Aussie BIW club

[Rae~]

Supers - that's awesome!! Any hints on what style your dress is? Was it what you thought you'd want, right from the start, or was it a surprise find?

And even though it seems a short time frame, I am sure you can do it. I only started planning seriously after New Year's (although admittedly we had our venue pencilled in a little before then). Good luck!

Echidna - so glad to hear that your venues escaped the floods. That must be a lot of worry removed!

You know what, I didn't even take any notice of any other dress names except for the top one... not even the very-close-but-just-number-two dress. But I have pics of the sort of styles I was looking for, so I'll post those instead. Any I tried on were along these lines, mostly.

Firstly, I *loved* the Gatsby, which I actually saw here on PS a while back... that was the one of which I saved pics. I asked Curly Sue about it in the "Show Me Your Wedding Dress" thread and she was kind enough to post some more lovely pics for me in this thread: [URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/for-rae-pics-of-gatsby.155391/..']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/for-rae-pics-of-gatsby.155391/....[/URL]. I never would have expected to choose a dress with "sparkles", but on this dress they just seemed not to be as noticeable as on many others I looked at.

So, that's the one I am going with. I went back in today and spoke with the lady; she answered any lingering questions I had and so I went ahead and ordered it!! Yay! I am so relieved to have found a dress so quickly/easily... I was really expecting it to take MUCH longer and be much more stressful.

The #2 dress was more what I expected to end up with - made from French lace, no beading or sparkles, just beautiful lace. But the bodice wasn't what I wanted at all. I thought it was a Pronovias... but I just jumped onto their website but couldn't find a pic, so maybe it was from a past collection? Or maybe I am completely mis-remembering. I didn't really take much notice as it was a definite No due to the bodice... but I was seriously considering having a copy made in as-close-as-possible French lace, with a different bodice.

Here is a pic of #2 dress (sorry, it's the best one I took) being held up by Mum:



Here are a couple of others I liked (just pics found online before I went dress shopping):

If only I were this slim!


I wouldn't have needed a bolero with something like this...


As you can see... all-over lace was a bit of a favourite.

Still yet to do/decide on: Invitations!; bridesmaids dresses; flowers; all bridal accessories (shoes, jewellery, any hair stuff); hairstyle; makeup (not happy with my first trial... sigh); specific songs for key times; menu; cake... Oh dear... still so much to do.

Sorted: Venue; celebrant; photographer; entertainment; dress! (except for alterations and possible bolero)

 

[Supers]

Well, my dress is actually a corset / jacket / skirt combo.
I found the dressmaker via a thread on PS which was pics of a "steampunk" style wedding.
I had been thinking that I wasn't going for a traditional wedding dress anyway, but more of a red carpet type gown (maybe in red).
I contacted the dress/corsetmaker and she's made me an ivory skirt and overjacket and a red corset. I'm yet to receive it or try it on, so who knows... I may need to dress shop after all.

Rae - how exciting that you have found a dress. Did they say how long it would take to order? I tried on a Pronovias dress and that still took a few months to order.

Look forward to hearing more about your planning ladies!

Edited as I hit the submit button before I got out all I wanted to say!

 

[Rae~]

That dress sound beautiful, Supers! When do you think you will receive it?

At this stage the estimated arrival on mine is the first week of May, so I should have about a month for alterations, having a bolero made etc. Hopefully that should be long enough! Not sure yet if I'll pick shoes before I see the colour of the dress myself, or wait until it's arrived... depends whether I find shoes I *love* in the meantime, I guess.

 

[Supers]

Ok, posting some pics the corsetmaker sent. It should be in the mail now.
When I contacted her initially, I wanted a jacket without tails and with a ruffled collar / back instead. She told me the ruffled back would be too much, so I settled on straight / plain back, but deferred to her expertise. I also changed my mind about the ruffled collar as I can fold the plain collar down. Then, when cutting the jacket out, she realised it would look bad without the tails and sent me pics of it plain - and it didn't look as nice, so I've ended up with tails. And check out the bustle on that skirt!
It's kinda funny as I am a jeans and t-shirt girl, but I do like throwing on a frock. Hey, if you can't dress up at your own wedding, when can you?




