Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Posed Photos

Once we had the big reveal it was time to take the posed family photos.  Don't worry, though, I'm not going to post most of those...I always found it kind of boring when people posted family photos cause nobody besides myself knows those people so it's not very helpful for other brides. But I will post some with the bridesmaids/groomsmen. 

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace 

^Before we went for photos we had to get the flowers!  This is my calla lily bouquet from Blue Ridge Floral Design and my purse!  I looooved my purse.  I don't know why I even wanted one, but I did, and I searched high and low and never really found anything that I liked that wasn't insanely expensive. I ended up buying something that was "o.k."  Then the day before the wedding I had a last minute errand to run and ended up at the Charlottesville shopping mall (which is tiny) and the only real department store they had was a Belk. Which is a pretty inadequate department store...but there on a sales rack marked down half off was my no name brand purse.  It matched my dress perfectly and was only $25!

^Here is one of the groomsmen's bouts, also from Blue Ridge Floral Design 

^Here we are with all the groomsmen.  Navy Blue, three button suits from Men's Wearhouse, navy blue ties with green shamrocks and groom's kelly green tie with navy blue shamrocks from Wild Ties.

^Socks from The Gap 

^Bridesmaid dresses from Maggy London at Nordstrom. Flowers from Blue Ridge Floral. Bridesmaid hair from Daphne Latham. 

^My cutie flower girl in her Rare Editions dress from Dillards. 

^Once photos were over we all began to leave for the church. Linda captured this great photo of my Dad looking on as fiance and I shared a moment. 

Vendors So Far:

Video- Monachetti

Photography - Linda Wallace

Hair/Makeup- Daphne Latham

Dress Designer - Vwidon

Dress Salon - Promise for the Saavy Bride

Shoes - Vera Wang new from Ebay

Bracelet- Carolee

Veil- Occansey Design 

Purse - Belk 

Flowers - Blue Ridge Floral

Suits - Men's Wearhouse

Ties - Wild Ties

Socks - The Gap

Bridesmaid Dresses - Maggy London from Nordstrom

Flower Girl Dress- Rare Editions from Dillards 

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - The Big Reveal

Like many couples, fiance and I chose to see each other before the wedding so we could have more time for pictures and not take time away from being with our guests.  For us this was a good decision and I really like the moment we had to ourselves before we started out. 

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace 

^Fiance came and I got me in my room

^He looks impressed enough I think ;)

^Time for the twril

^Gotta check out the back

^This is my "i have on lipstick so don't mess it up" kiss

^Wow, we're actually getting married

^Time to go meet our families for pictures

^Here we come down the stairs to see our families 

^Look how happy everyone is!  This was as good as walking into the church for the first time

Vendors So Far:

Video- Monachetti

Photography - Linda Wallace

Hair/Makeup- Daphne Latham

Dress Designer - Vwidon

Dress Salon - Promise for the Saavy Bride

Shoes - Vera Wang new from Ebay

Bracelet- Carolee

Veil- Occansey Design 

Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Getting Ready

Now that you guys have already seen my awesome wedding video, I'll start the recap of the day in photos.  All the photos below are the work of our wonderful photographer, Linda Wallace. I've spoken before about how I chose my photographer and we were really happy with Linda's work. We got over 1,000 photos!  And for the price...I feel like we got the steal of a century. 

Much like my preferences with video, I really wanted a more photojournalistic style.  Not that I don't love all those photos of brides jumping in the air (actually I hate those) or everyone standing in a wheat field (yes I do like these), but I wanted more of a journal of the day as it actually happened.   I just feel that these photos will stand the test of time better.  

That's not to say we don't have posed photos...just not a ton.   

Of course it all begins with the getting ready....

Remember you can click to enlarge!

^Here I am with my great and incredibly affordable Charlottesville based hair & makeup artist, Daphne Latham.  She was so much fun to have around. 

^Daphne's kick-a$$ tattoo

^Talking with bridesmaids/family as I get ready

^I wanted a lot of curl since it's the opposite of how I normally wear my hair.  Daphne made the curls very tight so that they would loosen the closer we got to the ceremony. 

^I had a room all my own to get ready in that was next to my bridesmaid's room, my sister's room, and my sister-in-law's room.  I liked this cause people could come in and out and chat but everyone had their own space to go back to and get ready. 

