Over the weekend, one of Matt’s best friends from San Francisco, Lucrecia, was in town–while she was here, since she just loves dress shopping, we decided to hit a couple more stores that I hadn’t seen yet: Cicada Bridal and Brides by Demetrios.  We didn’t find anything.  I was sadly disappointed by Cicada Bridal which I had heard was really beautiful–there wasn’t a single dress there that I wanted to try on, probably because most of the dresses were separates which I wasn’t interested in.  I found a few to try on at Demetrios but they just paled in comparison to the 4 candidates remaining for me. At the end of the day, my heart keeps thinking of, like, the 3rd or 4th dress I ever tried on–which is really similar to Adrianne Curry’s dress that you see over on the left (without the ribbon).  Pretty funny considering it was a dress I found within Hour 1 of my dress shopping experience.  Just goes to tell ya that I’m the type of person that needs to see a thousand options before making a decision.  Same went with the location—Matt and I saw Newcastle first, then saw 8 other places before picking Newcastle.  And really, it was all me—Matt probably would’ve gone with our gut in the beginning…but I needed and insisted on seeing more places just to satisfy myself that I had seen the whole spectrum of choices.

Well, I’ve got the 4 dresses narrowed down, somewhat in order–and when my mom gets here in a week and a half, I’ll show them all to her. But I have a feeling I know which one is “the one”.  Everyone says it—every bride will just know which one is “the one”.  The problem is whether or not that bride is willing to admit it at the time.  I certainly wasn’t but can see it now. 

Here are my afterthoughts after dress shopping so much, for future brides to consider:

• Always bring a bustier to try on dresses.  Some places will offer you one but not always, so it’s great to have one just in case.
• If you think you’ll wear a veil, try one on with the dresses that you like–in a lot of cases, it really makes a huge different and completes the look for you.
• Try to bring something to clip your hair up if you know you’ll likely wear your hair up.  It really helps in imagining the final look.
• Most places don’t allow you to take photos of the dresses to show friends and family—so it’s pretty important that you have your close girlfriends to see the dress on you in person to help you with your decision.
• If you get a chance to have one of your girlfriends put the dress on you in the dressing room, you can take advantage of that opportunity to snap photos inside the dressing room for future purposes…..but…..
• Most fairly good bridal salons will have a dedicated bridals sales consultant waiting on you hand and foot, including putting the dress on you in the dressing room, so it’ll likely be hard to grab a snapshot.
• Fabric does make a difference.  Wearing silk satin vs. a synthetic fabric means a huge difference in the way your skin breathes and feels underneath.  Keep in mind you’re wearing this dress for hours.  You need to be comfortable.
• The typical sample size in the store is a size 10, which equates to, like, a size 6.  If you’re like me, don’t feel like crap after trying on dresses–those samples were worn by 14 year old models, not real women.  That’s what those crazy clips are for!
• Your friends really really help in telling you not only what looks good on you, but whether or not a dress suits your personality.  While my eyes kept landing on the beautiful all-lace dresses, my friends made a really good point that those dresses, while beautiful on me, didn’t quite suit my personality.  I really see what they mean now.  I don’t think I would’ve realized that if I were shopping on my own.
• Lastly, really go with your gut.  You’ll know when you see the one.  You just have to admit it to yourself at some point.  It took me seeing 6 other stores to realize that.  (of course, I’m saying this without having actually picked the final dress)

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So last weekend, I went for a hardcore day of wedding dress shopping with all the Seattle bridesmaids (and with Phoebe this time who was a trooper for hanging with me all day)–it started at 10:30am and ended at 6:30pm.  Whew!  All in all, we visited 5 different shops and tried on a ton of dresses. It was really interesting to see which shop had a bridal consultant that offered to help you put on the dress and which didn’t–thank goodness Phoebe was there to help me put some of those dresses on!  They’re mighty hard to just “slip on”.  I’ve narrowed down to 4 dresses that stood out throughout the day, one of which I actually first saw at the Monique Lhuillier trunk show (and is still a big favorite).  All of them are either A-line or a modified A-line/trumpet shaped dress.  I’m leaning towards simplicity, a touch of lace, and classic yet modern.  All are strapless (which, prior to dress shopping, I would’ve thought wouldn’t look good on me).  I may hit up another shop or two in the next couple weeks–but my mom gets here mid-August as does Matt’s mom and I’ll take them to see the final candidates to help me choose the final “one”!

