Going to the Chapel....

I ordered my dress today! Well not quite ordered as it's being made for me....

It's the one I was talking about last time I posted about dresses.. I've tried it on three times so I figure it's the one! Mum loves it too so it's all good!!!

Here's a picture of the sketch she gave me.. it's doesn't give you much of an idea.. it will be a latte, moccha, goldy kind of colour, made of dupion silk.. YAY

I emailed Melanies Bridal the other day to ask what the liklihood of her being able to make the dress I love but in a cheaper fabric would be. She said she can do it and I should come in and she'll show me all the different fabrics she can use!

Yay, perhaps I'll be able to get my dress there afterall!!

Now, don't get too excited.. I haven't found THE dress but I'm pretty close as I think THE dress will have to be made for me. There were two dresses that I fell in love with and both were really close to what I've been picturing in my head, but slightly different as well. A combination of the two dresses with my own touches would be perfect! It was weird trying on dresses as there were so many that looked 'nice' or 'good' but as my sister said, the ones that looked 'great' weren't necessarily nicer dresses, they just reflected my personality more.

We discovered the colours that work best on me are champagne or latte, which is what I wanted, and the most flattering styles are strapless, with a rouched bodice and a bit of draping to the side, also what I wanted!

One dress is straight across at the top, with a rouched bodice then a draped skirt to the side. It's base shape is pretty much spot on as I've wanted a rouched to the side style so I can then add 'ribbons' of Swarovski crystals out from the folds. The other dress was still strapless, but had kind of two points on the neckline so it also has a slight v shape.. it was probably more flattering than the straight across version. It then had a rouched bodice, but rather than a draped skirt, it was just full with kind of gathered bits with crystals oh and it had crystal trim right across the top of the bodice.. So I'm thinking my ideal gown would most likely be (given I feel the same way when I try them both on again) the skirt of the first one, with the top of the second one, with my own beading.

Naturally I cannot find pictures of either of these gowns on the shops websites! I can however offer a vague idea! Go to this website: http://www.melaniesbridal.net/

Click on 'gallery' then 'page 5'. In the centre there's a mauvey purple gown.. it has the same bodice rouching and side draping that the one I like has. Where you can see feathers sticking out, I would have ribbons of crystals dangling down. Colour would be either champagne or latte, neither of which I have a good example!! Incidentally, they also have a fabulous dress in a greeny colour that I tried on back in January and really liked, it had panels of brown lace to add accent. I tried it on again on Saturday and whilst I still really love it, it won't work so well with the colour scheme I want. I'd have to rethink my bouquet, the girls colours.. everything! That's not to say elements of that dress won't end up in my final one though!!

So, next step is to go with robs when she visits her dress maker next to have a look through his books and see if he can do something similar for a much less price! The one from Melannies costs 2400 as a base price and the one from Fairytales is 1900, but the woman said she'd take a bit off for me.. Once I get a quote from a dressmaker or two, I should know whether to just get the cheaper one from fairtytales (which I really do love) or take the bits I like best and combine it with the melanies dress.. The main catch with the melanies dress is that the fabric doesn't come in a colour I want. I'm going to enquire as to whether they can make it in a different fabric which means it could work out a bit cheaper.. Lots of options at this stage!!!

In a few weeks I'm going DRESS shopping!!!!

Also on our way out last night, my sister and I talked heaps about the wedding and how we'll all look, and we seem to be on the same page! Only difference is, she wants a mid-calf dress whereas I'm wearing a mid-calf length dress for Robyn's wedding, therefore I don't really want Robyn and Jus to have similar ones for ours..

I can't wait to start trying things on to see if all my ideas will actually work!! I still don't even know what colour I'm going wear!

I want to update this journal but I have nothing wedding related to write at present :(

I'm starting to get really excited at the prospect of going to France!! I need to start brushing up on my French. I haven't studied it since I was 14.. Uh oh, that's 16 years ago!!

We went and had a look at Poet's Lane last week as it was exactly one year to the wedding! It looked so gorgeous, the massive oak tree's leaves had all changed and the fairy lights were all twinkling in the garden.

They had the room set up with gold sashes again, which is definitely the colour we'll go with as it will compliment our theme the best, plus they had put a few coloured flowers in with the normally cream arrangements and they had dried leaves scattered on the tables. It looked great. The girl said if we'd like to have leaves and different coloured flowers, we just need to provide the flowers and they'll put them into the arrangements, and let them know that we want them to dry out a few leaves for us!

We think we'll probably provide a few flowers in the same colour as my bouquet, but perhaps cheaper ones, and maybe dry out some leaves from Mum's liquid amber, so they have a personal touch! I still have some maple leaves that I accidentally (and it really was an accident) brought back from Connecticut, that I'd love to use, but they've gotten a little brittle.

