Wedding dress
Oct. 19th, 2011 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livSo angelofthenorth's wedding made me realize that this getting married plan is actually happening. I don't know of any weddings in my social circle between hers and ours. (There may be some that haven't been decided yet, of course!) But anyway, our intentionally long engagement, which was supposed to allow time for planning and decision-making without too much time-pressure, has nearly all gone. There's only half a year left, which means we need to come to some definite decisions right now, in order to allow people we're paying to do complicated things to book us in.
The venue and catering are sorted, the celebrants have agreed in principle to be present. The two big things that aren't even decided are the dress and the un-honeymoon. (There are a couple of things where we've made a general decision but need to fix up the details, notably the guest-list and the artwork.) But, dress.
Having spent a delightful several months poking around on the internet for pretty dresses, I've ended up buying a bunch of party dresses that were irresistibly cheap, but not quite suitable for getting married. I'm calling the collection my trousseau. In terms of the actual dress, I've narrowed it down to three options:
Option one is to go for, in fact, the very first of these that I found, because it ended up being the closest to the kind of dress I had in mind. It's something like this, a more mauve sort of colour but that style. It comes from a company called Cherlone, who make prom dresses which go up to plus sizes, in fairly classic styles rather than up to the minute trendy. As far as I can see they are wholesalers only, so you find their stuff on peer-to-peer online marketplaces such as eBay. The advantage of this option is that the dress cost me all of £25 including P&P, and it's very much the sort of dress I imagined for myself, bright, shimmery colours, elaborate and full-length, with a close-fitting but not strapless top and a full, layered skirt. The downside is that the dress is basically made out of plastic and even I, knowing nothing about clothes, can see that it's cheaply made. If I were on a really strict budget, I'd be absolutely over the moon to have found this, because it's definitely a special occasion dress of the kind I'm looking for, and there's very little else available that ticks all the same boxes (even at ten times the price!)
Option two is something from Dig for Victory, a really cool indie clothing designer that my brother found for me. They buy up vintage fabrics and recycle them into absolutely gorgeous but slightly quirky custom-made vintage style dresses. The advantage of that is that they seem to go in for the kind of style that really suits my figure, and it definitely fulfils my ethical requirements, having something made by an enthusiast out of vintage fabric. I really want to support that business! The downside is that the dresses aren't quite weddingy; the designer has said that she can adapt some of the designs to full length dresses, and she has some more classic fabrics available. But that would miss out on rather a lot of the point of buying from that company, if I end up with something totally classic instead of quirky, and if I get something specially made rather than coming from a standard template, it's going to add quite a lot on to the price.
Option three is a full custom gown with corset from Morua. I'm deeply grateful toemma for recommending me this company! When I was looking for corset-based gowns, I found amazingly elaborate stuff priced, entirely reasonably for the amount of fabric and labour, at several thousand pounds, and I found absolutely 100% authentic period stuff using only historical materials and techniques, both of which seem over-the-top even for a wedding. Oh, and completely tacky fetishwear things where the price was just too low for the stuff to have been ethically sourced or well made. Morua is making stuff that's classy enough for a once-in-a-lifetime dress, custom made but not completely stratospheric. The downside is that a dress like that is going to cost £6-700 minimum. I mean, plenty of people spend more than that on a wedding dress, and it's excellent value for tailormade in high quality fabrics, but still, eek!
I am leaning more and more towards Option Three, partly because everybody I've asked has raved about how great I would look in a corset. I think a Dig For Victory dress would end up being about half the price, once I start asking for a one-off design, and I'd probably end up buying specialist underwear to get the full effect. I really really want to support their awesome business model, though! I will add that I've made preliminary enquiries with both companies, and both have responded to me in a very professional way, speedy and courteous and generally seeming like the kind of people I want to do business with, so I can't decide on those grounds.
So, as usual when I am trying to decide things, I ask the internet. Should I go for the really shiny but scarily expensive Option Three? Or the medium priced, totally adorable Option Two (probably with an underwear-type corset, so it's still a cleavagey option)? Or the pretty and fun Option One, and spend the difference on good causes and / or stuff for the guests?
Plus, I need to find something forjack. I find it really sexist when the bride puts lots of money and effort into a marvellous dress, and the groom just hires a generic suit. Besides, we seem to be still living in a Beau Brummel world, where men's formal dress comes in various shades of grey or black, and is designed to look good on men who have the classic inverted triangle body shape, broad shoulders and slim waist, and even tailored I don't think that is going to really show jack to his best advantage. What I'm hoping for a is something along the lines of an eighteenth or early nineteenth century style frock coat, either an earlier justacorps or a slightly more recent but still very period cutaway coat. But I haven't had any success in finding such things; reenactment garb and stage costumes, yes, but not actual serious clothes. Also, steampunk. Steampunk is all very well, but I am pretty certain that something from an earlier era, Regency or earlier still, would work better for jack. Does anybody have any ideas?
