i think claudia suggested that dress earlier but i vetoed it solely on the basis that it didn't have that modified sweetheart top (but is so easy to alter). i gave it a go. i came out and didn't quite like it. it was quite large. and poofy. but then we put on the sash and it looked better. then she put on that feather flower brooch/pin thing and it looked a lot better. it was growing on me. the girls then suggested i go look at myself on the runway thing.

and that's when it happened. i saw myself from afar, at the end of the runway looking into the mirror. and as i stepped up onto the runway platform with the bouquet in had, and the sash and flower pin that completed the look, i really felt like i looked like a bride ready to get married. weird!!! the look was clean, modern, fresh, fun, flirty, elegant and classic, yet couture-y and edgy. it had elements that i really wanted, namely the figure-flattering look, asymmetrical dropped waist, and ruffles. the girls LOVED IT. they were beaming FOR me. :)

just to be sure, i had to put on the paloma blanca on again. i LOVED how light the dress was and how easy it was to move in it! but it did make my torso look short. and it made me look younger, in a teenage kind of way. i didn't like it as much. then my consultant tells me she forgot to tell me about the sample sale. if i went home with this sample today, it would be 25% off. O_O after today, 15% off. and if i ordered a brand new on in my size, 10% off. oh the anxiety kicked in alright. so much so that my consultant was worried i'd give myself an ulcer. i asked what time they closed, and if i could call in my order if i decided to take the sample. 6pm.

what was stopping me? my mind still was wondering about that other champagne dress at wilshire bridal. i just had to know if that one was it, because i really thought it could be. i called to see if i could go in to try just that dress on, and it was a go. we headed down wilshire and when i got there i tried it on. i came out... and the girls weren't impressed. they agreed it looked great, but it just didn't have the same je ne sais qois. and for reason, the color didn't seem the same as i remembered it. i was distinctly in love with the color. i explained the other dress to the consultant, and showed her a photo i found online. she pulled a pronovias that looked like it, and it really did. but again, that certain something was missing. the quality just wasn't the same, the clean crisp lines weren't there. the girls just weren't having it, and neither was i. the ajuma really wanted to make it work, and so did i. i knew she would offer it at a better price (and in the right size). they looked up the brand, couldn't find it, saying it wasn't a brand name and that they had never heard of it. after looking up some more info, they discovered it was a new italian designer. she said if i loved it, to go for it. she said she would alter it for me at a good price. i asked if a size 10 was too large to alter down, and she said it wouldn't be a problem. rental gowns are always being sized down and altered accordingly.

so, back in the car i frantically called and texted meisha, blanca, and sarah. with 2 minutes til closing, i called panache and... SAID YES TO THE DRESS! :) oh em gee. i have a dress. and i love it. almost. i think i will love it 100% once i know it will be altered to look and fit really great. :) but, to complete the look, i still need a stone-colored sash and that freakin feather flower pin! i want that stupid flower. it is so overpriced.

well, tomorrow's the day! have an appointment to get an alteration estimate with their seamstress and i think i'm coming home with my dress. gotta shop around for alterations first before i commit. that's me!

oh the obsession...

at this point i am pretty much obsessed and completely engrossed in wedding dress shopping. i mean, really, i went THREE DAYS IN A ROW. had to spread out my friends so i don't drag the same people to a gazillion places, cuz that could get old quick. i am also browsing the internet for hours at a time looking at dresses, browsing used ones, etc. the ones that keep popping up in my mind: the paloma blanca, the ella, and the san patrick. all so different, especially in their silhouettes and textures!

i don't know what i should do. i don't like being obsessive. i want to decide on a dress soon, during this winter break. i want to stop obsessing over it, and i don't really have any other time. i'm looking at spring break as the next time i can really put thought and time into looking for a dress. if i could get this out of the way, i can worry about other details. the dress is pretty major. listen to me, i sound all wedding-obsessed.

what to do... i really don't want to spend so much on a dress. =/

korean places, i shall conquer u.

