ourmichiganwedding.com

There's always so much riding on the wedding dress. So much pressure to look great. It can be overwhelming, because you can have a hard time looking for the right dress. I tried on several dresses before buying one. The first place that I went to was David's Bridal. They have an amazing range of sizes. I think they even go up to size 22 or 24. They have all sorts of designs that are flattering on many types of bodies. Prices can be decent. The most expensive dress I tried on was roughly 600 bucks, the cheapest 99 bucks.

There are a couple things that get to me though. The fabric and quality of the sewing. Some of these dresses can photograph pretty well, but in person, you get what you pay for. Some of the dresses are made out of polyester, and can almost have a bluish tinge to it, because it's so white. I personally, prefer a creamier color like Ivory, that has a little more depth to it when taking pictures.

Another thing, the sales lady can be a little overbearing. She was nice by all means, but after a few weeks, she kept calling me every couple weeks and trying to push their dresses. Also, look out for the quality of the dresses. Make sure you get one that hasn't been tried on by hundreds of brides.

I ended getting my dress in Raleigh, North Carolina. It's a store called Traditions. It's more higher end than David's Bridal, but they had a great sample sale, and couldn't resist. The sales people, seamstress, and everyone there has been wonderful and so helpful. I cannot say one negative thing about the place. The dress is by LeeAnn Belter, she's known for her understated, elegant designs. The dress is also made out of silk, and made in Canada. I try to support those dressmakers working out of North America. Dresses made in China have come a long way over the past ten years, and the quality is pretty good. But I want to support North American made products.

For those girls finding the right dress, take your time, and take people with you who are honest and helpful. And have fun! There are so many designs out there, take advantage of trying it on!

 

I tried on my dress, and boy, it did not look right. I had the dress tailored about 2 months ago, and when I put it on two weeks ago, it was like an overstuffed dumpling. I have been eating out a lot and not exercising. I forced myself to not eat out AT ALL for like 8 days in a row, exercised every day, and lost about 4 lbs. The dress now feels a bit better, and I didn't starve myself or change my diet drastically. Also no alcohol. That's just empty calories.

We set a few basic essential goals for the wedding.

• Convenient
• Simple
• Modest
• High capacity

Convenient

My parents live in Dearborn. My fiancee's mother lives in Rochester Hills. To keep things convenient for our guests and ourselves we decided the wedding should be held within a short drive of either house. By doing so we could set up a base of operations and reduce travel logistics getting to the wedding location. This also helps because at least traveling guests could stay at our family homes.

Another major convenience that I want is to have the ceremony, reception, and banquet all in the same venue. Doing so eliminates the hassle of working with multiple venues (I.E. a church AND a banquet hall) and simplifies the logistics for all guests who would otherwise (1) go to wedding at church, then (2) wait for a few hours before the reception, then (3) find the reception location and park. We've reduced it to 1 simple step: go to the wedding before or after the ceremony and wait to be fed.

Simple

We decided to keep things indoors. Although the summer is beautiful and it makes for great scenery Michigan weather is notoriously unpredictable. A single day could see sunshine in the morning, thunderstorm or tornado in the afternoon, followed by stargazing on a clear evening. It can also be uncomfortably hot and humid in the summer which I personally hate. Oh yeah, and there are shitloads of mosquitos in the summer, too.

Modest

I enjoy modest things. Sure, I like to blow some money on new cars and fancy new gadgets but beyond that I don't generally do things over-the-top. I rarely spend more than $50 on shoes or clothes, $10 haircuts, I eat at home most nights, and so forth. In that vein, I don't see the need for fire jugglers or white doves at a wedding. We're going to be inauspicious and probably less than memorable to 70% of our guests.

High Capacity

I would have preferred to keep the number of guests in the 100-200 range but I have a large extended family and this will be the only wedding that my parents will be able to have in Michigan because my brothers are married or will be marrying in California. With this being the case, my parents would like at least to invite their friends and colleagues to reciprocate weddings that they have been invited to in the past 20 some years. That puts the head count firmly in the 320+ people range. It's not giant per se but it's definitely enough people where I only know 30-40% of the attendees.