Oh - and I've bought my shoes on etsy as well. I wanted red lace up Victorian style ankle boots as I thought they would go with the style of dress.


Was going to book a venue yesterday, then read the fine print - they want to charge $800 for holding the ceremony there, which would bring the reception price to (at least) $7800 (it's a minimum bar spend), so am wondering if I should check out one other place that was on the list. We had dinner at the other shortlisted venue and the food was good, but their drinks package is a bit meh. If I want to have the deluxe drinks package which allows 30mins of drinks in the garden post ceremony as well as an upgrade in drink choices, the price per head goes up to $101 (instead of $77).

 

[Rae~]

Oh Supers - wow, wow, wow!!!! You are so going to rock your wedding in that outfit!! It's amazing. And the boots suit it PERFECTLY. I love it all.

Our venue has an horrific (IMHO) venue hire fee as well.... but we hadn't seen anywhere else we really liked so we are sucking it up. I am also a bit put off by the fact we can't taste test the menu options - very annoying, but it's the policy of the caterer. So I *really* hope it all works out. We haven't picked our menu yet.

In other news, I ordered our invitations last night! We went with weddingpaperdivas.com as my heart just wasn't in to the DIY thing. Their customisation was fairly good, although I made a couple of extra requests regarding spacing, so we will see how they go with those! Hopefully they will be here in a couple of weeks.

 

[Supers]

We booked a venue on Tuesday.
We're getting married in... 11 weeks on 7 May!
We've gone back to the winery where we tried the food, for a few reasons. My FI's best friend will be away from 10 May, so we brought the wedding forward a week, which meant the other venue was not available. The winery has better food, and is offering more food per person on the day. It will look great - have seen some other wedding photos there.

The outfit arrived yesterday. I am not sure about the sleeves actually - they feel too bouffy and I feel a bit big shouldered in it. It doesn't look that bad in the photo but it's annoying me in person. I've emailed the dressmaker and she says it can get taken in a bit, but that sleeves can't really be made straight as they need to allow movement - which makes sense.


At worst, I can wear the sleeves for the ceremony which is outdoors, and then detach them for the reception.

 

[Rae~]

Do you have someone in mind (locally) for alterations? I'm hoping that if you have/can find someone you trust, they can give you some advice on what and how you can make some small changes to the shape - pin it in place, etc.

The colours are great and I am sure you're going to look fabulous in it!

ETA: Just read that the sleeves are detatchable - that's so flexible. I love having options!

 

[Supers]

My invites arrived on Friday!
I ordered them from Vistaprint on Tuesday as a 3 day rush job. They look good, just simple, flat invitations. Have begun sending them out.
Have been busy looking for photographers, celebrants etc. Tentative booking on an acoustic duo to play for the ceremony and reception - they will also bring their electric guitars along, so they can amp it up if required. Makeup artist is booked (I bought a voucher from one of those group buying sites a few weeks ago which allows me to have 2 makeup and 2 spray tan sessions - will be using the makeup sessions for the trial and wedding day). Have a quote on flowers and cupcakes - which sound like a reasonable price. Am tossing up between 2-3 photographers but need to meet them to see more of their work. Celebrants - have contacted about 4 but only 1 has got back to me...

Had breakfast with my girlfriends this morning and one of them who has seen the dress photo made a comment that it is a bit "serving wench" like. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now am wondering if the outfit looks stupid...

How's everyone else's planning going?

 

[Rae~]

Our invitations are here!!!

They look pretty good, I think. I sort of wish the letterpressing was a bit more obvious, but then I haven't looked at them in daylight yet, just (fairly dim) indoor lighting. But they are simple, which is exactly what we wanted.

And... it's great to see our names in print. Woot!

On other issues... I STILL need to book hair styling. AAARGH.