so all this time i've been avoiding korean places, even though some friends said they offered good deals (and usually offered rentals as an option). i'm just scared of pushy ajumas. i find myself often deferring to them. so, my fellow korean sarah and i agreed to brave two korean salons together today :) first stop was wilshire bridal. i had my game face on and everything! as it turned out, my consultant was great! not pushy. we got to pick out what we wanted, tried stuff on, she pulled one. and... i really liked one that i totally didn't expect to like so much. an angel satin in ivory/champagne (ella 5436). the satin wasn't all shiny, it was a bit matte. very pretty. modified sweetheart, beautiful ruching, corset back (!), and pretty train. i don't want a long train, so this might have to be shortened. i LOVED the color, complemented my skin tone really well. i had a smile on my face the whole time. i was sooo surprised i liked it so much, it being satin and all, and the dress not even being textured. the pick-ups made it look sort of textured-y. and WHAT a price, which INCLUDED alterations! what i learned from this visit: modified sweetheart is what i want for the top. interesting ruching i really like. sometimes it's not necessarily the details that make the wow factor, but the COLOR!

second stop was beautiful day wedding. hard to find. also another small boutique. by this time, sarah and i were really focused on what would work and wouldn't work. she pulled some great gowns, and i tried on about 4. the best one was the san patrick (pronovias) capricho. loved it! had many of the elements i wanted: interesting ruching, dropped asymmetrical waist, textured bottom. the only concern was the one-shoulder strap. did i want it? or did i want it to be strapless sweetheart? the ruffles also need to start higher. it would need a lot of adjustments. but for the price, which again included alterations, wow. what i learned: i just may have to go with a korean place!

oh, david's bridal. u never fail to disappoint. that's right, i said it.

the first time i went to a david's bridal was when alex and i started talking about the idea of marriage. that was like 2 years ago. meisha came along with me, but the consultant treated me like i was just playing dress-up. whatever. the second time was also with meisha but we didn't have an appt. the lady was really rude and we didn't get to try on anything. this third time i went to the monrovia location by myself. there was this one vera wang dress i had to see about. i ended up liking it, but perhaps the silhouette moreso than anything else. most of the dresses i tried on there were duds. i took photos anyway because there were a few elements that served as good food for thought. didn't love any of the dresses there, but the visit did reinforce the idea that i wanted my dress to be figure-flattering, and i still wanted that dropped waist.

day 1 of some serious dress shopping!!!

my bridesmaids finally made it out together! yay! we hit up marylinn's in pasadena. i had to forewarn my girls that the yelp reviews for this salon weren't that stellar. most complaints were about their snootiness. i was prepared to be treated accordingly, just in case. however, we were pleasantly surprised! the consultant appointed to me was sooo wonderful and attentive! she really was responsive and willing to allow me to try on what i wanted. what i learned from this first visit: a bit of poofiness ain't that bad. the bottom had to be interesting. veils don't work on me.

next we hit up lili bridals in freakin tarzana. yeah, crazy traffic at rush hour. i shouldn't have scheduled an appointment at 5pm when everyone gets off work. arrived 30 minutes late. my consultant rushed me through and seemed really affected by the hectic day, and my lateness. i thought this place would be a lot bigger, based on the brands that they carried. it's actually pretty small. this was the first time i actually really came to like a dress (paloma blanca 4116). i smiled and turned and kept looking in the mirror. i stayed in that dress for a while. i was really surprised i liked it because it was an A-line, starting from the natural waist. i thought i wanted a dropped waist. things i learned from this visit: i really wanted a textured bottom (i was digging the ruffles). i wasn't opposed to a slightly poofy a-line dress, though i thought i had ruled it out. the top and bottom of the dress had to be different, as in, it couldn't be the same material/patterning throughout.

ate at a vegan vietnamese joint in the area and it was BOMB!!! thanks to my girls for helping me make so much progress in looking for the dress that i want. i have a much more solid idea of what i want in my wedding dress! onward...!

first weekday of winter break!

mini-reunion!!! had lunch for the first time at din tai fung. i've always wanted to eat there. the wait was long, but it didn't matter cuz i was catching up with my girls!! TEP reunion with jenny, trisha, alicia, and liz with her baby girl (she is so big)! i miss everyone, and it was so nice to see them all. it's another reminder of how quickly time passes. i haven't seen these girls in months, almost a year. we see each other once or twice a year. it's weird. i miss them! :( and trisha made awesome cookies for us. and the dumplings... insanely good.