Welcome to Part Deux! Today I’ll be focusing on clothing…
FOUR:
Clothing!
Start looking for your dress! There are literally a million options out there but from your personal style you should already have an idea of what you like. If not, research. Don’t immerse yourself in a boutique without having at least somewhat of an idea of what you love. Don’t let them sell you something unless you absolutely love it. Don’t sacrifice your own style for your wedding. Class and modesty never go out of style.
-Try things on. (If you can.) This is something I didn’t necessarily do. I visited a couple of shops in my area but my taste was so drastically different than what shops carried I hated trying them on. (If this is the case for you, don’t get discouraged! This just means you’ll have to work a little harder for what you want.) Therefore, I had to really get crafty and clever with my search. I bought a J. Crew dress online, but it ended up not working out so we returned it. TIP* (When buying online, check their return policy. If you don’t like it or it’s not what you thought it’d be, be sure you can return it for full value.)
On vacation my mom found an antique shop. We ended up buying a dress for $180. It was tea-length with beautiful stitching. After a couple of months I wasn’t sure I digged it as much as I did. Our wedding was in the fall and this dress was really more spring-y.
So I went on the hunt again. (It’s for sale, FYI! 🙂 Etsy was my friend this time. I searched and searched and searched. Mind you, our wedding was about 2 months away and I still had no dress. I finally found my dream. $130. SOLD and bought two weeks before the wedding. 🙂 Thank goodness my undergarments worked with this dress, too! I still die… it’s gorgeous.
TIP* If you’re a sewer, look for dresses you could rework. Cut the sleeves off of an ’80s dress or shorten it for a funky look. If you can’t sew, con a family member into helping you out if you can’t afford a tailor!
For the guys’ I bought their clothes all at Old Navy and thrift stores. I was digging the idea of a relaxed suit but knew we couldn’t afford what I was looking for and renting suits just seemed silly to me. Wasted money, essentially. So on a trip to Austin we snuck into Buffalo Exchange and bought all three of the guys’ vests! Their pants and shirts came straight from Old Navy and they wore their own brown shoes. I was pretty proud of that.
The flower girls’ dresses were on SUPER sale at Old Navy. Mom died them dark purple and we bought them adorable white cardigans. So cute. We borrowed their vintage bags from my aunt’s antique shop!