Dana Saylor Designs!

Ok, so since the time I came across Haute Bride jewelry I have coveted the bracelets and wanted to have one, bad, for my wedding day. But realistically--wasn't happening. I can remember very clearly the look fiance gave me when I told him I wanted a Haute Bride bracelet and told him the price--upwards of $300...
So when a girl is in a bind---gotta get creative!
Enter Dana Saylorwho also has an Etsy store. And enter my bracelet---plus three bracelets for our flower girls, for a quarter of the 'Haute' price!

Lasting Impressions Event Rental, Cleveland

So I visited Lasting Impressions while at home and was very pleased with their customer service and very shocked with their selection. I was helped by Kristen (I think) but also worked with Patty over the phone and both are great.
We're using them for some of our rentals--highboy tables and pipe and drape.
Although we found a better deal for our dinner table linens, you can imagine my delight when this was the first thing I saw when walking into the store:

click pic to make big and clear!

You have to love that satin damask-print linen in their showroom!
So cute! And pops so well against the red so will surely pop well against hot PINK!

Well, trust me, the company knows this print is hot...because they are renting those things for literally an arm and a leg.
So I was thinking to use a few to break up my main linen color.
But then, as I was putting in my main linen order with BBJ Linen I happened to come across these photos on their web site (the bottom two images):


Not QUITE damask...but still really close....and equally pretty!

Well, the BBJ Linenversion is considerably cheaper....so...you know being the budget bride I am....!

The DJ...Or....Party Music!!

One way fiance and I have been able to cut wedding costs is by hiring a club DJ instead of a 'wedding' DJ to spin at the reception. This is right up our alley because we love a mix of music and we really appreciate 'turntablism' I think it's called, and DJs who are great at mixing and really getting the party started. A nice flow of music is important to me and I'd really love a 'club' feel for the dance floor the last few hours of the reception.

Of course, I was set on hiring one of the hot club (and mix tape) DJs right now and one of my faves who happens to live in Cleveland and be the official DJ for the Cleveland Cavs, Mick Boogie.
BUT, he couldn't commit because he is likely moving to New York City this summer.
(If you're a hip-hop fan check out his website to see how hot he is! And, there are some very worthy downloads there, namely a mix tape called "Brooklyn Soul" which is a fusion of Marvin Gaye and...Jay Z. Ridiculous.

DJ Mick Boogie

But, over the holidays while fiance and I were in Cleveland we heard another DJ, Majette (who spins with Mick Boogie) play a party at the House of Blues--and he was oh-so-fabulous. We loved the way he intertwined classic soul with classic 90s hip-hop, new soul, jazz...it was perfect! So we booked him. And at an unbeatable price.

The savings also allowed us to add some other nice touches for our guests, which I'll talk about later.

What's important to you in a DJ and how did you go about finding yours?

Silver Pearlescent Envelopes

My star-dreamy, metallicy A7 envelopes from Paper&More arrived today.
And while I'm in love with the rich color of them, I don't know about the 'heaviness.'
Maybe my expectations were too high--because mostly everyone else who has used/reviewed these envelopes has raved about them...
But I guess I envisioned them to be really heavy...a lot more weighty than they are... (Click the pics and you can see these envelopes really well)

Anyways, I can't say enough about Paperandmorewhen it comes to customer service. They are super quick with shipping and my envelopes were packaged flawlessly. Also, they were the absolute cheapest I found for the stardream envelopes for the quantity I needed at $14.99 per 50. Envelopemall has them 100 for $23 (about same price as I only needed 150).

Have you used these envelopes before and what do/did you think? Any recommendations for the 'best' quality formal correspondence envelope?

Too.Many.Vendors.

Ok-- so I have a confession to make.
As much fun as I'm having, I am frustrated with planning my wedding.
And I attribute this to one factor: too many vendors.
There are lots of moving 'pieces' to planning any event, especially weddings.
And although I am good at making phone calls, doing price comparisons and overall managing vendors, I'm getting exhausted fast from having to manage SO MANY of them.
There's floral, ceremony rentals, reception rentals, lighting, entertainment, attire, beauty, lodging etc...
Now, some would be quick to advise, "Girl, hire a wedding planner!"
But I don't think that's necessary if I could just STREAMLINE/ BUNDLE a few of my vendors into ONE vendor that I totally trust to execute.