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I decided to play around with the look and feel of this website today–and voila!  Here it is.  What do you think?  I thought it’d be fun to make it more playful and colorful.  Plus, although I loved the other design a lot, there was something about the template that made the performance of the site really really slow.  This one is a bit more spiffy and faster.  Since I just switched designs, there are a few things that may not look right (like the photos), which I’ll have to adjust later.  But all in all, I think I like it.  You like?  Oh, and if you’re wondering, I made the caricatures at the top from Yahoo Avatars.  Matt’s was the hardest to make because all the yahoo avatar boys looke like…well, teenage boys.  So I had to really play around with it to make it look more like him.  Not sure if I quite captured it but I hope I at least got the essence of him.

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I kicked off wedding dress shopping yesterday with Jigna, Sri and Asayo by checking out the Monique Lhuillier trunk show at Marcella’s La Boutique.  Now, I really didn’t know what to expect from a trunk show—I now know that it would’ve been best for me to have shopped around a bit first and then make the trunk show be one of my final shopping destinations because any dress found at a trunk show can only be bought at a trunk show.  If I decide later the next month that I like a dress–oh well, I lose.  I guess that’s what makes trunk shows unique and special because the dresses shown are unlikely to just be bought anywhere within that year.  That also means a ton of self pressure to make a decision that day.

The shopping was a ton of fun–and it was really interesting hearing both the bridal sales consultant along with my friends whipping out key words to describe the aspects of my personality that should be a part of the dress.  For me — sassy, fun, sexy, sophisticated, a bit girly but not too girly, romantic but not too romantic, modern, grand.  For example, my eyes were really drawn to an all-lace gown…but my friends all thought it was *too* girly for me.  Ha Ha.  After trying a few more on, I see what they mean.  The good news is that I came out of the experience with 2 dresses that I really liked–and both happened to be non-trunk show dresses, so I can return to Marcella’s another time and get them if I choose to.

I decided last minute today to go out and check out more dresses on my own since I didn’t really have any plans–so I went to see The Bridal Garden (named the Best Wedding Dress Shop in 2006 by Seattle Bride magazine) and La Belle Elaine’s, a shop that I’ve seen close to the Space Needle everytime we walked over for a Sonics game.  I must say: my shopping trip at Marcella’s yesterday definitely spoiled me as my quality bar was quite high after feeling the luxurious silk satins of Monique Lhuillier’s dresses.  Still, I probably left today with potentially 1 candidate from La Belle Elaine’s that I equally liked compared to the Lhuillier dresses—a Cristo one with a bit of lace and was quite similar.

Ideally, I can narrow down dress candidates over the next month before my mom visits so I can show them to her to help me pick the final one.

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Okay, now that Matt’s got all his groomsmen set, I finally got the ball rolling and set up my group of bridesmaids.  I’m super psyched after talking to all of them.  They are:

Phoebe Ingraham (Maid of Honor, Seattle friend & Smithie)
Sara Holmberg (Kansas represent!)
Anna Carey (Smith roommate)
Sri Remala (Seattle friend, travel buddy)
Asayo Urisu (Seattle friend)
Jigna Patel (Seattle friend)