^Here I am checking out the makeup in natural light. That's my dress behind me!

^There is my beautiful Vwidon dress from Promise for the Savvy Bride that I blogged about forever ago. To my knowledge this is now the only picture of this particular style anywhere online.  

^And here are my awesome Red Satin Vera Wang shoes (if you remember, I got these brand new on Ebay for a steal)

^ I got so many compliments on my shoes all night long.  If you are on the fence about colored shoes then all I can say is "DO IT!" It was so much fun.  And remember, your guests don't read wedding blogs all day, so they have no idea that this is a huge trend.  So many friends and family members thought I was so "original." Ha...if only they knew how un-original I really was!

^Now I've slipped into my dress.  And I got into my dress all by myself! I never really understood why it takes 8 bridesmaids to put on a wedding dress. Mine was easy to get in and out of.  

^Here I am putting on my wedding bracelet from Carolee that I loved. 

^Getting ready to put on my shoes.  

^ Look! I could put my shoes on all by myself too!  Though I did have proper bridesmaid supervision. 

^And now it's time to put the veil on

^Daphne getting things just right 

^I wouldn't say all that fretting I did over veil length was worth it, but I was pretty happy with the length of my Occansey Designs veil.  It was long, but not so long I felt like I had to keep up with it. 

^I must not look too shabby if I got looks like this from my bridesmaids. 

^Here I am...all done....ready for the big reveal.  

 Next up: the total look and seeing soon-to-be husband for the first time. 

The Hunt for the Dress: The End (Seriously)

When I decided I would check out a few bridal salons, I asked a few girlfriends for salons recommendations. One of the suggestions I received was to visit Blush Gowns. Blush is a bridal consignment boutique in Newport News (similar to I Do! I Do! in Gaithersburg) owned by Holly Yaskowsky. Holly opened Blush a few years ago after she had trouble finding a consignment boutique to accept her own gown from her 2003 wedding.

Since I was headed that direction anyway to visit my mom, I made an appointment to stop and see Holly and see some of the dresses at Blush. As I mentioned in my last dress post, sometimes you just have to find the salon that is the right fit for you, and Blush was the perfect fit for me.

Blush has set policies on the types of dresses they accept, so the gowns in the shop are currently in style and in excellent condition. Many of the dresses haven't even been worn (ever hear of the two dress bride?? Blush is familiar with quite a few). According to the website, there are generally about 400+ dresses in stock in sizes ranging from 2 to 24.

Blush Boutique from www.blushgowns.com

I started off my appointment discussing with Holly my budget and style of dress I wanted. We pulled about 10 dresses off the rack in several styles, most of them in my budget, a few above and even one below! I tried on all the dresses and ended up going back to the very first one I tried. After dancing about the store a bit (yes, I knew I had found a great dress and I had to celebrate), I put the dress on hold to think it over and be sure. I called back the next day knowing I had found my perfect dress (good looking dress+great price=Miss Fairfax's perfect dress).

Inside the boutique where I did my victory dance (pic from www.blushgowns.com).

I had a great shopping experience at Blush and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great dress at a great price, while still getting the bridal salon experience. I have not personally shopped at I Do~ Do, but if you don't want to drive down to Newport News, I would check it out. I Do~I Do also carry some retail gowns (Blush is exclusively consignment).

I plan to return to Blush after my wedding to hopefully consign my dress back. It would certainly be great to recoup some of the costs and also hopefully help out another bride!

The Hunt for the Dress: Part Dos

**Ok, blogger and I made up. See the pictures below!**

My first stop on my Non-Bridal Salon Bridal Gown Search was my perennial source for all formal dress needs: Macy's!

The great thing about department stores is that most actually HAVE a bridal shop, so you can hunt through there and then you've still got the whole evening gown section to peruse. Some sites, Nordstrom comes to mind, will even allow you to search by color so you can really zero in on what you're looking for. As Miss Westend noted in her post below, there are quite a few lovely and inexpensive white dresses out there in Department Store Land.

Check this one out from Macy's, the light champagne color is really flattering. I can totally see myself in this at an intimate, candle-lit evening ceremony.

From the Macy's website I progressed to Nordstrom (tons of great finds!), I even checked out my favorite department store down home where my mama lives, Dillards. I EVEN checked Sears and JC Penney. Hey, my mama mail-ordered her dress from Penney's in 1981 for $300, how awesome would it be if I did the same? I'm an equal opportunity shopper. I discriminate against no deal.