What if I could find one company to handle floral, lighting, ceremony AND reception decor/set-up?

Enter Stacey Streeter from Fleurs de France.
Well, technically she came across my radar a while ago and has hands down the loveliest floral I've seen in the Cleveland area. She does what she calls "couture flowers" and her designs are whimsical, creative and fun.
The only problems were that:
1) Her pricing intimidated me
2) I contacted her about JUST doing personal flowers for me and she was only mildly interested because she said she was leaning toward only doing full events--not parts here and there. Which I understood.

But upon doing my vendor interviews, pricing things out and understanding the possibilities and constrictions of our venue, I am compelled to at least interview and price the person who would, I think, be my first choice based on what I've seen of her work...
Courtesy Fleurs de France.net






So, I am meeting with Stacy in a few weeks.
And some of you laughed at me for starting early!?

PSA: Snapfish

Until Friday, Snapfish is offering their 20-page 5X7 photobooks for $5.99--yes, $5.99. They're normally $11.99, so it's a deal! The PROMO CODE: PHOTOBOOK07.
These would make great gifts--especially for those who have children--for grandparents and family. There are a ton of layouts to choose from and you can fit numerous photos on one page, if you'd like AND add text to create a cute story/narrative.
And I'm SURE you enterprising brides can come up with a way to use them for your upcoming wedings. Maybe make a book of your engagement photos, etc...
Have fun!

Flowers...Check!

So...over Thanksgiving weekend you know I met with two florists in addition to the lighting company.

Well, I am glad to say, I have found my florist! And it was such an easy an obvious choice!

ABOUT HELENE
Helene of Brunswick Ohio-based Hosanna Designs will be doing floral for the wedding. (She created that mandap pictured).
I first chatted with Helene last month and got a great feeling about her over the phone.
That feeling was confirmed upon meeting her Saturday over the Thanksgiving holiday.
She works from her home studio on the west-side of Cleveland, so we met half way, near downtown, for lunch (which she'd offered to treat me to).
As soon as I saw her we connected and bounced ideas off of each other for about an hour.
What I loved about Helene is that she was very upfront about what flowers cost and had great ideas on how to save money. She actually showed me catalogs of her wholesalers and was clear about pricing. Most of all, she is clearly passionate about what she does.
Very excited to be working with her!
**One thing I must note about Hosanna Designs is that they don't charge a deposit. I was certainly prepared to give her one, but...according to Helene: "I've raised kids. Spend that money on vendors who need it now.."
Just like a mom!

OTHER FLORISTS
In all, I interviewed three florists. Maybe I should have talked to more, but interviewing vendors is tiring and I believe you know when you've found the right one.

The others I met with with were Lynn from Creations by Lynn, Broadview Heights and Amy of AC Designs, Westlake (well, didn't actually meet her but communicated via e-mail).
Both Amy and Lynn could be good choices for floral and I have nothing but good things to say about them both.
Lynn's shop was very organized. She even had fresh orchids, mokara and cymbidium, by the stem-- a huge plus for an orchid-lover like me!
Her prices are reasonable but she said she does 4 weddings in a weekend--which seems like a lot and kind of turned me off).

Amy is a fast and excellent communicator. She worked with me via e-mail for a few days and created sketches of ideas she had and was able to quote me this way. Amy's prices are very reasonable and she is good at thinking outside of the box. I just wished I could've seen more of her work...

Let there be Light!: Part II

Let there be Light: Part I
So, I went to Cleveland for Thanksgiving, super excited to meet with the fourth and last lighting company for reasons explained in Part I.
I have already received quotes from three other Cleveland-area companies--two who had actually visited my venue and one who , without seeing the location, gave me a 'rough quote.'
So fiance, toddler and I woke up early Friday morning in some very frigid and blustery and typically Cleveland weather to meet John from RCS Corp. at Starbucks in the BP Tower. (The BP Tower houses several businesses and on the first floor has about a dozen storefronts and small shops).
We headed up to the third floor so John could check out our space and tell us all of the amazing ways he could transform it with fabulous lighting.
But as he scoped the venue, he looked perplexed...
"I would love to take your money," he said. "But this is going to be a very difficult space to do much with."
Why, I asked?
The answer: Power.
There was not enough power--as in power outlets--in the venue to accomodate any significant lighting set-up.
He said he even remembered working in the space once before for a high school gala and having the same issues.
Further, he explained, with an August wedding and the sun not setting until around 9 p.m., natural light would be a huge obstacle to lighting.
One reason we love our venue is because one whole side of the room is open and overlooks an atrium. The building it's housed in is, on the front side, made entirely of windows. And although our space is set back from those windows, I was assured that natural light would clash with any man-made lighting--and we may only have two hours where lighting would even be noticeable...
I can't say I hadn't heard this before. Two of the other lighting companies told me it would be a "difficult room to transform."
I guess I was just waiting to meet with that company that would tell me they had some fabulous idea on how to get past the obstacles!
So, I'm sad. The very reasons why we chose our venue--the windows and the view--are working against my plans!
A few good things from our meeting with RCS:
1) John had a GREAT idea for our ceremony space!
2) John talked to us about a new designer RCS recently hired who is young and really good at thinking outside of the box on how to use lighting; he plans to send him to our venue next week to see what he comes up with...
To be continued!