Now I think of it, I'm not sure the naked icon is quite the thing for talking about clothes! But I don't have a better one.
angelofthenorth's wedding made me realize that this getting married plan is actually happening. I don't know of any weddings in my social circle between hers and ours. (There may be some that haven't been decided yet, of course!) But anyway, our intentionally long engagement, which was supposed to allow time for planning and decision-making without too much time-pressure, has nearly all gone. There's only half a year left, which means we need to come to some definite decisions right now, in order to allow people we're paying to do complicated things to book us in. The venue and catering are sorted, the celebrants have agreed in principle to be present. The two big things that aren't even decided are the dress and the un-honeymoon. (There are a couple of things where we've made a general decision but need to fix up the details, notably the guest-list and the artwork.) But, dress.
Having spent a delightful several months poking around on the internet for pretty dresses, I've ended up buying a bunch of party dresses that were irresistibly cheap, but not quite suitable for getting married. I'm calling the collection my trousseau. In terms of the actual dress, I've narrowed it down to three options:
Option one is to go for, in fact, the very first of these that I found, because it ended up being the closest to the kind of dress I had in mind. It's something like this, a more mauve sort of colour but that style. It comes from a company called Cherlone, who make prom dresses which go up to plus sizes, in fairly classic styles rather than up to the minute trendy. As far as I can see they are wholesalers only, so you find their stuff on peer-to-peer online marketplaces such as eBay. The advantage of this option is that the dress cost me all of £25 including P&P, and it's very much the sort of dress I imagined for myself, bright, shimmery colours, elaborate and full-length, with a close-fitting but not strapless top and a full, layered skirt. The downside is that the dress is basically made out of plastic and even I, knowing nothing about clothes, can see that it's cheaply made. If I were on a really strict budget, I'd be absolutely over the moon to have found this, because it's definitely a special occasion dress of the kind I'm looking for, and there's very little else available that ticks all the same boxes (even at ten times the price!)
Option two is something from Dig for Victory, a really cool indie clothing designer that my brother found for me. They buy up vintage fabrics and recycle them into absolutely gorgeous but slightly quirky custom-made vintage style dresses. The advantage of that is that they seem to go in for the kind of style that really suits my figure, and it definitely fulfils my ethical requirements, having something made by an enthusiast out of vintage fabric. I really want to support that business! The downside is that the dresses aren't quite weddingy; the designer has said that she can adapt some of the designs to full length dresses, and she has some more classic fabrics available. But that would miss out on rather a lot of the point of buying from that company, if I end up with something totally classic instead of quirky, and if I get something specially made rather than coming from a standard template, it's going to add quite a lot on to the price.
Option three is a full custom gown with corset from Morua. I'm deeply grateful to
emma for recommending me this company! When I was looking for corset-based gowns, I found amazingly elaborate stuff priced, entirely reasonably for the amount of fabric and labour, at several thousand pounds, and I found absolutely 100% authentic period stuff using only historical materials and techniques, both of which seem over-the-top even for a wedding. Oh, and completely tacky fetishwear things where the price was just too low for the stuff to have been ethically sourced or well made. Morua is making stuff that's classy enough for a once-in-a-lifetime dress, custom made but not completely stratospheric. The downside is that a dress like that is going to cost £6-700 minimum. I mean, plenty of people spend more than that on a wedding dress, and it's excellent value for tailormade in high quality fabrics, but still, eek!I am leaning more and more towards Option Three, partly because everybody I've asked has raved about how great I would look in a corset. I think a Dig For Victory dress would end up being about half the price, once I start asking for a one-off design, and I'd probably end up buying specialist underwear to get the full effect. I really really want to support their awesome business model, though! I will add that I've made preliminary enquiries with both companies, and both have responded to me in a very professional way, speedy and courteous and generally seeming like the kind of people I want to do business with, so I can't decide on those grounds.
So, as usual when I am trying to decide things, I ask the internet. Should I go for the really shiny but scarily expensive Option Three? Or the medium priced, totally adorable Option Two (probably with an underwear-type corset, so it's still a cleavagey option)? Or the pretty and fun Option One, and spend the difference on good causes and / or stuff for the guests?
Plus, I need to find something for
jack. I find it really sexist when the bride puts lots of money and effort into a marvellous dress, and the groom just hires a generic suit. Besides, we seem to be still living in a Beau Brummel world, where men's formal dress comes in various shades of grey or black, and is designed to look good on men who have the classic inverted triangle body shape, broad shoulders and slim waist, and even tailored I don't think that is going to really show jack to his best advantage. What I'm hoping for a is something along the lines of an eighteenth or early nineteenth century style frock coat, either an earlier justacorps or a slightly more recent but still very period cutaway coat. But I haven't had any success in finding such things; reenactment garb and stage costumes, yes, but not actual serious clothes. Also, steampunk. Steampunk is all very well, but I am pretty certain that something from an earlier era, Regency or earlier still, would work better for jack. Does anybody have any ideas?Now I think of it, I'm not sure the naked icon is quite the thing for talking about clothes! But I don't have a better one.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-19 01:15 pm (UTC)Velvet pirate shirt, hm. It's a May wedding, and it may be too boiling hot for velvet by then, or then again it may not. I like velvet a lot, and I like pirate shirts a lot, but I'm not sure that velvet is the right material for a pirate shirt. Also if I'm wearing something very formal and tailored, I think
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-19 01:19 pm (UTC)You're right, May is a funny time of year to guess the weather for. Silk shirts are good when it's hot and when it's cold!
*mmm, fantasy other-people's-wedding-planning*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-19 01:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-10-19 01:44 pm (UTC)