Wednesday 26 September 2012

The Woman In White... and the one in blue and the one in charcoal

The Wedding Part 3 (go here for part 2)

We have bought the dresses.  This happened over three shopping trips and I was going to post after each trip but then I thought it would just be more interesting if I posted after everything had been bought. Fair warning: there are far more photos of me in this post than the bride because I am just harder to please.

The first shopping day was a few weeks ago.  We went to a huge, almost discount shopping centre in Johannesburg called The Oriental Plaza.

It's very serious business, planning where to start...

My Mom and Darren were part of this expedition, as you can see.  Poor Darren. The patience of a saint, I tell you.  So we walked into the first promising shop, and tried on a few dresses.


This was the first dress Mouse tried one.  I chose it because I liked the lace on the skirt.  But it's not really her style and she wasn't that impressed.  Parenthetically, my sister leaves her sunglasses on for dress fittings - she's just THAT cool.


 
 
I really like the top on this one.  I think it really suited her.
 
And then, the third dress she tried on was it...
 
You'll have to wait for the wedding photos to actually see it.
My Mom and I talked her into at least looking around the shopping centre we were currently in a bit before making a final decision, so she did.
 
 
This one looked far better on than I thought it would.  It sure was fugly on the rack, but the style suited her. 
 
Serious business, as I said...

Very serious business.
Mouse tried on a few more dresses, and while we were browsing, Darren found himself the perfect shirt. But I don't have a picture of it! I had ONE job!
 
Anyway, nothing else really caught Mouse's attention so we went back and she bought the third dress she tried on.  I guess she knows her mind.  And the bonus was, it was on special so it is probably the most inexpensive wedding dress ever purchased.
 
At this point in time it was decided to look for dresses for the mother of the bride and the maid of honour.  Let me just say right now that the maid of honour does not enjoy shopping.
 
The mother of the bride was easy! We were passing a Chinese clothing shop and...
 
 
...MaHaw found her perfect dress.
 
 
Also, MaHaw is an exhibitionist ;)
 
My sister insists there will be no colour co-ordinating among the family members and the bare minimum of co-ordination among the bridal party.  She wants a totally relaxed wedding with no stresses about who should be wearing what.  Works for me, although I did insist on a teeny bit of colour co-ordination which I'll tell you about shortly.
 
By now the bride, the groom and the mother of the bride are all sorted for outfits.  Which leaves me.  Let me just say that what followed did absolutely nothing for my self esteem, but I did get a few giggles out of it.  And while I am fairly pudgy, the clothes I was trying on were meant for petite Asian girls, and there was just no way.
 
Fat fairy number 1. I particularly like the leggings, they're a nice touch.
Fat fairy number 2. The flower strap... I just can't.
 
 
This one was quite nice, and was my plan B.  It was longer than I wanted, but it looked okay and it sparkled.  You can never go wrong with sparkles.
 
That was that for that shopping day.  Everybody was sorted except me, which is pretty typical.  The only time I can find clothes or shoes I like is when I'm not looking for them and don't have the money to buy them.  We scheduled another shopping trip, two in fact, but Mouse got horribly sick and so I had a two week reprieve.
 
 
This past weekend was a long weekend over here, and so we put our walking shoes on and headed to Johannesburg again.  This time we went to a well-known shopping mall, where we have spent copious hours shopping over the years.
 
As we walked in, Mouse headed to one of her favourite shoe stores and found these.
 
Bridal shoes? Check.
At the same store MaHaw found these...
 
 
...and we all agreed they were pretty perfect for her Chinese dress.
 
So once again the only one who hadn't found anything was me.  We headed out with purpose to find my dress.  And can I just say that grey or charcoal dresses are not that easy to find at the moment.  BUT the retro styles in fashion right now are just so awesome.  Every clothing store we stopped in looked like the 50s and the 80s had decided to throw a revival party.  Awesome!
 
I actually found my dress at the first shop we stopped at.  But it was in a ridiculously small size so we asked if any of their branches had fat fairy sizes and we got a list of possibilities.  But while we were in the mall we decided to keep looking anyway.
 
 
This was very similar to the previous dress I tried on.  And I liked what it did to my boobs.  But it was still a bit small.  I tried a bigger size on the next day.
 
 
I did like this one, but I really wanted charcoal or grey.  And I really think those socks should be standard with any evening dress I wear.  Adds a certain something.
 
 
This is the most expensive dress I have ever tried on.  And I'm not sure what made it worth it's price tag.
 
 
This was the first dress my sister actually oooh'd over.  I liked it.  A lot.  But that other dress was still on my mind, and anyway, this one was too big. Ha! Yes it was.
 
We made plans to meet up at my house the next day, and try the Pretoria stores to see if they had my dress in my size.  While we were out we found that other dress in a bigger size and I tried it on as well.
 
 
But whereas the first one was a bit small, this one was a bit big.  Also, I was told I shouldn't wear those shoes...
 
And then we found it. The right dress, the right size everything!
 

It's practically exactly what I wanted.
 
Well we were just all so relieved.  And as we were leaving we passed a branch of the shoe store where by some fluke, we have found all my special occasion shoes and my sister insisted we go look.  I do not do heels.  My comfort is far too important to me.  But I do have a thing for a particular style of pretty heel, and I never get the opportunity to buy or wear such shoes, so I grab it when it comes.  I have, now, three such pairs of shoes; my graduation shoes, my best friends wedding shoes (I was a bridesmaid) and now my sister's wedding shoes.
 
 
At first I thought these were perfect...
 
 
 
...but then I saw these...
 
 
And I needed them.
 
I should just be able to get through the ceremony wearing these, but a pair of purple ballet flats for the reception will be absolutely necessary.
 
 
 
 
And now seeing as the the bride and the maid of honour are wearing purple shoes I insisted suggested that that the bridesmaid should too.  I think it will look great; subtle and great.  I can't seem to convince the groom to wear purple shoes though...

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