Dollar Tree Direct

The other day I wrote about the fabulous damask-inspired votive holders I found at the Dollar Tree. Turns out between two local Dollar Tree locations I was able to buy enough of them for what I needed (about 60). But apparently, for people planning large events, Dollar Tree recently started up Dollar Tree Direct, where you can buy ANYTHING you see in a store, in bulk.
I don't think I need to explain why this is is useful to event planners and brides planning wedding!

I think this service is fairly new. Here is a write-up from the press release on Retail Net.

Dollar Tree has launched an e-commerce site called "Dollar Tree Direct" (www.dollartreedirect.com) designed for customers who want to purchase large quantities of items from the store.
Customers can submit orders via electronic submission, fax or by phone. No matter what method they choose, shoppers will have the chance to speak with a customer-service representative who will check on availability of requested items and process payments.

It doesn't look like a whole lot that I've seen in the stores is on the web site yet, but as long as you have the product number you can call-in an order.

Stamps & Pretty Paper

Today I bought some art materials online to play around with!
I ordered:
**Two clear stamps--one damask, one a double scroll
**12, 12X12 sheets of Anna Griffin Dorothy Graphic Black Damask Paper from Memory Villa store
**4X6 Acrylic Stamp Block from an Ebay store called 'Heart-Shaped Rock Cottage', who by the way, is super fast and emailed me to say she'd shipped my order within an hour after of me placing it!

The damask print paper, I may use as bellybands for the invitations.
A bellyband is simply a decorative element you can use to embellish invites--pictured in orange at right---->

I bought the stamps and stamp block to use on our printed materials. Stamping--particularly clear stamping--is a whole new world for me, so I had to do some research. But from what I've seen they work really great and will undoubtedly be a fabulous accent to my new Print Gocco that I have asked Santa for as a Christmas gift!
More on stamps and gocco later.

Two Florists & A Lighting Guy

So, next week I will be in Cleveland for a few days (Thanksgiving) and am super excited to FINALLY have a chance to meet with some vendors. As you know, I am planning our wedding long distance and have largely been communicating with vendors via e-mail and phone and relying on my fabulous mom to do legwork.
It's always better to meet with people face-to-face, so I'll be doing just that--all day on Friday the 23rd! The interview line-up includes... two florists and a lighting company.
Here is my agenda for Friday, August 23:

8:00 AM: Beg fiance to take me to rental car place to pick up two-day rental car.
(I'm not driving my SUV home. If I did, the trip would cost me about $200 with the cost of gas...)

10:30 AM: Meet with John of RCS Corporation in the BP Tower to discuss lighting and draping, and to hopefully soon after get a reasonable quote.
Here is what John said to me on the phone yesterday:
"See, I've worked with the same customers for years...and they keep coming back to me because I'm frugal with their money," he said. "So what I'll do depending on your budget is figure out a quote and then if it's not what you had in mind, we can rethink it to make it work for you."
**Hmmmm....I like John already!

1:00 PM: Meet with Lynn of Creations by Lynn to talk flowers.
Here is what Lynn's assistant said to me last month at the Bridal Show:
"Lynn is very good about working within your budget."
Me: "But what if i want to do some things myself?"
"Oh, Lynn will order the flowers for you!"
**Hmmmm...kinda liking Lynn, too!

3:00 PM: Meet with Helene of Hosanna Designs to talk flowers.
I spoke to Helene last week and she is super nice. She said she liked me already because I had creative ideas. And at least one person on IndieBride was familiar with her work and said "she's creative, inexpensive and actually tries to save you money...."