One shoulder gowns are quite the thing right now, I've seen this
element pop on more than one bridal gown trend list.

And what's this? Does Tia Mowrey shop at Dillards?!
(From InStyle Weddings)

While I was perusing the department store websites, I was also clicking on every "How to Save Money on Your Wedding Dress" and "Brides On A Budget" article the internets had to offer. One name I kept seeing over and over in reference to inexpensive dresses was Nicole Miller. I must confess, I'm only familiar with Nicole Miller because my favorite Lilly Store over in Old Town (Hey there, Tickled Pink) carries a few of her pieces.

Boy, was I blown away the first time I went to the Nicole Miller website! I mean, just gorgeous [sigh]. Some of the dresses are pricey, but there are a several reasonable options. There's a Nicole Miller store in the Tysons Galleria.

I was really loving on this one for awhile
(from www.nicolemiller.com via partypop.com)

Some other makers that are worth checking our for lower cost white dresses are BCBG and Jessica McClintock. BCBG has quite a few unique white gowns out right now and they have outlet locations in Williamsburg, Leesburg, and Rehobeth. There is a Jessica McClintock shop in Tysons Mall and it's absolutely worth a look if you're looking for something with a lot of glamor or more of a ball-gown style dress.
BCBG

BCBG


Jessica McClintock

Jessica McClintock

Oh, and to leave no stone unturned, I checked out Target too. I'm very thorough, what can I say.

So I had all these gorgeous white dresses whirring around in my head, occupying my dreams at night and totally preventing me from being productive at work (shhh, don't tell my boss!), but I wasn't done yet. I had a few more avenues to traverse before I would meet the one. :)

99 Red Balloons Go By...

Mental Note...for next wedding be sure to include red balloons. And vintage looking bicycle. And old-timey car. And streets of Poland. And totally untraditional wedding gown.

How incredibly charming (no I didn't use the banned phrase) and enchanting are these photos from amazing Poland based photographer Marta Potoczek? The world can have its chivari chairs and uplighting and globos and martini bars...this is my type of wedding.

This bride totally qualifies as a Bada$$ bride

Another Something Blue!

Does anyone else around here just love The Preppy Wedding as much as I do? I love her inspiration boards and I REALLY love when she features a vendor (because there's usually a pretty sweet deal attached!).

I was surfing about all my wedding web spots this afternoon, it was just too hot to even feel bad about sitting in the house, and I saw these gorgeous dress tags linked to via The Preppy Wedding.

from www.exclusivelysew.com

I mean is this just the most precious thing or what? I've seen the dress tags around, but this is a "Reflection Tag" from Exclusively Sew. Your wedding day is obviously a big milestone in your life, and I like the way this little detail ties together your past, and the future you're about to walk down the aisle to. Anyhoo, before I get too sentimental on you, The Preppy Wedding has a special discount code listed for 50% off dress tags, as well as bouquet ribbons (pictured below). This is definitely the best price I've seen for dress tags recently.

from www.exclusivelysew.com

Has anyone purchased a dress tag yet? I love the idea, but I also plan to consign my gown after our wedding, so I'm not 100% sure I'll have a tag embroidered for me. On the other hand, since I don't intend to keep my dress, the dress tag would be a a lovely wedding memento to pass down to a daughter or niece one day. Thoughts?

The Hunt for the Dress: Part 1

In one of the comment sections in a previous post, I mentioned that I had a somewhat "alternative" dress search. I was NOT looking forward to dress shopping AT ALL. I imagined it to be some evil spawn hatched when bathing suit shopping and jeans shopping got together and procreated. Boo.

+ = :(

It didn't really help my attitude when I started reading (aka obsessing) over wedding magazines and dress maker websites and realized what the wedding industry thought they could get me to pay for a wedding dress. Well, much like Meg over at A Practical Wedding, I don't much care for being told what to do.

Like any bride, I wanted a beautiful dress, I wanted to feel like a bride, but I realized, if I was going to stick to the firm budget I set, I'd have to get a little creative. Has anyone told you yet, that the minute you tell a vendor you're searching for a wedding [insert anything here: dress, venue, cake, three-ring circus...anything!] the price doubles? I'm sure you have because I've hear it upteem times, and I've only been engaged 6 months with 16 to go. Thinking on this little tidbit, I started investigating where I could look for a white dress outside of your typical bridal salon.