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The wedding is exactly 1 year from today!  Man.  Over the weekend, Matt and I attended our first wedding of 2006 (considering the number of weddings we went to in 2005, it was a warm welcome to only attend one this summer). It was Sumit & Neha’s wedding down in Portland and Matt’s first Indian wedding.  The night before was a Sangeet which was an evening of song, dance, food and mehndi (ladies get henna) and we watched a bunch of our close Indian friends put on a dance that they’d been working on for the past few weeks for Sumit & Neha.  Monday was the actual wedding, which was held at the Oregon Golf Club—beautiful setting which actually reminded me a lot of Newcastle.  When we arrived, Sumit was in a car with Sindya and literally drove around in a single circle as friends & family danced around the car, which was pumping out some serious Bhangra.  How funny.  Soon after, Sumit saw Neha who was absolutely beautiful and they exchanged what looked like leis.  Guests then relaxed and got some drinks and mingled a bit before the ceremony began.  The ceremony itself was incredibly long, about an hour and a half (which is very short for a traditional Indian wedding)–all the guests were painfully in the rays of the strong Oregon sun that day (it was in the 80’s or 90’s) so that made it a bit harder to sit still. Regardless, it was a beautiful ceremony and I could tell Matt appreciated a lot of the traditional aspects of the ceremony (i.e. lighting a sacred fire, tossing rice in, walking around the fire, etc.).  The reception followed soon after with a yummy Indian buffet and, of course, tons and tons of dancing.  One great thing about Indian weddings is the amount of dancing that people get in—they sure love to dance!  I could only hope for that much dancing at my own wedding….

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I’ve been looking up what some of the Chinese Traditions are typically for weddings and found this interesting exerpt from Wild Geese and Tea: An Asian-American Wedding Planner.  I mostly likely won’t be doing all of this, although I remember weddings like this when I was a child, particularly the huge banquets.  I know that I’ll want to incorporate a tea ceremony and change into a cheongsam at some point during the reception.  Still, it’s interesting to read about some of the symbolism.

BETROTHAL
The Book of Rites, based on the teachings of Confucius, lists six betrothal ceremonies that range from a formal proposal letter to an exchange of 12 gifts. Many of these gifts are symbolic, such as a pair of chopsticks — the word for chopsticks, fai ji, sounds like the words for “fast boy” and is a wish for sons. A roast pig is also a popular gift from the groom’s family to the bride’s — the bride’s family returns the head and the hind portion of the pig, showing that there is a beginning and an end for everything.

ENGAGEMENT PARTIES
Today, many Chinese-Americans still throw large parties to celebrate an engagement, often giving or serving the traditional roast pig. In one Taiwanese tradition, the couple exchanges rings at the engagement party, and a formal tea ceremony is held. Such celebrations are a perfect way to share your heritage with family and friends, especially if you’re marrying someone from another culture.

TEA CEREMONY
Wedding ceremonies in Asia are largely silent — the motions and rituals speak more loudly than words. One popular ritual at Chinese-American weddings is the tea ceremony, where bride and groom offer cups of sweet tea to their respective families. Traditionally, the bride offered tea to the groom’s family, but the ritual has been modified a bit. Tea is offered, a sip is taken, and a red packet called hong bao is returned with money or jewelry for the bride and groom. This is considered a formal introduction of the families.

The tea ceremony is a wonderful way to add color and drama to a wedding ceremony. Chinese music could play in the background, and the couple could change into traditional wedding costumes. To make the ceremony special for your guests, ask a family member to explain the ritual’s significance and introduce family members to your guests. It’s a great way to make family members, especially those who might have come from abroad, feel welcome and at home.

WEDDING BANQUET
No Chinese wedding is complete without a 10- to 12-course banquet. The more lavish the display, and the more food and leftovers, the “richer” the hosts. Some foods are symbolic: A whole fish is typically served because the word for fish, yu, sounds like the word for abundance. A sweet dessert of lotus seeds is a wish for many children. Two other popular wedding delicacies are shark’s fin soup, which in some areas costs $150 per guest, and bird’s nest soup (yes, made from real bird’s nests). You might want to warn your Western guests about the abundance of food (perhaps by placing menus on the table) so they don’t fill up on the first course.

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