We've locked in flowers, though (yay!), and came in under budget - it's costing less than $900 for our bouquets (me + 2 BM), buttonholes (total of 8 ), corsages (3), centerpieces (9) plus some extra bunches to use to decorate the venue entry & bar area.

Supers - when I first looked at your dress the word 'wench' did pop into my head, but not at all in a negative way. I often refer to (close) friends as 'wench', so to me it's a term of endearment. And I think that people often use that word when really they mean something more like 'in a certain period style' or even 'medieval'. It's just easier for them to use a common word. I'm sorry it was phrased as a criticism.

Regardless, it really comes down to whether YOU love the dress. I've said before that *I* couldn't pull that style off, and the main reason for that is that I dread being "judged" by my family. Sad & pathetic, I know. I can only WISH that if a more "statement" dress were my preference, I could be confident enough to wear something as beautiful - and wonderfully individual - as that. Because I really love it.

But ultimately, the key point is - how does the dress make you feel? Do you feel gorgeous and sexy? Do you think you would be comfortable in it? (As in, do you think you would not have to fiddle with it to get it to "sit" right, all night?) Does it feel like Your Dress?

I hope you are loving your choice now, anyway. Because I *know* you will ROCK it!

PS Yay for sending out invitations!! When is your RSVP date?

 

[Supers]

Yay Rae!
I love letterpress, am sure it looks great.
Besides hair, what else needs to be booked?

I've booked the photographer - was tossing up between two and the graphic designer I work with told me which one to go for. She's got the eye to tell good photos and she said my photographer took better shots than the other lady I was contemplating (who was just starting in wedding photography). I really happy with his work and his prices are reasonable - I wanted to stick to a $1000 budget if possible, and he's come in a bit higher, but I'm ok with that.
We also visited 2 celebrants. One didn't let us get a word in as she was doing her whole spiel; the other didn't have the rehearsed speech and was more casual. We're going to see one more before we decide. Honestly, any of them would probably do a good job but it's a matter of who we like best.

Also booked - a photobooth! I thought it might be fun for the kids (and rest of guests) to have something to do. We get double photo strips so they double as a guestbook and bonbonierre.

RSVPs are due back on 1 April, but have been coming in the mail - very exciting.

Actually my girlfriend said she used the term "buxom wench" and it was meant as a compliment. So, I feel better about that. I had a fascinator/birdcage veil arrive in the mail, and I tried it on the other day with the dress, and I was happy with it all. Actually, I wasn't sure if the fascinator was too much seeing as the dress has a lot going on - but am going to embrace the whole thing (for now anyway).

 

[Supers]

Just reviving this thread for the Aussies and to say..... we got married on the weekend!
Once pro pics are back, I will post, but it was a lovely day that went too quickly.

Best of luck to the other BIWs - hope to get an update from you.

 

[Rae~]

Ah man, Supers I *SO* meant to post a good luck msg but completely forgot, sorry!

But CONGRATULATIONS, you married woman, you!! How did it all go? Did you end up making any other changes to your dress/outfit? Look forward to pics. Hope everything went wonderfully for you both and that you had a fabulous time.

So... me and our planning. Well.... just over four weeks to go. <grimace> Updates:

Hair: Booked a place. Decided to do second makeup trial for our e-shoot photos since the first trial was a disaster, so figured I may as well time my hair trial on the same day so I get a sense of the whole look.

Complete disaster. Hair was AWFUL; the bits I emphasised were must-dos (ie I have a fat face and a funny shaped head so I need some artificial volume on the sides/top so that from the front, I don't look like I am all-face-and-no-hair, KWIM?) were not done at all, or fell flat in 10 min (ie by the time I drove home). Completely flat. From the front, it pretty much looked like I had pulled my hair back in a ponytail, with no styling at all. The makeup trial was better than the first, at least, but still completely underwhelming.

I am so ugly!! : E-shoot went alright, but when the photos came back I was gutted. I looked at them once quickly through and haven't looked again. Will never show them to anyone. FI feels the same. Disgusting. Even MORE anxious about wedding pics now.