To be continued...

photos via oldnavy.com and johnlewis.com

Hitched Salon Sample Sale

I signed up for e-mails from Hitched Salon in Georgetown when I first started looking for my wedding dress. The post about the sale at Carine's reminded me that I had an e-mail in my inbox from the Hitched gals about their sample sale!

This coming Thursday, June 12, from 5pm to 8pm, Hitched will be offering a selection of sample gowns at a discount. No appointments are needed, but they do recommend arriving early!

Hitched
Bridal Couture+Creative Planning Salon
1523 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007
202-333-6162

There are photos on the Hitched Website (click on Sample Sale) of some of the dresses available, but I've posted two of my favorites below.

I really love the pleated bodice on this dress. I've noticed this
use of fabric to create unique details on quite a few dresses lately.
I think it's a nice alternative to lots of beading or sparkles.

I'm a big fan of all-over lace dresses too!
And how often to do you see a non-strapless wedding gown?

Oh, and can't forget the shoes!!

Imagine these lil' cuties in baby blue with white stitching.
I tried these on the last time I was at Hitched and
they are adorable, nice low heel and comfy too.

In fact the sales lady told me that Cynthia Rowley made
the blue version specifically for Hitched.
All you brides looking for something blue, be sure to check out the sale.

All photos from www.hitchedsalon.com

Dior-able!

It's not often that we mere mortals get the opportunity to own a piece of design history but thanks to Yoox.com some tiny girl with a lot of money to spare can own an actual 1940's era, silk, Christian Dior gown from the master's own hand. The cost: $10,000. The size: 4.

Yoox is selling off a select number or pieces from Dior and this is one of the shining stars. Most of the other items are already sold out.

I could never have spent that much on a wedding gown but I know there are many girls who drop that much cash and more. Personally, I'd rather have a Dior over a Vera any day.

Once Upon A Time In Mexico

Not only are the details of Demi & Frederick's Mexico wedding amazing, the photography from Parker J Pfister is simply breathtaking. I can't wait for his new site to be up and running.


^Although they look nothing alike I can't think of a bride that more resembles Grace Kelly then Demi does in this moment. Look at her elegantly gloved hands.


^Her dress was a classic


^Beautiful shot


^Don't think your bouquet has to be large to make an impact. The small size was the perfect compliment to her outfit and the bouquet brooch is amazing.

^Don't forget the bridesmaids. They all looked so elegant...and the bride's dress choice really did compliment all their figures.

^They each carried these simple yet elegant bouquets.

^Love that pop of blue. Very fitting with the Mexican location, but the white keeps it toned down and tasteful

Marching To Your Own Drummer

It's been a while since I featured a BadA$$ Bride, but this lady qualifies! Pink and white dress? Seen it. Black and white? Yeah seen that too. Pink, black, and white....the hair....the shoes...awesome.

Photos credited to John Michael Cooper of alt.f from the wedding of Staysi and David

Lush from Labbancz

Now on the complete other side of the spectrum from Jenna Bush's casual soiree is this lavish wedding that Marie Labbancz had on her blog today. Even though my personal tastes learn towards the modern and subdued, it's a bit of voyeuristic fun for me to see really romantic style weddings like the one below. Hey, if you're going to go lush then you need to go all out!


^The Brides dress was a Pnina Tornai gown from Kleinfeld Bridals . I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen a white dinner jacket and tie combination (as opposed to bow tie) but I'm liking it.


^Check out that back! Silk Roses were a theme throughout the wedding


^I've often expressed my love for long tables as opposed to round...need I say more?


^Silk roses were incorporated into the invites as well


^Normally I really hate when flowergirls are dressed up as little brides (as I'm sure you can tell by my flowergirl dress) . But this dress is just so much fun I think any little girl would feel like she was in heaven in it.


^Both of the tuxes were custom made


^And of course we can't forget the cake

For more pics check out Marie's blog.

Things That Annoy Me About Wedding Planning - #1

So the month of March was the two year mark since I was engaged (and no I don't remember the exact day that Fiance proposed). We lived abroad for work for a year and then needed time to plan so here we are now going on two years.

