Adventures in wedding dress shopping

After hitting Glamour Closet today (great concept but unfortunately had nothing for me) I went to The Way We Wore and gosh they have some beautiful items!  & such friendly, helpful staff, which for some reason is not the norm in the best vintage stores of LA!  I could have stayed for hours.. if I didn't have to hit two bridal store appointments in the valley.  

I did find the most amazing dress, a 3/4 sleeves, knee length dress, which was basically netting with a sort of lace pattern embroidered in wool (yes, wool) over the netting with the occasional rhinestone.  Truly magical.  I put it on backwards, as it opened in back, and it would actually make a fantastic bolero that way (I'd have to chop it off at the waist) BUT it is wool embroidered on netting, too hot for a wedding in LA in late August?  I think I need a second opinion!  Wish I got a photo, maybe they'll let me take one next time I visit it (it's on hold for me).  It's affordable, if I can find a cheap-ish plain chiffon dress to go underneath - but as I now know that is easier said than done!

I also visited David's Bridal, and that was an experience!  I guess it's kind of like House of Target for bridal, such a rigmarole to get an appointment (I had to Email requesting an appointment, then wait weeks for them to call me) and then I show up and they don't even have a record of my appointment!  But they were friendly and they do have a huge selection.  

I tried on the Galina dress that I went to see that I've previously blogged about (see below) and turned out to be too heavy, structured and just not right.  

I did also try on a few bridesmaid dresses and found one that would work (below) that looks very similar to the galina dress but is softer, less structured, with more of a sweetheart neckline and beading all over the bust, and is only $155!  But I don't LOVE the fabric (crinkle chiffon) and the beading apparently isn't optional (I wouldn't want it, and would be worried about damaging the dress removing it, chiffon is so delicate), not to mention the fact that the store told me I can only order it in white online, but the website tells me it's only available in-store.  Plus I suspect it comes in ivory, not white, and for me that's a big difference!

I have an appointment at a trunk show tomorrow where they apparently have the Rivini dress (below) that I haven't been able to get my mind off since I spotted it in a magazine last Friday.   For some reason it is not on Rivini's website, but is apparently called the "Oro" dress.  I went to one store today who I was hoping carried it but actually didn't, and they wanted $100 just to get a sample in for me to try on!  It would go towards the purchase of the dress if I were to buy it, but if not I'd loose my $100 and as sweet as the sales girl was I'm not a fan of that arrangement!  

This could be "the" dress (once the sleeves are chopped off at the elbow and the inside seam is opened up to make it a flutter sleeve).  Fingers crossed, we'll see!!  I am kind of running out of time, but apparently Rivini move fairly fast compared to most designers, and run more like 4-6 months on production, so apparently I should be safe if I order it by end of April absolute latest.