The Dress

So, Friday I went to Metairie to "visit" my dress.  That is, I thought I was going to pay the rest of the balance on it and check it out and make sure everything was ok (color/sizewise).  When I got there, they told me I had to take the dress home until time for my first fitting in September.  Huh?  I thought dress shops just usually held onto the things until they were done with all the fittings, and you took them home after all that.  This is apparently not the case when you buy a dress in South Louisiana.  Due to the approaching hurricane season, I was instructed to take the dress home for its own safety.  Well, I guess that's ok.  I obviously couldn't bring it to my house, though, because there isn't anywhere to hide it from Harvey (plus, we tend to get some mold in our closet).  At first, my mom and I couldn't figure out where to put it at her house that it wouldn't get peed on by a certain little dog.  Finally, we just decided to lay it out on the bed.  So, there it is, my wedding dress, lying on my bed at my mother's house in anticipation of being worn.  Kinda freaky, really.

Ok, trying the thing on: I think I liked it better than I did when I ordered it.  The sample I tried on the first time was ivory, and I ordered it in white.  However, the dress that I received is not all white.  It is what Watters calls "white" in this dress, but only the appliques are actually white.  The rest of the dress, the organza layer is still ivory.  I'm actually really ok with this.  It looked really pretty when I had it on, and the ivory part lends an antique feeling to the dress that I feel is excellent for a Halloween (NBX) theme.  It's such a gorgeous dress.  It's so feminine and traditional, I think people will hardly believe that I actually wore it.  It was hanging in a clear, zippered bag behind the counter the first time I saw it Friday, and two thoughts immediately followed.  The first was, "Oh, it's so beautiful and perfect."  The second was, "Oh no, it looks so tiny; it's NEVER gonna zip."  Well, it zipped, but it's tight.  It looks great from the front, but I have a wee bit of fat falling over the edge in the back.  Also, it's ever so slightly difficult to breathe.  I have lost some weight recently, but I guess it was just the same weight that I had gained between ordering the dress and now.  Hey, I had back surgery and couldn't do anything but lie around for weeks.  Barely moving for months at the time will KILL your metabolism.  That's just the way it is.  I have a little over 4 1/2 months to get it off, and I'm confident it won't be a problem.  I wanted to get all the way back down to my "normal" (single, sad, not happy and eating all the time) weight of 135.  I suppose I'll settle for 140 if I have to.  Minimally, I need to not have any fat rolls seeping over the back of my dress, and I'm pretty sure I can take care of at least that much.  All I know is, I refuse to look fat in 3,000-dollar pictures (or in a 2,000-dollar dress, for that matter).  So, I got me a dailymile widget, and I'm gonna try to get 400 miles in before the wedding.  I can't run any of them until September, but that's just another consequence of the back surgery that I can't do anything about.  In the short term, I'm going to start trying to get 20 miles/ week.  I've been getting about 16-18 so far.  I also do either strength training with 5 lb. weights or pilates for 20 minutes on every day that I do cardio.  All in all, I'm getting approximately 90 minutes of exercise, 5 days a week.  Seems sufficient, huh?  Let's hope so ;)

I'm so obsessed with Pinterest, and it absolutely kills me that I haven't been able to pin my dress on my wedding board.  (Harvey would see it.)  So, hooray for me, blog that my old man doesn't read = dress picture on the blog!

TA-DA!!

Ignore the totally lame flower-child thing on her head.  Idk what that's about.

The detail at the top of this dress is what makes it so pretty, I also love the way the applique sort of fizzles out as it moves into the skirt.  I somehow always knew I'd wind up with a Watters dress.  I didn't even know this one was a Watters when I asked to try it on in the store.  It looks quite a bit different in person and not on a model.  I guess it was just fate.  I got my black sash and my black shoes, and I'm (almost) ready to roll.

oh, and the brooch that goes on the back of the sash

It looks like a snowflake.  Get it?  Nightmare Before Christmas.

oh, and my earrings

P.S. I'm still being driven INSANE by "something blue."  Blue doesn't go with Halloween, and it certainly doesn't go with a bunch of black accents already all over the bride.  Sheesh.

MY COLORS CAME TODAY!

Sooo... with getting married and planning a wedding come thousands of little things you have to do.  One of the bigger of these little things is engagement photos.  Great.  Awkward standing around and trying to look pretty and in love while people are staring at you and taking pictures.  Also, I don't want to pick out an outfit.  Like, I REALLY don't want to pick out an outfit.  In addition, I have a SINCERE desire NOT to look like this:

or this:

or, GOD FORBID, this:

So, what the hockeysticks am I supposed to do?  How about this:

These are pictures of Holi, a Hindu festival that celebrates the arrival of spring.  During this festival, people throw colored powder paints at each other.  Isn't it pretty?  Isn't it cool?  Isn't it perfect for engagement photos?  I found the idea by searching pinterest for "paint fight engagement photos," where I found some pictures of a couple who had used Holi powder for their "fight."  Seriously, I'd have way more fun throwing paint at Harvey than I would trying to look all serious and stare deeply into his eyes while being photographed.  Not my bag.  Not our bag, for sure.  And guess what?  No freaking cutesy outfits.  All I need is jeans and a white t-shirt!  SCORE.  So, once we made the decision to do this, I had to find the Holi colors.  Guess where you can get them?  India.  No, really.  The only place I could find online that had the colors (bright, decent-looking ones, at least) was a shop on Amazon that ships from India. It was going to take 18-31 business days to get the stuff.  We had 29 business days until time to take our pictures.  I ordered them on a leap of faith and with some encouragement from H, and here we are, 20 business days later, with a box full of  beautiful Holi colors right here in my hands.

I'm pretty stoked.  I'm REALLY stoked that they got here on time.  I'm actually super excited and obsessed with the whole big giant wedding planning thing.  It's weird how happy you can be about planning a wedding once you find the right person.  I never have to worry about whether or not I'm marrying the right guy, so I worry about things like what kind of shoes I'm gonna wear.

I was really worried about wearing heels (gimpy back and all), but I tried on these super cheap shoes at DB when I was looking for a sash.  They were SO comfortable and SO cute, I had to get 'em.  I'll still get some ballet flats, in case I need a break, but I'm really happy about the thought that I can wear heels at all.  <3