on wedding dresses and tilapia pan fried in butter...

Chessi and I drove to Dallas last Thursday for my first dress fitting at Stanley Korshak. I don't know why I was so nervous about it, but I could barely sleep the night before. When we arrived my hands were shaking. This isn't just a sample... the sales associate unzips the hanging bag to reveal THE dress. As I step into it, I look in the mirror to basically find a pretty sheet draped over my shoulders. "Where's the dress I fell in love with," I wondered with a concerned look on my face. At just about that moment I hear the all too familiar "POP" of champagne. Chessi had packed it in her bag all the way from Shreveport, just for this moment. And so from the bottle I drank standing in my wedding dress with the sales lady's jaw on the floor. Listen - you do whatcha gotta do.

Yesterday (a week from my first appt. with Chessi), my mom and I drove back to Dallas to see if the dress had taken shape. My bridal photos are this Saturday, so there really was no time to waste. I have (and am continuing to) learn that wedding dress alterations are a process that involves many fittings. After a brief debacle about whether to stay the night in Dallas to have more alterations done or not, I drove back to Shreveport with my wedding dress that is fit to my body and ready to be photographed tomorrow.

This would be an appropriate time to share a photo of the item I have been discussing throughout this post, but you will just have to wait until after May 18th ;) Instead, I will show you how Chessi, Stafford and I celebrated the end of the nerve racking first fitting.

a little butter goes a long way in regards to happiness, in my opinion.

wedding update: dress shopping

The wedding planning is coming along... and it's really creeping into my blogging time! Sorry I have been absent the last few weeks, but I'd like you to know I now have a florist, photographer, transportation, wedding music, and band. Thank you all for your suggestions! I am meeting with Allison with Aly B's Bakery next week and the priest to go over our FOCCUS test the following week. Yay!

The next biggest challenge is going to be finding THE dress. Two weekends ago my aunt, mom, and I went to breakfast at Another Broken Egg, then met my Lauren at Happily Ever After to try on wedding dresses off the rack. As a first time wedding dress tryer-oner, this was, not surprisingly, an emotional experience for me and I was beyond thrilled to have the ones I love surrounding me. When the consultant placed the veil on my head the tears came rolling down my cheeks and I started shaking from the inside out. Everyone was shouting, "Oh, this is it. This is the dress!" and I am thinking, "No, no, this isn't it, but look at me?! I'm a bride!" It was a pretty surreal moment.

After we left Happily Ever After, we went to Bella Bridesmaid to see what Lauren, the matron of honor, and I liked for bridesmaid dresses. I am pretty sure my colors are going to be dusty rose with hints of champagne and gold. We had fun trying on dresses, talking about honeymoons, and dreaming of the big day. Although I didn't find my wedding dress, I will treasure this day forever.

The search continues...tonight I am going to Azarues to try on more dresses with Leslie. This weekend I am going to New Orleans for a work reconnaissance trip and while I'm there I have set up an appointment with Wedding Belles for Saturday morning. I will try to be better about documenting these wedding planning moments and sharing them here on the blog with you.

Next week my goal is to find a design for our invitations. Do you have any suggestions/ideas or websites/shops we should look at?

xoxo - Linz