Online Bridal Store Recommendation

I must post a rave about eBridalSuperstore.com. I ordered my wedding dress from there and it just arrived. Here's the lowdown:

In March I visited two local bridal shops in the Baltimore area to try on an Alfred Angelo dress that I had my heart set on. One shop quoted $700 for the dress and the other quoted $850. They both said that once I ordered it, it would take four to six months for the dress to arrive.

I started shopping for the same dress online and found it at a much lower price on eBay and some online bridal shops. I settled on eBridalSuperstore.com which had the lowest price and shipping rate, and the best reviews from what I could find on the web. I ordered the dress on April 3rd. I paid $419 for the dress plus $12 shipping. The website has a shipping status feature, and it estimated that the dress would arrive in July.

Exactly three weeks later, the dress arrived via UPS! I was amazed! It looks great, in perfect condition. It is the correct color and size, with the Alfred Angelo tags and optional straps. Now I just need to take it for a fitting and get alterations done if needed.

So I was very happy with the low price and quick service that I got from eBridalSuperstore.com. They are like a bridal shop in that they order the dress for you straight from the manufacturer. But since they don't have the overhead costs of a physical store, they can offer the dress at a lower price.

I must admit that I picked a popular color and style for this dress, so Alfred Angelo probably has a lot of them made already, and that's why I got it so quick. It might usually take three or four months for a dress that needs to be made per order. But anyway I just wanted to pass on the recommendation. I took a leap of faith, buying the dress online. It paid off!

Origami Flower Prototypes

I've been experimenting with the idea of using orgami flowers in my wedding decorations and bouquets. I figured out that I can use high-quality gift wrapping paper as a less expensive alternative to origami or washi paper. Here are some prototypes I made this weekend. They don't have the finishing touches yet, like the center embellishment or calyx. And this isn't the actual paper I'll use for the wedding -- it's just what I had on hand. :) It will look better with a more even-toned paper.

I'm using the book Origami Flowers by Hiromi Hayashi. The reviewers on Amazon are right -- in this book, the instructions for many flowers are missing some steps! So it's a bit of a challenge to figure out the steps that the book skips over.

Below is my attempt at Rose #3 from the book. They use a soft tissue-like paper for this rose, which looks cool, but I couldn't get that to work (the paper tore so easily). So I tried gift wrapping paper and it was easier. I like the more sculpted look, anyway. You can click the picture to get a bigger view.

Below is Rose #2 in the foreground, and the Rose #3 in the background. I figure I'll use big #3's in the bouquets with small #2's in a different color.

Below shows Rose #2 on the left and Rose #3 on the right. The #3 is made from regular white copy paper, and it's not glued together. It was my first prototype. :) I will definitely use more fancy paper for the wedding! Anyway, I think #3 has a lotus look'n'feel more than a rose look'n'feel, but I like that just fine!

I got the gift wrap paper from Sally Foster -- someone at work was selling it to fundraise for their kid's school. It's good quality paper that can take some abuse before the design starts to rub off. Still, I tried to fold and handle the paper as little as possible to prevent worn edges.