We're getting closer to getting our dresses ordered for Robyn's wedding! We order them at the end of this month.. her wedding is only 4 months away now. We're in the middle of getting hairstyle ideas! It's all so exciting.

Right-eo
I've updated what I'm thinking for my wedding (again) but I think this is what I'll go with. (well for the bridesmaids anyway, as I need to try on dresses to really know what I want)

So, for my girls:
Chocolate/warm brown long dresses
cream flowers with a hint of pink and green
gloves (not to the elbow, just wrist)
a faux fur stole (it will be mid autumn and up the hill afterall!)
diamonte/pearl jewellery
40's type hairstyle
some sort of fancy hair clip...

I'm going with kind of a 40's hollywood glamour I think.

So for me, I'll have the 40's hair, fascinator, probably coloured flowers (pinks, greens, browns)

I've decided against the Chevvy bel air too... it won't fit in with the whole glamour thing. Instead we'll have Bentley's or something!

Things are relatively quiet on the wedding front. It's too early to really look into things so everything is just ideas. I am starting a wedding scrapbook soon which will be fun. I've got piles of wedding mags and figure they are of more use to me if I cut out the bits that matter and throw away the rest.

Went up to Poet's Lane yesterday to show Mum and Jus. They really liked it. It was set up for a reception later that night, and they were using the gold chair sashes, napkins etc. I thought th gold looked great. It really complemented the yellow colour of the room and you can put most colours with gold. I think we get a choice of: gold, silver, burgundy, blue or white. At this stage I'm thinking the gold..

Poet's Lane has a bit of an art deco theme happening (well it has those lady lamps!) so I was thinking maybe of incorporating some art deco into the theme.. not sure how yet.. going to do some research! I love art deco...

I'm making a post about nothing simply to show off the new icon I grabbed from peacebloomings Isn't it pretty? It's to use whenever I want to talk about my butterfly theme.. which will be more frequently in about 6 months time I imagine :)

I think you should all go look at her pretty icons :))

I've decided to go with a bit of a whimsical wedding theme well for this five minutes! (given I change my mind every two seconds)
I'm thinking:

-a goldy/champagne/greeny perhaps colour for my dress, with lots of little details like some beaded ribbon hanging down, flowers perhaps and a butterfly worked in somehow (perhaps a small brooch that can sit amongst layers or something)

-a fascinator for my hair with a smallish veil with beading and maybe the butterfly on it rather than my dress or a veil that hangs at the back with lots of flowers and beading at the top (kind of like a floral headpiece that has a veil attached)

-for the girls, long dresses either in a shimmery green blue/ or a darker colour that contrasts with me (I saw a green wedding dress that had a reddy/purple panel hidden amongst the folds, thought it could be quite striking if the girls had the same colour as my gowns panel)

-roses in all different pinks/cream/apricots? maybe for the bouquet with lots of ivy worked in (My celtic tree sign is ivy and my animal is the butterfly in case you're wondering what the butterfly deal is!!)

-a big glittery choker that looks quite opulent

-my hair will maybe be half up/half down with soft curls...

Anyway all just ideas at this stage...

We have finally decided on what we want to do for our honeymoon: We're going to get 'round the world' plane tickets then proceed to stop in these (maybe more) locations:
Tahiti: to sip cocktails and laze around whilst we wind down from the wedding
New York: because I have this thing where I feel compelled to go there... this will be visit number three. Also included will be a driving trip around New England as last time I only saw Mass. and CT. This time I want to see Vermont and New Hampshire too!! (unfortunately it won't be Autumn though :( )
London/Paris: To see the cities and take a small 'mini trip' around the Loire Valley which is where Col wants to go...

I'm so excited... I have to wait far too long :(

x-posted

I need honeymoon ideas!
It seems that most of the ideas we've had prrove to be un-affordable :(
These are ideas so far in order...

Europe-
Roughly encompassing Britain, France, Germany, Hollond, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Czech repulblic, Slovenia and Croatia

Caribbean Cruise-
West caribbean, also including the Panama Canal.

Europe, America-
Encompassing Loire Valley in France, Prague, New York City and maybe Chicago or Boston, Hawaii

America- New England/ New York

Hawaii

Cook Islands

Vanuatu

The most affordable options are the lower ranked ones. The bad thing about these tropical islands is I *burn* big time so I"m not sure I'd get to take full advantage of lazing on a beach with various cocktails in hand!

Righteo.
We finally booked the wedding yesterday. We're going with Poet's lane on Friday 2nd May 2008. www.poetslane.com.au
It's really pretty and will look absolutely gorgeous in the heart of autumn. I'm so excited :)

I don't really need to do a lot at present. I have a good three or four months before I need to start finding a dress!!