5:00 PM: Happy Hour!

Vista Print: Part I

So I am using Vista Print as the printer for my invitations--to which there are a LOT of components. I am doing pocketfolds, so in all there are four printed pieces to the invite- the actual invite, two detail cards and an RSVP postcard.

An advantage to me figuring this out early is that I get to test, test and test again ALL of my vendors. SO, I ordered a batch of the RSVP postcards from VistaPrint about two weeks ago to see what the quality was like.

100 postcards arrived Saturday, earlier than I expected and well packaged. (At checkout I chose the slowest possible shipping time--like 3 weeks). Also, I should note I paid only $5.99 (the shipping) for 100 postcards! VistaPrint ALWAYS has "free" and majorly discounted promotions going so I plan on using that to my advantage! I seriously doubt I will pay more than $100 for all of my printing when all is said and done.

Anyway, the postcards look GREAT! The color is great, the printing crisp and the card stock is a nice heavy quality and glossy. So far I am recommending Vista Print as I am amazed with their pricing and customer service has so far exceeded
expectation.

Oh--on a sidenote, Emily, who designed our invites, also created this Save the Date card... but we are unsure about sending out save the dates--fiance thinks they are pointless--and even if we do, I don't think I would use this design. I would like something more interesting. Any ideas about what I could use this card for?

I ordered another monogram...

I mean...why not? I may order like ten more because they're only $2.50 a pop from Angela over at Save the Date Originals.
Actually, because mine are so similar they were only $2.00 a pop!
Here's my modified monogram I posted about before, except in a circle! I adore the monograms! I feel like they say "modern"and "vintage" simultaneously.

Let There Be Light!:Part I

The dim amber lighting of a late-night jazz club;
The yellow and green and orange neon darting spotlights in a disco;
A summer afternoon's plentiful sunshine's ability to single-handedly brighten your mood;
Subtle and soft all white lights on a Christmas tree;
The flash on your camera.
Lighting matters.
It makes a difference in how we look in photographs...
And it can even change our mood.

So, why do most people overlook the power of lighting their events...their weddings?

In contemplating our 'decor' budget and how to get the 'biggest bang for our bucks,' professional lighting is a factor that I couldn't ignore.
Traditionally, flowers have been the huge 'budget buster' for brides. Flowers and florists can easily produce bills in the thousands.
Yes, easily.

But, I don't want a flowery wedding. And although I love flowers, in thinking back on weddings I've been to I can't recall: "Oh, those were some lovely spray roses they had on their tables!" Basically, who really remembers flowers?

So why not give guests an experience with lighting to reflect the 'feel' of your celebration?
The realization that I'm crazy about lighting had led me to thoroughly explore the options for pro lighting in the Cleveland area. And basically there are 4 major players that I've come across: Hughies, ColorTone, RCS Corporation, and Event Lighting. Soon, I will post generally about the quotes and customer service I received from these vendors--because I know that professional lighting is a "newer" concept in the Cleveland market and many brides don't have experience using them and don't know what to expect.

To be clear, lighting is not on its face a cheaper alternative to decadent flowers. For me, I am making a choice to appropriate the majority of what would be a floral budget to lighting, because I think it's a better fit for us and packs incredible impact when compared to flowers--especially for an evening event.
As with anything, you can do more or less with lighting to fit your budget.

Here are just a few ways lighting can transform:



Above photo courtesy of Knottie Brown Bride07






Look at the possibilities! More on light lata.

I. Heart. Etsy!

Generally, I'd like to think I am pretty crafty and have decent taste.
And normally, when I take on do-it-yourself projects they come out better than expected. Plus, I enjoy 'personalizing' things and paying attention to the details.

For our wedding, there are a number of small projects that I am excited to be taking on myself, e.g. our invitations, a crystal manzanita tree, programs, out of town boxes etc. But I am not so ambitious to think I couldn't use some creative help from somewhere...
Enter Etsy!
Etsy is presently my favorite online store--one huge marketplace of items by individual sellers/small companies. And EVERYTHING is hand-made. I first came across Etsy via the store of Emily, who took my inspiration and designed our invitations.

Now, I literally spend hours browsing this site-- and I have found some amazing and oh so affordable finds that will help me with my projects, namely 200 CUSTOM stickers for $6!?!? (Sorry ladies, I'll post the link AFTER I order mine!)