So yeah... not really feeling the wedding love at the moment.

Dress: It came in, the colour is fine, it fits OK (or should after alterations). But I'm going to look horrid in it. I'm dreading everyone looking at me. Ugh.

Apart from that... haven't done vows yet, nor Order of Service, nor seating plans. RSVPs are in and numbers are fine, so that's good. Will reconfirm flowers and cake in another week or so.

Found some reasonable Thank You cards at Vistaprint that hark back to our invitation style, although they are not letterpress this time, but then again are also much cheaper. They have advertising on the back of course, but I'm not as fussed about it on the TY cards as I am about invitations, so that's fine.

Bought shoes. Nothing fancy, but hopefully not TOO uncomfortable. I doubt I'll wear them again but they are material so I might see if I can dye them afterwards.

No idea on hair decoration or jewellery - sigh.

Suits for the boys have been a drama but I'm looking forward to (hopefully finally!) seeing a full outfit, in FI's correct size, this weekend.

I really wish FI had agreed to us eloping.

 

[Supers]

Rae - sorry for the delay in replying, hope you are still around PS - and hopefully feeling better about everything.
Just got back from honeymoon, so have been PS free for awhile.

Sending you a big hug anyway to cheer you up, you sound totally over the wedding.
I'm sure you are NOT ugly, and people will be looking at you on the day as you will be a beautiful bride.

We got our pics back from the photographer, so just posting a few here.


Our wedding was in a winery with the ceremony out under a big old oak tree.


The vines were golden, scenery was just beautiful.

 

[Rae~]

Supers, I feel SO bad that I never came back and commented on this thread again! Your wedding pics are AWESOME and you look gorgeous. I think you pulled the whole "look" together perfectly, and that tree under which you were married is simply spectacular.

As for ours - everything went well, but I found having the photos taken REALLY stressful and in the end, was less than thrilled with the results. We prepaid for a whole package which included several enlargements and other bits and pieces. Well, nearly six months later and we haven't even LOOKED at selecting pics for the enlargements.

I was going to post a cpl of pics at least, to show you how everything went, but unfortunately the company we used took barely any anonymous "detail" pics, and focussed nearly exclusively on portraits (ick). So, given that I am extremely reluctant to post identifiable pics on the internet, I don't think I have any at all that I can post. But I am going to go through them now and double check, because I loved having you as a planning buddy and I feel bad not contributing in the wash-up!

Hope all is well with you, and any other Aussie BIWs who might be reading.

 

[cushionsparkle]

Hi All!

Cremorne, Sydney Bride here.

Wedding is 23/3/2013 (sooooo farrrrr awayyyyyy).

ust bought my dress (Marry me Bridal in Mosman) and now comes the anxious wait for everything else to fall into place.
Have my venue (Peppers creek chapel and barrel room for reception in Hunter Valley); a friend is DJ-ing, Fiance's cousin is a wedding photographer so will do photography so really only need to book the makeup/hair/cars and accomodation for us..

Then I can start planning florist and bridesmaids details etc

Any other aussie/Sydney brides??

 

[snoopkat]

I'm a Sydney bride too! My wedding is on the 9th June 2013 and we're having both our ceremony and reception at the Tea Room Gunners Barracks. So far, I haven't really done much except book the venue lol. I'm looking at photographers/videographers and celebrant atm and hoping to have that done and dusted by end Feb. Then it's a loooong break from wedding planning for me until I pick it up again in June.

 

[ZoeS]

Cushionsparkle - we are wedding twins! I am also getting married on 23/3/2013 in Sydney. It is our 5 year anniversary on the day we getting married!

I have booked venue, photographer and ordered my dress. The venue is Lindesay House at Darling Point. We will be having an afternoon cocktail style reception. Photographer is Gemma Clarke - I love her work! And my dress is the Amsale Blakely, which is from Angela Wilson Boutique in Woollahra. My dress is my one really extravagent purchase!

The rest of the planning can wait a while!