Some brides *think* they'd like to have a long engagement so they'd have more time to plan. But the reality is you really don't want that. I could go into all the reasons why but lets just say there is a reason most engagements are a year or less.

Anyway in honor of this mile stone I thought I would start a new little series that I will occasionally contribute to entitled "what annoys me about wedding planning." I have no doubt that at least one of the things that annoys me will probably offend someone but c'est la vie.

Number one on my list is probably one we can all agree on:

1) Dress Stores That Don't Let You Take Photos

O.k. so maybe back in they day before internet and thousands of bridal magazines it made sense not to let girls take photos...otherwise they could take the dress to a seamstress and have it remade. But in the information age this excuse makes NO sense. I can find a picture of almost any gown by any designer and usually within a day of it hitting the runway (except for mine apparently, but that's another story).

Here I am about to drop THOUSANDS of dollars on a garment and yet I can't even take a picture to be sure I want it. In what other industry are you treated that way? If I was dropping cash on a car, a house, a new couch, whatever, no one would blink an eye if I wanted to take a pic but for some reason bridal stores are the exception.

I can even see limiting the number of photos the bride takes for time purposes. Maybe the shop doesn't have time for her to be a fashion model for 15. But at least let her take pics of the top 3.

Not only does this not hurt business but it actually heps. I went to TONS of gown stores in the D.C. area and the ONLY one that let me take pictures was the store where I bought my gown. Now don't get me wrong, they weren't perfect...they only allow you to take a picture of your favorite gown, but it was so great to be able to look at it on me from every angle and not feel rushed.

After each store I'd come home and look at that picture again and it soon became the one to beat. This was doubly helpful, as for the most part I was shopping alone and didn't have other's opinions to fall back on. I'll never really know if I would have still chosen that gown had I not been able to take a pic, but I do know it played a major role in my decision.

If anyone out there can give me some good reasons why this rule exists I'm all ears!

Moving On Up: Casey Templeton Photography

One photographer I've had my eye on for a little while now is central Virginia based photographer Casey Templeton. Casey won the 2005 College Photographer of the Year award and shot for National Geographic as part of an internship in 2006.


Since that time he has been shooting weddings, and even though he's a relative newbie to the whole wedding scene I can see how talented he is, and how much more talented he's becoming with each new wedding on his blog. In a few years I think he's going to be the photographer we all wish we could afford but can't!

In my opinion he's been blessed with some really beautiful and stylish brides. Below is just an example!


All photos below the work of Casey Templeton

^Is this dress not the most unique thing you've seen? (you can click to enlarge)



^Here is an up-close pic of the back (you can click to enlarge)

^I love this brides unique bouquet and those beautiful gold doors

Rosa Clara

When I first started wedding planning I was living abroad and couldn't really go to bridal stores to try on any gowns...so I spent an inordinate amount of time looking at pics of dresses online. Aside from Romona Keveza, my favorite dresses were from Rosa Clara.

Rosa Clara is a Spanish based designer and her line is similar to what you would see from the Pronovias line. What I love about her dresses is that they are very unique and unlike a lot of the typical dresses you see in the states. Her line spans the design spectrum so you will have dresses ranging from super sexy to conservative, frilly to slinky, soft and feminine to modern and linear.

Sadly, I never did get to try on a Rosa Clara gown. She has boutiques in Spain, Portugal, Mexico and London and only a handful of stores in the U.S. carry her dresses. So if you can find one try one on for me!




^I love brides who wear sleeves. It's so unexpected and sophisticated.




^Many of her dresses have removable tops...this one you can wear with or without the lacy part. Great way to change things up from the ceremony to the reception.

A Tale of Two Veils and Two Shops

From the beginning of my wedding planning, I was pretty sure I wanted to wear a drop veil like the one pictured below.

^Photo credited to the super talented D.C. photographer Chris Baltazar. To see more of the beautiful bride check out the wedding of Heather and Moses on his blog!

I wanted my veil to be very sheer and simple, and I knew that I would not spend big bucks on a veil. Many of the veils I tried on at the shop ranged from $300-700. I had heard good things about Occansey Design and Veil Shop so I looked at both for a cheap drop veil. They both had them, but Veil Shop allows returns and Occansey Design does not, so I ordered two different lengths from Veil Shop. Overall it took about two weeks to get the veils in.