Anyways, here are a few of the adorable things I've found on Etsy (some NOT wedding related):

Crown Labels by Paperologie
Really see no use for these...but I'll FIND one! I love them!

Custom Monogrammed Ring Pillow from MondeDesign

How CUTE!

Silk Dupioni Custom Monogrammed Check Book Cover from plethora

This could be something to add to BM's gifts:)

Personalized Monogram Bloomers/ Diaper Cover from Carabellas

Baby Raven, I want these for you!

Luxe Fuschia and Red Damask Hemp Strung Tags by Paperologie

Again, unsure how I would use these. But they are surely eye candy!

So basically, I've found Etsy to be a good place for supplies, but more so for general inspiration!

What are things you look at, read etc. for inspiration--fashion, decor or other?

Our Monogram

Here is a proof!
I ordered it from Angela at Save the Date Originals and plan to use it throughout the wedding....
I can't speak to the quality yet, but she is very reasonable. I'm ordering the PDF monogram and about 200 stickers for under $40. The monogram itself was a STEAL at only $2.50! I will review her when the order is complete.
The monogram was "inspired" by my new love affair with damask and fancy flourishes in cool colors. And, of course, by our "color inspiration." And I think it matches our invites pretty well!
What do you think?

Photo Finish!

I'm happy to say that today we can check another vendor off our
list--our photographer!
I've talked a lot about photography and how important it is to me. I've talked about some great Cleveland-area photographers,
one who was booked on my date. And I've talked about my engagement photos, and how awesome the photographer who took them is..

BUT I have never even mentioned the photographer we chose!

Introducing Joe Kolecki, of Kolecki Photography!

Joe used to work with a larger Cleveland company and has recently started shooting on his own.
By far, thing that I liked most about Joe's package was the reasonable price for all-day-coverage. That means he'll be there as much as I want...from early morning salon-time to the last dance.
Kolecki only offers one package that assures all-day-coverage and then you can
pretty much decide what kind of extras you want. The package also guarantees a high res dvd with all of the images taken and a very cool photo book--which is exactly as it sounds--your photos laid out into a glossy book format to 'tell the story' of your day. This is in lieu of a traditional album, which fiance and I didn't want anyway after first seeing a photo book. We saw few photographers who had packages that actually included the photo books. Either they offered them as an extra starting at like $300 for a small book...or packages that did include them were outrageous pricewise.

I think Joe will do a great job capturing clear and telling photos of our day. He is not (I don't think) a photojournalist by trade (which is something I wanted) but
then again, his photos do not come off as cheesy or contrived like many wedding photos can. And he is open to doing what we want. So we've stressed that we want very few posed photos and would like him to focus on shooting exactly what he sees and not to try to "create" or "stage" moments.

For the price and product we think Kolecki
well-suits our needs. We both LOVE photos and photo printing, so the right to our images on DVD was a must. And neither of us were into the multiple albums (something we'd like to do as a project ourselves) but we LOVE the photo book.

Plus, booking Kolecki was a treat, especially after the fiasco that happened with our former DJ on Friday!

Music: Back to Square One...

I need a DJ. A new DJ. **Sigh**
As I have talked about before, entertainment/ music is a big thing to me which is why I began my search for the perfect DJ early.

Basically,we had given a deposit to the DJ of our choice, a small up and coming company out of Sandusky, Ohio that we thought would be a good fit for our wedding and music style.

So they gave us a very reasonable quote that we were happy with, but then said that they would have to do a survey of our venue to make sure there were no obstacles logistically that would make that quote go up. (Note: Once a vendor quotes you... rule is it should never go up...)

So...long story short, today, after seeing my venue the DJ company has quoted us $300 HIGHER than they did a month ago for the same service! Needless to say, I was disappointed.

So after a day's worth of back and forth, they are going to refund my deposit as a gesture. And I will have to resume my search for entertainment--something I was hoping to have off my plate.

Contrary to the thought that live entertainment is best, we really want a DJ because of the versatility they offer. In my prior post, I talked about the things we want and don't want in a DJ.

Do you know of any great Cleveland-area DJs?

