falling into place

ah things are finally starting to fall into place. i was going positively nuts trying to find a dress. well, it was partially my fault too because i got my mind super stuck on this one kind of dress that i tried on. i really really liked how it fit me, but gosh it was by a super high end designer (www.inesdisanto.com) and it would've cost $4600!!!! are they insane?! oh and the lady helping us said that if they'd give us 30% discount if i bought the sample at the store, that was, mind you, 3 sizes larger than what i'd need. so that would have brought the cost down to an oh so low.... $3200... are they insane?! anyway, so i went on a quest to try to find something similar or find a dressmaker to copy it. and yes, i found both actually. there was something very similar at david's bridal for 10% of the cost of the original dress. no, not 10% off of the cost, i mean it cost $450, 10% of the original cost. haha, it'd would've been great. except that i'd need to "fix" that dress too and even after the fixes, i wasn't sure at all that it would look good. so i was really hesitant to go that route. even after my mom offered to pay for the whole thing. she's so sweet, she said she's always wanted to buy me my dress. and since i didn't have a debut or anything, she wanted to pay for this one. it was so touching!

and then i found a lady who said she'd be able to copy that dress. she's really skilled, i saw her work and i truly believe that she could do it. but she'd still be charging me $1500. granted, that includes every alteration and the dress would be totally custom-made to my size. but even still, what if it doesn't turn out? i was still apprehensive. so i just had to change my mind set and start from scratch. i went this past sunday with my aunts, grandma, and mama to the dresser in fullerton. they brought out the dresses i had tried on and liked the last time i was there. my aunts were gagging at the pickups that i liked so much. they asked the ladies who worked there, "really? really? are you sure this is the dress she liked?" and when i arrived, they go, "chay, really? it's ugly." now i know where my opinionated nature comes from. it was so different from dress shopping with other friends who just say, "oh yea, that's nice, that could totally work." but hey, that's what family is for right? to tell you when it really looks like crap. haha! so i started gathering some dresses, still rather on the big side (like big skirts) i still wanted something that was form-fitting, but i just kept myself open to other kinds. the first dress i actually tried on was sooo it. everyone just gasped cuz it was so beautiful. and i really liked it too. i noticed that i like the dress when i didn't want to take it off. and when i don't like a dress, i don't stay in it for very long at all. there was one dress that was barely on my body and the lady hadn't even zipped it up yet, when i told her to just take it off already. and after 7-8 dresses, i went back and tried on the first dress again and the lady helper put a veil on me with the same sparkly designs as the dress... it was just so lovely. really different from the first ines di santo dress that i thought i wanted. that dress was very modern and trendy actually. and another friend said, yea, well, it might be like the poufy sleeves of the 80s. cool then, but might not be so cool in 20-30 years. this dress that i'm falling in love with, it's definitely a much more classic style. and the beading is just beautiful on it. oh and the cost.. same as what it'd be to get that other dress made. so for the same price, i think this dress is definitely a much better buy. yayyy, so i'm totally excited! i got my dress, i got my dress, i got my dress!!!! and the best part, i'm totally happy with that decision! whooohooo!

and in other wedding news... we finally decided on the florist. it's our favorite florist lady after all the looooong meetings with other florists that we went to. we decided to scope out other ones just to see how their prices would be, hoping that they'd be lower. but after visiting ada and seeing her designs again, the others just don't compare. again, for the same amount of money, we'll be getting sooo much more from ada. plus, she's the one florist that i can relax with and know that the decor will turn out great. that was ada's biggest perk for henry; she's the only florist that i won't be micro-managing or worrying about how the flowers will turn out. i just needed to make sure of a couple of details like she wouldn't take other jobs on the same day and she'd be able to focus on my wedding. but i discussed that openly with her and she was already pretty clear that she can't take any jobs simply because of the sheer distance of my location from her shop.

and the videographer is done too. that was another bitch and a half to figure out as well. not very high on our priority list at all, but we're going with an old friend and dazer allan jay of triversity video. (don't mind the website, it's quite cheese) i forgot how talkative he is! but he's super genuine, really sweet guy. and i actually like his style a lot. it's very documentary-like, capturing basically every detail, the whole entire day. there's no short synopsis, you get the entire day's footage. so to watch it would probably mean living through the entire mass and reception all over again. the entire 5-7 hours of the occasion. so we asked about him producing a highlights version in addition to the long one, something 30-40 mins long that we could actually show friends and family without them falling asleep and he was totally fine with it. that should be more manageable for people to watch. but i do really appreciate the "extended cut" for posterity's sake.

so what's next.... the save the dates... i was really irritated at the timing of all this too because, 6 months to our wedding is coming up soooo quickly at the end of this month! so it's actually too late to get our engagement pictures taken and then produced in order to incorporate them into the save the dates. but it's okay, i had to let that go too. i'd rather take the time to do them right and have fun with it, than be rushed. my save the dates can go without a picture... or a different picture. *shrug*

i think the key to this whole wedding planning thing is flexibility. visions and concepts and ideas have changed so much in the last 2-3 weeks. i don't deal well with change, so it was hard to swallow at first. but once i accepted it, i was actually quite happy with what's turning out. so i think as long as i keep flexible, we'll be less likely to be disappointed and be truly happy with what we choose. :)