Say YES to the Dress!

Before anything, a small clarification. Yes, we are already married. However, the wedding we planned did not come to fruition because of Covid-19. So instead of that elegant and intimate affair that we were aiming for, our wedding became a strictly-immediate-family-only civil ceremony officiated at a local park, complete with masks and social distancing.

The thing is, we had already made a deposit for an elopement package at a beautiful wedding venue. Instead of refunding that, we decided to just move our booking for next year. So instead of a wedding celebration, we’ll be having a renewal of vows on our first anniversary there. As such, we suddenly have more time to really prepare for the event.

The wedding dress is one of the main highlights in any wedding. Any bride worth her salt would strive to find her dream dress for her wedding day. However, full disclosure: I am not one of those brides. Truth be told, I was just happy to get married to my best friend and love of my life, even without any of the usual fanfare. If it were up to me (and the hubby), I would have gotten married in a pair of jeans and trusty Docs, gone out for pizza (and maybe beer) after, and called it a day.

However, it doesn’t really work like that; I don’t get to make all the decisions all on my own. Marriage is, after all, a union of families as well. And my mother-in-law wanted for us to have a nice wedding here in the US, as there’s no certainty that they could join us in our planned wedding/renewal in the Philippines with our families there (which is still far off in the future by the way). So okay, nice wedding it is then. Hence the elopement celebration.

A black dress for blackshirt13. But of course.

Anywho. Back to wedding dress talk. Being the unconventional sort, of course I did not want a white wedding dress. Dark creature that I am, I wanted a black wedding dress no less. So my wedding dress had to:

• be black (even just partially);
• look like a wedding dress;
• be simple (or at least not over the top); and
• fit well (preferably in Petite size for my short stature).

I’ll admit, it’s not easy to find black wedding dresses off the rack. I could simply go the online route in my search, but my companions here wanted me to be able to try on dresses. So the best compromise is to look for styles online from a brick-and-mortar store. David’s Bridal happened to be the most convenient; the nearest boutique is just a town or two away. But why were the dresses I tried decidedly not black?

As expected, the choices there for a black wedding dress were rather limited. According to our very nice bridal consultant, they have a grand total of five (5) available wedding dresses with a black option. Because they have no black sample wedding dresses at the store, I had to try on their lighter counterparts just to see how they would fit. Of those five, two were way too low-cut for my comfort. So my three viable options are these:

All photos from David’s Bridal

Dress #1

The size 4 Sterling (silver-gray) version of this dress is what I was wearing in the first and fourth photos at the top. This dress was a surprise. On the hanger, I didn’t really think much of it. But when I tried it on, I was blown away by how nicely it hugged my curves. Despite my heavy lunch, my waist looked defined; the fluffy layered skirt made me feel like a princess. However, it didn’t have a Petite option so the hem would have to be altered, which would mean extra fees. Also, as much as I liked how the silver-gray gown looked on me, the black counterpart just did not look bridal at all.

Dress #2

I tried on the size 4 Ivory sample of this dress. I like how simple and elegant it looked, and also the fact that it made me look like I have a waist despite my heavy lunch. It has Petite sizing too, so that’s a bonus. It is also far cheaper than the other two. However, just like the other dress, its black version did not look very bridal either. Though to be fair, if I were to choose my wedding dress strictly between the samples I’ve tried, I probably would have picked this elegant ivory dress.

Dress #3

This dress is actually the first one that I tried on, because it was the closest to what I was looking for in my wedding dress. The sample dress was size 6, and it fit kinda awkwardly. I mean, the waist was just about right (bloated tummy from the heavy lunch and all), but the chest was loose (and I’m not flat-chested either). Despite that, it still looked quite good anyway. And of the three black dresses, it’s the only one that really screams Bride! In my stepfather-in-law’s words, it was “Princess style with a little evil”. Very apt for me and my dark little heart, right? So yeah, after much deliberation, we chose this one and ordered the black version in Petite size 4.

Heels? Hell, no.

So why was I so adamant on getting a Petite dress? Because (1) hemming would cost extra, and (2) I would not be wearing heels with the dress. I am set on wearing 8-eye Dr. Martens boots with the wedding gown. I just am not sure if it would be my now beat-up purple Pascal, or my kiddie black Combs, or if I’ll buy a new pair just for the occasion (maybe platform Jadons?). Either way, there would be no significant height boost coming from my choice of footwear. And I’ll be going down a spiral staircase for the wedding, so I would need all the stability I could get from my shoes.

So there you have it. This post ended up much longer than I initially expected, but I enjoyed writing/typing it down anyway. If you made it this far, congratulations and thank you for your interest/patience. 🖤