Review: Wedshare.com

This is not a review.
This is a rave!
Fiance and I now have our own personal dot-com wedding web site! It is powered through a content management system hosted by Wedshare. Now, let me say, I was at first skeptical whether I was going to get my $79 dollar's worth from buying a website.
But after setting up our site and exploring all of the features, I must say it is WELL worth the money and everyone should have one! Here's why:
1)Novelty Factor:
I mean...it's your OWN web site! You decide how long it stays up (and pay accordingly). You can add photos, music, your love story. It's very personal and your guests can log on and sign your online guestbook!
2) Ease of Use Factor
Sure...if you're a computer programmer or if you're just extra programming savvy, them make your own site from scratch. But like most people, web content management programs, like Wedshare, basically walk you through how to set up and maintain your site.
3)Online RSVP Factor
Wedshare and some other sites allow a very thorough online RSVP process so guests can reply online instead of through mail. This is not only convenient, it's fast! I was impressed with how thorough Wedshare's system is. It let's me import our guest list from an Excel sheet. So when guests register online all they have to do is enter their first and last names. The system then recognizes them and specifies how many seats have been reserved in their name, tells them details like "this event is adult-only," and even lets them choose what they want to eat (if you're having a meal with several options). The system then logs their response and sends me an e-mail letting me know someone has responded.
4)Organization Factor
In addition to tracking your guests and multiple events at a time (e.g. wedding/reception/rehearsal) Wedshare has a built-in budget-tracking system which is very useful.
5)Communication Factor
You can password-protect pages on your Wedshare site that are targeted at certain people...say, your bridal party. On ours, we have "bridesmaids" and "groomsmen" pages that will have all the info the bridal party needs and even has a forum.
6) Not-Cheesy Factor
Many templated web sites simply look cheesy and cookie-cutter, but most of Wedshare's templates look pretty good, especially after customized. Our web page also has multi-media hosting capacity, so we can add slideshows, video etc...

My main attraction to Wedshare was the online RSVP. Competitively priced and easy to use, unless my Wedshare screws up when it actually comes time for guests to use it...this site gets an A+.

Say Yes to the Dress!

I did it! This weekend... I said "I do"... to my gown!
Now, if you've been following the blog, you know that I have been rather indecisive concerning my dress...

**Below is a timeline of the dress saga:**

-I began with a narrative declaration of the style of gown I wished to have.
-Then, I continued with some bridal shopping adventures in New York and Maryland.
-Then, even more shopping that I didn't blog...
-Then, I proceeded to compare several gowns and nervously seek advice.
-Then, I had the nerve to declare to the world that I had FOUND my gown. (Knowing I was still unsure...)

Now, I am proud and resolved to announce that this weekend my mommy and I found the gown!
And I even sealed the deal by putting down a deposit.
I found my dress at the Today's Bride magazine bridal show in Independence, Ohio on Sunday.
Basically, there were tons of wedding vendors that mom and I had went to check out, but it happens that an Ohio bridal salon, Henri's Cloud 9, actually had a showroom on site where they were selling gowns with a one-day-only discount.

Here's how it went:
**dozens of brides-to-be and bridezillas frantically looking through racks of dresses in a tiny, crowded showroom in a corner of a hotel**

Me to Henri's employee, Jason:
"Where are the sexy/fitted/trumpet gowns in here?" Trying to bypass the looking-through-racks thing and doing crazy body movements to show that I wanted a form-fitting gown.

Jason:
"I'll find them!" He pulls two gowns, one he says is a Henry Roth that retails for $3,000. Henry Roth isn't making dresses anymore, that's why it's marked down to $799, he says.
The Roth was gorgeous. Material and color were pretty but it was too plain for me and didn't look amazing on. The second dress Jason pulled just wasn't what I had in mind.

However, as I was getting dressed, I looked up...and I saw thee dress! Outside of my fitting room curtain, a girl was looking at herself in the mirror in MY dream dress. All I could see was the perfect shape of the dress and the embellishment that was shining through the curtain. I peeked out and grabbed my mom and Jason, and in my own bridezilla moment I crossed my arms and said:
"Get me that dress. That is MY dress. She needs to take it off!"

Well... the girl didn't like the dress. Said she wanted something "simpler" so she and I traded gowns.

I slipped into the gown(a Fall 2007 Christina Wu).
It fit me like a glove.
I bargained them down about three-hundred dollars below the retail price (it retailed a bit out of my budget).
Fiance paid deposit with his credit card over the phone.
And the rest is history!

Onward!