• My Sister’s Wedding Dress and My Maid of Honour Dresses

    Hi Everyone!

    For those who have been waiting to find out what my maid of honour dress and my sister’s wedding dress looked like, here they are! I’ve provided a link to my sister’s wedding dress so you can see what it looks like: Allure Bridals in Style 9068 (Ivory). My maid of honour dress was After Six by Dessy Collection in Style 6704 (Sapphire). I took off the bow at the neckline because I didn’t like it.

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    Since I was the only bridesmaid, C let me choose whatever dress I wanted and I would definitely wear this again. I absolutely love the colour of the dress and the flowiness of the chiffon. I was always planning to have an updo for my hair because it’s so hot in Mauritius and didn’t want my hair to stick to the back of my neck. Also, in my opinion, having your hair in an updo is an absolute must with a mock halter neckline. The one thing I wasn’t crazy about is that there’s a seam at the bust where the inner satin material comes together and there’s a bit of pointiness in the boob area. There was nothing the seamstress could do to make it lie flatter across my chest. When I originally tried this dress on, it was about 5 sizes too big, so the pointiness wasn’t noticeable because there was a lot more material and also it was clipped in a way that pulled it tighter.

    My makeup looked flawless and I got a tiny breakout on my chin which the makeup artist was able to mask.

    I’m not really sure what happened with my updo, it wasn’t exactly what I asked for, but as long as the front view of my hair looked good, it didn’t matter as long as it stayed up the entire night. I hate hairspray, my hair felt like a helmet because there was so much of it. Also, I prefer when the top of my ears are covered with hair, it looks more relaxed/romantic.

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    For the reception in Toronto, I wore the blue dress for the first half of the reception. The right picture above is from the Toronto reception, I liked my hairstyle much better this time. I don’t know why I’m holding the microphone so awkwardly, my wrist is at a weird angle. I changed into my second dress for the shoe game and dancing. Unfortunately, that meant no professional shots in the purple dress because we took pictures before dinner. It also means that most of the pictures are a bit fuzzy in my second dress, so I don’t have any good ones of me wearing it. The second dress was by Alfred Angelo (which went out of business- the store I got both dresses from is also out of business). I got the style 7359S in Viola. Pictured below is the dress in a wine shade.

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    For accessories, I wore a pair of simple crystal earrings, a sparkly bracelet, a criss cross ring that my sister got for me on Etsy as my bridesmaid gift and Michael Kors T-Strap Berkley Sandals in Silver.

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    Love,

    jen

  • We Went Bridesmaid Dress Shopping!

    Hi Everyone!

    Back in January, after my older sister got engaged, I started looking on Pinterest and websites for bridesmaid dresses. I say ‘started’ even though I probably had tons of dresses pinned already. I mean I started to seriously browse the dresses now. I probably looked at each site about 10 times, hoping I might find a dress I had overlooked. I think I scrolled through thousands of dresses. Since I am the only bridesmaid (Maid of Honour) for the wedding, my sister let me choose whatever dress I wanted in whatever style and colour. Obviously, I asked her what she liked when I tried the dresses on, but we have very similar styles. I knew I wanted a blue dress (I was thinking of a cobalt blue since baby blue would wash me out and dark would be too hot in the sun). The wedding is a destination beach wedding in Mauritius, so I wanted something flirty, flowy and breathable – chiffon. In the back of my mind, I was sort of looking for other dresses that would work for the reception we would have in Toronto. Since the wedding is in Mauritius in the summer time and then the reception in Toronto would be in the winter, I considered getting two dresses because a summery, bright blue dress would look out of place during the winter. I looked at dresses by Vera Wang, Alfred Angelo, Watters, Bill Levkoff, Hayley Paige, Bari Jay, etc.

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    I absolutely loved some dresses in the pictures online, but sometimes it doesn’t look as good in person as it does in the picture. We went to a local bridal shop to search for dresses. I didn’t think it would be so quick, but since I had been looking for a few months by that time and knew what style I wanted, it was easy to find dresses we both liked. I tried on about 7 dresses at the store and we took pictures to show our parents. I also sent the pics to my friends to get their opinions, but I think we had already chosen which ones we liked. Of course, the sample dresses they had were sizes 10 or bigger, so hopefully the dresses fit well because the consultant has to estimate your size based on your measurements. There’s tons of time between now and the wedding, but I figured it’s better to get it now just in case adjustments need to be made or we need to re-order for whatever reason.

    Originally, I hadn’t considered getting a full length dress because I’m petite and the fact that it would be hot in Mauritius. I tried on a dress that my sister suggested and we both really liked it. The plum-purple dress pictured above was one of the styles I saw online. They only had the full length version, so I tried it to see if I liked it.

    I ended up choosing the full length dress that my sis chose for the wedding and a short tea length dress for the Toronto reception. I know what you’re thinking…it would make more sense to wear the long one here and the short one there, but the neckline of the long one is more summery and it’s lightweight. It works out anyway because my grandma and aunts liked the short dress better than the long one and they won’t be able to attend the wedding in Mauritius.

    • Full length After Six chiffon dress with a mock halter neckline in sapphire (style 6704)
    • Tea-length Alfred Angelo chiffon V-neck dress in viola (style 7359S)

    The colours of the dresses on the websites don’t accurately represent what they look like in person- they’re much more vibrant in person.

    If you’re a bridesmaid, don’t forget about the price for alterations (if needed) on top of the dress price. The After Six dress was about $300 and the Alfred Angelo was about $225. It was less than $100 for both dresses to be altered. I only got the length adjusted on the full length dress and I got the straps adjusted on the tea-length one because it was a bit low for me.

    Don’t forget to have the right undergarments! I bought a bustier which was almost $200 and some seamless underwear ($20-30). Luckily, you can wear those again, so they’re an investment. I bought a bustier because I was worried a strapless bra would keep slipping and I also noticed a bit of a tummy when I was wearing the full-length dress. Since I was concerned about the bra situation, I decided to get a bustier to solve both problems – stays in place and sucks in the tummy. I bought an off-white bustier from a local boutique and I bought some Knixwear seamless underwear (read my review) so I didn’t get any visible panty lines!

    UPDATE FROM AFTER THE WEDDING: in Mauritius, I think they tend to wear full-length dresses at weddings. My brother-in-law’s sisters and mom were wearing full-length dresses.

    Love,

    jen