Dress shopping and driving

I hate to shop. I am probably the only female in the world that hates to shop. It wasn't always this way ... when Laura & Lisa were small, going to the mall was an outlet. It got us out of the house. Now, I can't stand going there. Too many people, and to get there you have to drive.

Don't get me wrong, I love to drive. Best thing that ever happened to me. Freedom. At 18, I would take off down to Southern Maryland in the middle of the night to see my brother ... or to OC to watch the sunrise. Now though, you literally take you life in your hands going on the beltway. Nuts on the road weave in and out of traffic @ 75 mph on a "55 mph" highway. And don't dare give them a dirty look or anything else. You will be dead. They would just as soon follow you off the highway to a side street, pull a gun and shoot you. Life in the suburban city.

Anyway, I digress. Time is getting short. Only 143 days to the wedding, which translates into ... order the dress! Josh's mom got her dress last week. Amy chose a royal blue which should be beautiful. I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I was leaning toward a deep purple or a deep green.

So Saturday I went to two small local bridal shops. In this economy, I am becoming deeply aware of just how much local merchants need the business. I actually had fun ... if I didn't look to close at my body! At the first shop that was a deep purple, it could not be ordered as it has been discontinued. Luckily it fit! It will need to be shortened, and altered at the bodice but I did get in it! Yay. So I put a deposit on it.

Then I went to a shop that Laura & I had first looked at gowns for her. They were right busy , since it was Saturday, but they said if I didn't mind waiting a little while I could try on the dresses I wanted to look at. I found a gown by the same designer as the dress that I liked at the first shop ... but in the new collection. I like them both so now I have to decide. I sent links to Laura ... she will let me know what she thinks, she has a good fashion sense too!

Whirlwind Weekend - Continued

This dress dips into a "v" in the back, similar to the way that Laura's gown does.

The next destination was another appointment to find a baker. The owner called us and asked if we could change the appointment to 12:00 instead of 2:00. We said we could and headed over. As soon as she opened her door I recognized her from the Bridal Show @ CBBC in January.

This appointment could not have been more different than the first! We sat down and Laura started to describe what she wanted. She described the cake with the gift boxes design and told Kass that she really wanted round layers not squares. We kept talking and finally Laura she "Here Mom, you draw it." So I did, and as I was drawing Kass started sketching too. Between the two of us we drew the cake that Laura wanted that would incorporate the way her wedding gown dips in the back. The idea was to do round layers, with the sugar on the sides and top of the layers as in the square cake, with the smooth "ribbon" around the layers dipping down like the back of the dress. Hard to picture but it really will be quite beautiful. Kass said she would send Laura an estimate so at this point we don't have an idea of cost.

What was nice about the second appointment, is that the owner really listened to what Laura wanted instead of saying "no, that won't work". I hope that this works out because I think it would be a beautiful cake.

Whirlwind Weekend - Part One

Laura came in from Columbus this weekend. It was so good to have her home a few days, I miss her already! We had a busy weekend. She wanted to get as much done as possible while she was in town. So ... we started out early Saturday morning with a cake tasting. Breakfast was cake, about eight different kinds of cake. We had an appointment with a rather well known bakery in town.

Laura looked through the book of photos the the bakery had to choose a design for the cake before we actually tasted the different kinds of cake. She decided that there were one or two that she liked design wise. Laura liked a particular cake that had sugar sprinked on the top and sides of the cake. It was a 4 layer square shaped cake that was arranged as if it were gift packages stacked on top of each other. Very pretty, and the sugar sparkled and reminded us of the beading on her dress.

We started discussing with the woman helping us about options for the design. Laura preferred to have round layers instead of sqaure. We were told this wouldn't work because the cake was supposed to look like boxes. I disagreed, saying that round "pill" boxes or hat boxes could also stacked in the same manner ... but we were told this idea would not work.

We went on to the tasting part of the appointment. They had several different flavors and conbinations of icing and cake for us to taste. Laura, Lisa (Laura's younger sister) and I all liked the Neapolitan cake the best. It had layers of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry cake, with buttercream chocolate and strawberry filling. We also liked the Red Velvet cake, and surprisingly a coconut cake with an amaretto filling.

They gave us an estimate for the cake ... about $1,500! We thanked them and then head off to the next destination ... a bridal shop to look at the dress Laura found for the Junior Bridesmaid.

The shop was mobbed as usual, which in a way was good. We were able to slip under the radar of the salespeople for a little while and check out the dress without being bothered. While we were there I tried on several dresses and Laura took pictures. Once again I was reminded that I am the reluctant MoB! I thought one dress was ok and the other I wasn't too sure of. Laura liked it but I was not convinced. It was made in chiffon, cut low in a "V" neck with some beading on the bodice and spaghetti straps. Then the dress fell from an empire style bodice into a flowing skirt. That part I liked ... but when Laura emailed me the pictures I went "ahhhhhhh"! My worst nightmare was captured in the picture. Flabby arms!! So gross. Makes me want to find a dress with long sleeves! The only problem is the wedding is at the height of summer so that just won't do. I want to look nice for this wedding, so I guess it will be workout time.