The Fitting

I have so much to blog about and so little time! I've been debating over what to post first - hair stuff, shoes stuff, a book review, contests, the funniest blog ever.....

But come on, I know you guys want the meat, right? The good stuff? Dress fitting it is!!

So I had an appointment for my first fitting at Arzelle's on Friday afternoon. I met my day-of planner Tabitha (also of Life a la Mode) and Alecia, my day-of-go-to-girl-Friday to handle any last minute emergencies. Thank you ladies for taking the time to meet me!

Hello, Alecia!

First of all, I seem to get really stupid when I put my dress on. I mean, I have a degree in clothing design. I know how alterations work. I've altered wedding dresses before. Hell, I made a wedding dress for someone once. I just go into a deer-in-headlights sort of trance with the dress on. Thank goodness Tabitha was there to make stuff happen.

"Let's see how an American bustle looks."
"Now French."
"Now double French.....too sloppy."
"Make sure the dress is steamed on the second fitting."
"Smile, Louise."

It all went really well. Here are some highlight. I do want to point out that I don't normally look quite this sallow. I was sick for a good portion of last week and was totally wiped out by Friday.

The back.

The front. With cheese.

Boobs and bling.

A shot of me smiling! Go figure!

So, the cups totally have to be built up. The boobs in these pics? All smoke and mirrors. The seamstress didn't have the right size for me to try so I have two B-cup inserts in the dress. That's right, ladies. The Thirty-Something Bride has small, but highly maneuverable boobs. Hike those suckers up there are we're all good. Even with the cups I'll need to take some extra fabric in on the sides and potentially in the front part of the chest area. Sigh.
We also took off the incongruously cheap looking flower. The fabric of this dress is so gorgeous, yet the flower looks like it was purchased at JoAnn's. Weird. I like it better without, so no biggie.

When I first put the dress on, I thought it was too short with the shoes. However, after some discussing, tugging and rearranging, we figured out that the shoes were probably perfect. Whew!

I like my jewelry with it, but Tabitha was quick to point out that with the veil, it was all a little much - very busy up around my face. I took off the necklace and she was absolutely right. With the veil, no necklace. Sans veil (which will be immediately after the ceremony), pearls are on and hair toy added (more on the hair toys soon!).

We're doing a few other things like tacking down the the buttons over the zipper better, we have to lengthen the straps so they don't dig into my shoulders all night, but we don't have to pay for a bustle to be built in. The dress comes standard with a low, French bustle, so we're all good there. Max, the alterations should be no more than $100! Sweet! The next fitting is August 14th! Yippee!

Afterwards, Alecia and I went to Cabana for some happy hour cocktails and snacks. We noshed heavily on white bean hummus, lobster brie mac and cheese (le yum), house-made potato chips with Gorgonzola dipping sauce and a caprese salad. Even the server-bus-boy-guy commented that we were bottomless pits! Nice. Dress fitting is exhausting business. We were extremely thirsty too. Cabana makes a "Sweetini." Tastes just like sweet tea! :)