And the marriage begins! 

Of course, the following has not yet been completed:

1.  The dress.

Chinese Red Wedding Dresses

Have I seen the dress that my sister has designed for me?  Um, no.  Am I concerned?  Actually, no.  Will I even try it on before the actually wedding date?  Not sure.  My sister and I are the same size, so whatever fits her will probably fit me.  (BTW, the above photo is a joke.  I shall not be wearing a big question mark down the aisle.  Hmmm… although I won’t be walking down any sort of aisle, so I guess you weren’t concerned.)

2.  The location. 

East Village Garden

Has the garden where we’re getting married in the Lower East Side actually written us back to confirm?  Nope!  Have I reached out a couple of times to confirm?  Surprisingly, yes.  Shouldn’t I be worried?  Probably, but I’m not.

3.  The post-wedding lunch.

Have reservations been made?  I’ll let you take a guess.  However!  My future mother-in-law did plan our Sunday Mother’s Day brunch.  Phew.  She obviously knows what sort of daughter-in-law she is about to get!

4.  The officiant.

Apparently, unless The Doctor’s brother all of a sudden becomes a priest/rabbi/whatever, the marriage wouldn’t be recognized.  But!  Two of my other DomestiGal friends used this certified-ceremony-woman who apparently does fab wedding ceremonies (she did a wedding in Central Park for one of my friend’s, and another wedding on the Hudson for the other).   The Doctor took me into his arms last night and said, “Um, honey.  Did you know we’re getting married?”  And then demanded that I get out my day planner so that we could plan a day to meet with this certified-ceremony-woman (CCW).

5.  The rings!

Sue's Former Moissanite of Dreams

Hello.  You all know I’ve been trying to get my moissanite-of-dreams.  Unfortunately, the moissanite, upon arrival, was not that dreamy.  But, I did get confirmation yesterday that my cushion-cut engagement ring (and wedding ring friend) will be arriving in the mail soon.  We still have to get The Doctor’s ring, which, I can assure you, will be 5 times the cost of mine.  (The Doctor can be a wee bit fancy.)

Anyway, I hope this email didn’t give DomestiGal Jen a complete break-down, as I know she’s stressed enough with her own wedding plans and MBA classes!

xx,

Sue

Hello again, fabulous Gals of the blogosphere!

We hope you haven’t forgotten about us! It’s hard to believe that Sue and I have been gone for two months, attempting to navigate our transition to WordPress while I was simultaneously attempting to survive my first semester as a DomestiGrad Student in my MBA program. (Which, in case you’re wondering, was a LOT less fun than, say, a pinot grigio-fueled ladies lunch or an afternoon spent browsing engagement rings on the web and catching up with my fave bridal blogs. Sigh.) Sue has been busy too - and she’ll update you on that soon. But we are finally back in action, with plenty to report.

First and foremost, there is still no RIng of Dreams on my finger. Yes, my wedding is less than nine months away and I still do not have my engagement ring. I am still not officially engaged. But the wedding plans are very much in motion and I am so thrilled about how the event is developing. So much has happened that I want to take my time in updating y’all on the fabulosity. Since today is our first day back, I will start with perhaps the greatest development: the Wedding Dress of Dreams has been found and ordered!

It’s a good thing I have photographic evidence (even though we weren’t supposed to take pictures in the boutique, we snuck some anyway - I mean how are you supposed to shop for shoes, handbags, jewelry, and other accessories when you’re not allowed to photograph your dress? Silly, ladies, silly.) because I would not believe this wedding dress existed otherwise.

It is SO. Drop. Dead. Gorge. Totally different from what I thought I wanted, too. Did any of you married gals out there have a similar experience? Go in with certain expectations only to find the Wedding Dress of Dreams that was completely different from what you originally intended to buy? I was expecting to go very simple - plain satin A-line, perhaps with a couple of flattering fabric folds here and there, a small train behind. The wedding dress I ended up falling for? Well, my maid of honor calls it “very romantic.” My mom calls it a “Here comes the Bride dress.” Simple, it is not. My Dress of Dreams, it is.

But perhaps the best part about it is that it is made by a private company who does “designer adaptations” of the high-priced, divine wedding gowns of designers such as Vera Wang, Monique Lhuillier, Badgley Mischka, Pronovias, Kenneth Poole, and more. (Sue, are you or are you not totally impressed at how much my knowledge of bridal gown designers has grown? Who has time to learn accounting and finance when there are so many fabulous wedding designers out there?) So, basically, my gorge Dress of Dreams is the wedding gown equivalent of the fake Gucci bag you buy out of some guy’s trash bag in Times Square. It’s a fake!

It’s my fake. And it’s still well-made, and was remarkably well-priced as far as these things go, so I just love it. I’m not a fan of the fake handbag, and yet I have heartily embraced the fake wedding dress. After all, we only wear the dress once, right? No use breaking the bank when there are “designer adaptation” gowns out there that will do the trick nicely.

Here comes the Bride indeed!

Gals out there, please share your gown shopping stories with us. We’d love to hear from you! And thanks for hanging in there with us. It’s good to be back.

xoxo

DomestiGal Jen

Sue!
Ok first of all? That post title almost gave me a heart attack.
But now that I am over the shock-turned-disbelief-turned-disappointment that you continue to avoid being bitten by the wedding bug, I have to say I am so proud of you! You go, girl! You are such the budding entrepreneur!
Now that I have survived my MBA program for over a month (hard to believe, considering the almost weekly breakdowns I have been having - I don’t know what I would do without the Lawyer! For reals.) I have to say that I am more and more tempted by the thought of starting my own biz. Or a bunch of bizzes, like you are creating!
Do we have any other DomestiPreneurs out there??? If you’re out there, tell us about your fabulous business!
Of course I have no idea what I would want to do. I wish I had the gumption to be a wedding planner - I could specialize in planning weddings on one side of the pond from the other! Now there’s a niche, right? Of course, not that I have been able to do much of my own wedding planning lately - but that’s fodder for another post. Or lack thereof.
But I love the idea of being my own boss, and starting up a business around something I’m truly passionate about. Going to work should be FUN, right? Not to mention the fact that I want to be able to make my own schedule so that I have time to raise Lawyer Jr. and his little sister, DomestiGirl.
There are so many amazing, enterprising women out there. Including you, Sue! I think I might just have to jump on the bandwagon…
Hmm,
Jen