if it's too good to be true, it usually is!

Remember when I posted about Enzo Bridal, a bridal shop that was offering free airline tickets to any bride who tried on dresses?   When I had gone with my mother, sister and grandmother, I had tried on a beautiful dress that was at a really reasonable price.  Momzilla fell in love with it and tried to convince me to purchase my gown there.  I, being the researcher that I am, had read terrible reviews about the salon and refused to comply with MZ.

Thank goodness that I did.  According to this article and the furious brides on The Knot message boards, Enzo Bridal has suddenly closed its doors.  Brides who have put their deposits down may never see their wedding dress and some of these women are getting married in just a few months!  I couldn't imagine.

I hope this teaches brides two things:

One, you should always do your homework before you use any vendor.

And two, if it's too good to be true, it usually is!

let there be WHITE!

Three of my bridesmaids are getting married just a few months before I am and lately there has been one common aspect of the wedding with which we all seem to be frustrated -- FLOWERS.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I don't plan on having many flowers for my wedding.  My bridesmaids will wear white muffs in lieu of bouquets and the reception centerpieces will be white birch branches in a tall glass vase.  Since bridesmaids bouquets and floral centerpieces are usually the bulk of the florist cost, not having them will be a load off my budget.  But there are still some flowers that are necessary - like my bouquet and the guys' boutonnieres.

I don't really know much about flowers and honestly, I don't really care.  All I'm really looking for is a white bouquet with some pinecones thrown in (see picture below).  And for the guys, just give them a white flower to pin on their jackets.  I don't think I'm asking for too much so it's a little surprising when the florists do.  

I've shown this bouquet example to four different florists and have gotten four different costs, ranging from $100 to $200.  And the difference in prices is what really frustrated me.

First of all, aren't they looking at the same flowers?  With the exact same "product," wouldn't I just automatically choose the cheapest one?  I don't know; maybe I missed Flowers 101.  Even if some florists have magical greenhouses where the flowers live forever, I only need them for the day.  That's all.

Secondly, can you tell what each of those flowers are?  Cause I can't.  All I see are white flowers but supposedly there are roses and peonies and lisianthus and ranunculus and that, my friends, is what makes or breaks the cost.  Peonies, especially in winter, cost more than roses, which cost more than lisianthus.  

 White peony:

 White rose:

White lisianthus:

I'm glad I researched this before I went to the florist because if I just told them to replicate this bouquet, I'd be spending a fortune on flowers that I can't even recognize.  Instead, I was very clear to mention that I wanted to replace the expensive peonies with the more affordable lisianthus.  And honestly, I bet no one would even notice a difference.  Would you?

In the end, I went with Flowers By Chuck because he not only gave me the best price (by several hundred dollars) but he also received good reviews on Wedding Wire.   For my floral purposes, that was good enough for me.

Of course, there are a lot of brides who want a particular flower or a particular color that may be more costly but if you're like I am and are just having flowers for the sake of having flowers, here's my advice to you:

Visit a florist prepared with two things: your colors and your budget.  Then let them figure out the best way to combine the two.  After all, they're the experts!

bridesmaid dresses - CHECK!

So after much deliberation and many sleepless nights (ok, now I'm exaggerating), I finally made the decision to stick with the Alexia Designs dress I loved so much. 

Last week, Momzilla, MOH, my cousin/bridesmaid Amanda and my aunt met for a day of dresses.  First, we stopped at Dolores Bridal Boutique where Amanda and I got measured for my sister's bridesmaid dresses.  The dress for her wedding is gorgeous - I can't wait to wear it!

Lyn's bridesmaids will be in a latte color (almost a mocha color) and I, as the Maid of Honor, will wear "butterscotch."  She just got the swatches in and the colors are really nice, although it looks like I'll need to be a lot tanner for November than I am now!

After Dolores', we headed to the Park Avenue Bridals, where Lyndsey and I got our wedding dresses.  They offer their brides a 10% discount on bridesmaid, mother of the bride, and flower girl dresses and since the salon is close enough for most of my girls, I wanted to make my final decision there.

Since I was so uncertain about the Alexia dress, I had Lyndsey and Amanda try on this Bill Levkoff dress that I had also liked.  

While it looked great on the girls and had a really nice navy color, it had crinoline underneath the skirt.  Now, the crinoline would keep the girls nice and warm for any outside pictures but may make them really hot and uncomfortable during the reception.  And I would so rather my girls be dancing it up and having a great time than being bundled for the few pictures we may  not even take outside.

So I once again looked back at the Alexia dress and realized that I still really loved it, iridescent taffeta and all.  The taffeta actually makes the dress "glisten" which fits perfectly with my snowy theme.

When I looked at the tiny little swatch again, I was relieved that the color was a pretty dark "royal blue" and the salesperson even helped me find a similar color on another dress.  This tissue taffeta Jim Hjelm dress seemed to be the closest match and I think it looks great!

Then the best part of the day came - Lyndsey and I tried on our sample wedding dresses again!  They weren't fitted of course, but it was so fun to try them on again after a six month spell.  We're going to be such beautiful brides!  And what made it even better was the fact that I fell in love with it all over again :)

 So the dress dilemma has been resolved and two of the 8 girls have submitted their measurements.  With 10 months to go, it looks like I'm really on my way!

*correction*

So I've been telling everyone, including my readers, that the bridesmaid dress I like is tissue taffeta.  I finally double checked the dress description today and realized it's IRIDESCENT taffeta. 

Does this matter?  What are the pros and cons of iridescent taffeta?  What are the pros and cons of taffeta in general? 

I'm a pretty good planner but lately, these wedding decisions are stressing me out!

true blue

So remember the bridesmaid dress I described a couple of weeks ago?  Well, despite how much I love the way it looks on the girls, I'm starting to reconsider whether or not it's the right dress after all.

Since winter/snowflakes are the theme of my wedding, I was planning on putting the girls in dark blue so the white muffs would really stand out.  The dress I've chosen so far (click here for the link) is made out of iridescent tissue taffeta and is photographed in the color "Bordeaux."  

The blue options Alexia Designs offers are "Desert Blue," "Sky Blue," "Peacock," "Turquoise" and "Royal Blue." Even though "Royal Blue" is the darkest of the bunch, when I change the dress color on the Web site, it looks a little bright for my winter wedding.  And while I know the colors on my computer screen are just meant for representation, blah blah blah, I'm still really worried that my girls will look like blueberries as they walk down the aisle!

Since there is no other sample of Alexia Designs dresses in Royal Blue tissue taffeta, I had to rely on Google images to provide me some examples.


Here's one that I think is a little too electric for a snowflake wedding...

This one is not tissue taffeta but is a little bit closer to my vision.  I would still want it just a shade darker:

And finally, this is the color that I hope Alexia Designs' "Royal Blue" turns out to be.  While it's not as deep as my original idea of navy, it's dark enough for the vision I have.

 

I know my bridal salon will give me a swatch but those things are so small that it really won't give me any peace of mind.

So what do I do?  Would even the most electric blue of this bunch be terrible?  Should I look for another dress that has a safer blue?  Or should I realize that no one is even going to notice the slight nuance in the shades, not even I?