Unfortunately, it seems I'm just not a drop veil type of girl. I was swimming in fabric, it was unwieldy, and it just looked messy on me. Maybe I wasn't putting it on right, I don't know, but I knew I'd be fussing with it all day if I kept it for the wedding. So back they went. I haven't gotten my refund yet, but it's only been about a week since I sent them back. Otherwise my experience with Veil Shop was quite good and I'd recommend them.

So it was back to the drawing board. The problem was I had always envisioned myself in a drop veil, so I had no idea what type of veil would look good. I needed to try on a lot of different veils just to see the different styles, but I didn't want the hassle of going to a normal bridal shop and getting pressured to buy one of those $500 veils. So off to David's Bridal I went! It was awesome! They had a ton of veils in all different lengths and styles and they left me alone to try on to my heart's content. No pressure! I have to say, though, even their veils were still a little expensive ($100-250). Here is what I found out:

Length
I like long veils. But not TOO long. Regal Length and Cathedral length were out. All the fabric was so difficult to manage. Chapel length was manageable but still seemed slightly bothersome to keep up with. Waltz length would have been too short, though. I needed something in between.

Blusher
I've always known I wanted to wear a blusher, but I discovered that I did not want something as long as a fingertip length blusher, but I did want the blusher to be longer then shoulder length.

Fullness
And finally, I confirmed my earlier suspicions that poof = evil. I still wanted something really simple and sheer like a drop veil but that had more structure and that would drape behind my back instead of all around me. The poof of the veil around your head/face is measured by the width of the veil fabric. The wider the fabric, the more gatherings there will be at the comb, which results in a poofier look. Standard width for most veils is 72in. Extra full is around 108in, and sheer is 54in.

So armed with this information I went back to Veil Shop to see what I could order. Sadly, their veils start at the standard width and they didn't have any veils between the waltz and chapel length. So I popped back over to Occansey Designs. Occansey Designs can customize your veil in pretty much any manor you could want. So after looking at a ton of their picture galleries I decided I wanted the below:


^ A floor length veil of 76in long. This was a great compromise b/t the chapel and waltz lengths. I got the length I wanted without the hassle (note: my veil does NOT have rhinestones!)

^ A blusher that was elbow length. Once again, the perfect compromise between fingertip and shoulder length. Average elbow length is 29in but I customized mine to 27in, cause I'm short and the model is like 5'10. If I had to change anything I would go back and get the 29in, but really it's not that important (note: my blusher does NOT have rhinestones!)

I also had the above veil specially cut to a SUPER sheer width at the top of just 25 inches while retaining the width at the bottom of 54 inches. If I had to do it again I probably would have gotten the ULTRA sheer of just 12 wide at the top. 12inches = minimal poof.

The great thing about Occansey Designs was the super cheap price of $63 with taxes and shipping, and the 1 week turnaround for delivery. The only bad thing is that you can't return anything, so you better have a pretty good idea of what you are looking for. If I had to do it again I would make small adjustments here and there, but overall I really like the veil...it's a keeper! It gives me the sheer look of the drop veil that I wanted but it also gives me the structure of a normal veil that I needed.

And The Bride Wore....Cotton??

I recently stumbled across a really unique line of bridal dresses called The Cotton Bride by designer Chris Cole. Most of us dream of silks, satins, tulle and organza (nevermind most wedding dresses are polyester blends nowadays) but the entire Cotton Bride line is made out of earth friendly natural fabrics...and the majority of the dresses really are made out of Cotton!

Looking at the dresses it's amazing what can be done with "the fabric of our lives." The cottons are from all over the world and a lot of attention is paid to details. These dresses are ideal for the "green" bride who wants to minimize the impact her wedding has on the world or even for destination brides (unlike polyester, cotton breathes in 100% humidity). The styles are modern, feminine, and flirty (say goodbye to hippie stereotypes).

The best thing is a cotton dress can easily be dyed after your wedding and turned into an entirely different dress.





I love the detail shots below.

New Season Trends: Death of the Ballgown

O.k. who is kidding who? The ballgown will NEVER die. It's a classic princess look and there will never be another time in your life where you can look like a princess. That being said, I've never seen as few ballgowns on the runway as I've seen this season. Most of the styles were a slimmer silhouette. The empire waist was quite possibly the most