Dress Shopping # 2: Building a Dress?

All of my dress shopping led me to learn what I did want in a dress, but I had not yet found the perfect one.  We started getting closer, when I came across Casablanca Bridal dresses at a store in New Orleans (no pictures allowed), and I really liked how different the dresses were and they were within my price point.  I heard they were going to have a trunk show at a salon in Baton Rouge and wanted to check out more of their styles, and that's where the real adventure begins.

At the Bridal Boutique of Baton Rouge, I fell in love with this dress: 

Style 2110 from Casablanca Bridal

Not taken at the trunk show salon, since it didn't allow pictures, but same dress.

I loved the cool back, that it wasn't strapless, and that it was fitted but still had a good bit of poof.  When trying this dress on, I was certain that it was the one. Other patrons in the bridal salon were telling me how amazing it looked, my mom thought it was beautiful, and it checked all the boxes.  But was it really it?  I wasn't ready to make that call.  I really loved the illusion neckline of the top, but wasn't sold on the bottom.  From pictures, I started to learn that I didn't like how the rough tulle edge looked in the gowns I was trying on - I preferred for the lace to go down to the end of the dress. 

I also tried on this dress, and really loved how the body looked, but the sleeves were so much overkill.

Style 2102 from Casablanca Bridal

And then the Casablanca rep at the trunk show told me something magical - for not too high of a fee, Casablanca will customize a dress.  You mean, they could put the illusion neckline of dress #1 on the silhouette of dress #2? Why yes, yes they could!  I didn't buy a dress that day, but I left with a very helpful bit of advice: if I was too picky for the premade dresses on the rack, I had the option to create something all my own!  I went home and scoured Casablanca's website for the best tops and bottoms of their dresses.  Fortunately, the dresses I had already tried on were still the front runners.  So we found a local salon that carried Casablanca and went there to figure out if this is what I wanted to do.  

The worst part of customizing a dress is not knowing what the end result would ultimately look like.  At Town and Country Bridal, our consultant Sue had the idea to put dress #2 on top of dress #1 to give me an idea of the final look.  I give you, Frankendress! 

So blurry, but it's the best I've got.

As if two dresses on isn't enough, let's add on my mom's veil and blusher, shall we? 

Look at me, I'm Pyramid. Could I be wearing anymore tulle? 

And the more and more I stared at this combo trying to envision the final look, the more I started realizing how much I disliked all the beading on the sheer illusion neckline.  It was way too much beading.  So since Casablanca allowed customization, we discussed lessening the amount (I think it was possible) but that was yet another piece that would remain unseen until the final dress came in.  Once those conversations started, the appeal of customizing the dress had begun to fade.  I started to search out other options.

If you're annoyed at me for leading you down this rabbit hole just to change my mind, feel free to join the support group my friends, family, and bridal party likely started last year while trying to deal with my unending requests for feedback on dresses.  I think they meet on Tuesdays and share hard liquor.  Bless them for hanging on with me while I jumped around from dress to dress unable to make a decision.  Honestly, I was annoyed with myself.  Just pick something, woman!

And that's when I did something a little spontaneous.  And slightly crazy.  

I think this is the exact one, but I can't find much info on it (Alma Novia Sabella)./Photo from Still White

When at the trunk show in BR, I told my consultant that I was looking for non-strapless.  Instead of suggesting cap sleeves (as so many do), she pulled out a little lace bolero that I could try on with the strapless dresses.  Since I'd already discovered I didn't like the look of too much lace close up to my neck, the popular boleros that open in the front (like this) didn't really help my situation.  This bolero (or jacket or shrug, whatever you want to call it), buttoned up in the back and had a bateau/off shoulder neckline.  I tried it on with nearly every dress in the salon, and it matched really well with pretty much all of the dresses I was drawn to.  Our consultant said she had worked there two years and I was only the third person she'd ever seen try it on, and offered to sell it to me off the rack for a discounted price.  At the time, I was set on my illusion neckline frankendress, so I passed on the offer.  Once I realized the frankendress wasn't for me, we called her up and had MOH Curls go pick it up from the salon in BR for me.

I know there's a lot of back and forth here, so I'll clarify - yes, I bought my bolero before buying my dress.

It was a risky move in case I picked something different, but I was 90% sure of what I would end up with and decided to just make the move.

Once I had the jacket, I brought it back to Town and Country in New Orleans, and we picked out my actual wedding dress!

I decided on the Casablanca dress #2 from above, ordered with the sleeves removed!  I picked it because it was a flattering shape, had a good deal of sparkle and lace throughout the dress, matched my jacket perfectly, and had a lovely low back!

Did I have "the moment"? Not really, but I did find everything I wanted with my entire ensemble!

While I was still going between this and another dress.  I was getting a bit over it, but this is one of the better salon pics!

Industrial strength clips are the year's newest accessory.

We ordered the dress with extra length, based on my measurement with heels on.  I had not yet bought my actual wedding shoes, but I knew that they would be around 3.5-4 inches, so I used a pair I had in that size.  When our consultant measured me, I think I was between a size 12 and 14.  They wanted me to order the 12.  I had tried on a 10 in Baton Rouge, and had to firmly state that I wanted the 10 ordered instead of the 12.  If it came in and was too tight, I had plenty of time to fit into it.  When it did come in, it fit perfectly and we speculated that the store just might encourage brides to size up, because of the additional alterations needed.  True or not, it worked for me; I just needed a bit of adjustment in the bust so it would fit snug since I was wearing it without the cap sleeves.  So I'm glad I went with my gut on ordering the smaller size.

Speaking of the ordering, my sweet Nanny was the one who gifted me my wedding dress!

This feels like ages ago!  

Did anyone else not get "the moment" when dress shopping or need to try on a hundred dresses?  Don't worry, even if you don't do it Randy's way, you can still love your dress!