who said you need a BRIDAL gown

fun and fancy free! the fiery haired saleslady says everyone who works at the store owns this dress. my expression in the photo says "it's fantastic!" it fits so nice and it's such good quality compared to similar floaty dresses from david's bridal...and, jenn...it's yellow (of course it comes in all colors of the rainbow, including some sort of sea-glass color that really entices me). i do believe it's restored my faith in monochromatic bridemaid dresses. (and jenn, there's a dainty halter option for spaghetti straps to tie up around your neck)


versus: david's bridal, photos of me on top - while the models below somehow make the dresses look fabulous....you all know i can pull off an hourglass figure in almost anything i put on and these dresses made me look terrible!


back to the gorgeous dress. and my arm is not concealing a tummy, but making an effort to make the dress appear somewhat tea-length on me. i didn't catch its details, but i think i remember it was a B2 dress by jasmine bridal.


a bridesmaid's dress (belsoie, style 9017~$220-280 ) that would probably make a sweet, lightweight wedding gown in white:


it's even bustle-able!

i thought a sash would gussy it up quite nicely....:



this hot red number (bill levkoff, style 276, $150-190) has some great lines across the bodice that often come out very awkward on affordable dresses but not so in this case. it's light as a feather and would make a great wedding dress in white. in fact, just taking a quick peek at bill levkoff's website showed me a tonne of really fantastic looking bridesmaid dresses that could easily be ordered in white!

this would make such a great christmas party dress:



above is another dress (brand: after six, style 6513 ~$150-200) that has a similar david's bridal counterpart at left ($115). the dress above was made of a gloriously rich fabric, whereas david's was starchy. david's is very affordable, i'll give them that, but not by much when compared to these great brands i tried on at cynderellie's closet - in most cases it's only a matter of $50 difference or so, which, when compared to a lot of ill-fitting bridesmaid dresses i've seen with $400 price tags that scream the need for additional alterations, is pretty darn good! and there is absolutely no contest on the quality. between their choice to carry maggie sottero bridal gowns and these particular brands of bridesmaids dresses - cynderellie's closet has impeccable taste in selecting their collections and is bringing some great, quality dresses to the table at very palatable prices...which is so refreshing in the dog-eat-dog bridal-industry-eat-bride kind of milieu we are stuck with.