Dresses and Outfits and Rings . . . Oh my. . .

Last weekend I did my dreaded dress shopping. . . I say dreaded because I am probably the most frugal person I know and everyone knows that wedding dresses come with hefty price tags. I decided to do this task on my own despite the "Traditional - Take everyone you know" way. By the way; whoever made this tradition has no idea how enjoyable and soothing it was to go it alone. Those of you who know me well know that I am a big fan of online shopping which is the avenue I was planning on taking until I started looking at sizes and the fact that wedding dress sizes differ from your daily street wear; A BIG OH NO in my book. Not only did I not know my dress size, I had no idea what street size I was wearing and I definitely didn't know my measurements. Let's just say I have been dieting and I have lost several unwanted pounds and wearing pants that are loosely two sizes smaller; I really wasn't ready to take the gamble on picking the right size. So off I was to San Francisco with one place on my mind, JMC Gunnesax. I will start off saying that this place is not for everyone nor would I recommend it to people wanting that high end, big princess wedding dress or those who are even a bit self-conscience. BUT a perk to outlet shopping and giving it a whirl is you may just find your dress at 50%+ off of the retail price (usually more). I've been a fan of JMC dresses since I was a child. My best friend modeled for her and I was always in awe of her cute little dresses, pictorials and runway tapes. Having looked at her new releases and falling in love with a dress online that I knew I wouldn't buy I set out to find something dated last season with hopes for something similar. To my surprise after sifting through racks upon racks a dress caught my eye. It couldn't be; but yes it is. They had one dress of the exact style that I loved online and in my (guessed) size no less. I added it to my other two I pulled and headed into the communal dressing room. I tried on dress 1 and 2, really liked number 2 but then I went to number 3 and I was sold. It's very me, vintage yet modern and not your average wedding dress. A couple girls made comments of how unique it was and told me it was their favorite one that I tried on. I grabbed my dress and headed up to the register as she rattled off...it was 10% off, then 50% off and she ended at some number slightly over 75%. She told me I was very lucky as this dress only ends up there by mistake and she had just put it out before I arrived. I shuffled out of the store dress in hand, grin on my face and couldn't wait to brag to TJ about my savings. Here is a Sneek Peek...

The next step was finding something for TJ to wear and as we soon realized, traditional beach wedding attire was out the window. Mr. Blonde hair, Blue eye, Fair skin looked as if he was ill wearing khaki and white near his face. As we were given the option to be unique and non-traditional again we were very open to trying on other colors. His first and our final option was blue. It looks great and I must say he looks extremely handsome in it. :) I went and bought a sash to match for my dress and I have to say the duo is well; US!

Rings: As I had mentioned above my body is shrinking and being that my fingers are a part of my body I am finding that my ring is slipping and sliding all over. Since we bought it at the most incredible jewelry store, Shane Co., I get free resizing as needed but I'm sad that I have to give it up for a week. I figure better to do it now than risk loosing it in the ocean. While its there I will have the two rings soldered but I am having difficulties handing it over...YES I'm a big baby. LOL! TJ's ring will be ordered this week so we are almost ready to go. :)
Oh my; I have to get on my little brag horse and ride throughout the city...TJ will be starting at his new office on Thursday and will be working B shift which means he will be home by 2230. It's been a while since I've had him home at night, every night but I cannot wait. It will help me go to bed before 3am which in return will make me a not so crabby morning person (YA RIGHT!). Two weeks following that he will be on his 5 weeks of vacation, he will still be working quite a bit (By choice...but he will keep his weekends to spend with me). I am so thankful for his hard work, the amazing department and VACATION!
I'm out of things to write about and you are probably bored out of your mind...Until next time!
Ash