Real Bride Megan: 5 Must Play Songs 14 Sep 2017 2:30 AM (7 years ago)
Timo and I listen to a lot of music and have many favorite songs. On one of our first dates, Timo and I actually had a sing along to my Spotify playlist that was on. There are bluetooth speakers in the garage and in the bathroom for jam sessions. When we were building our house, the ONE thing Timo wanted was in-ceiling speakers and I agreed to that as long as I could get a bathtub with jets (we both ended up getting what we wanted). When he gets home from work, Timo usually turns on the music and it plays in the background while we go about our evening until we eventually decide to watch a show on Netflix.
In that vein, I am sharing the five songs that my DJ must play at our reception.
1. The Kill (Bury Me) by Thirty Seconds to Mars
Yep. A breakup song is #1 on the list. Because this was the first song that Timo and I had an epic sing along to. It was then I knew that this guy wasn’t someone I needed to be worried about judging me. He was willing to sing a breakup song with me on one of our first dates! We could have looked at it completely different (as a bad omen, if you will), but the music was so loud and we were both so into it, that it was a completely positive experience. And ya know, weird. Because who “carpool karaokes” to a break up song on a date? We do. #bestteamforever
2. Ahnma – Beginner
I honestly have no idea what this song is about because it’s in German. But Timo gets all white boy thug when it comes on and the chorus sounds something like, “Goldschlager shigga llama” and it always makes me (and Timo) laugh when I sing out the word sounds like that.
3. An Andrew McMahon song.
Probably Fire Escape or Cecilia and the Satellite. We actually went to see Andrew McMahon when he was in Charleston and it was epic. Especially the part where he crowd surfed on an inflatable duck… I cannot make that up. I have proof!
4. Alone by Marshmallo
Marshmallo is one of Timo’s favorite artists.
5. Hey Pretty Girl by Kip Moore
I used to listen to this song when I was in that “groom fever” phase of my life and it still never gets old thinking that Timo would “dedicate” this song to me on the radio if people still did that.
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Real Bride Kimberly: Flower Power – A Journey in Paper Flower Making 12 Sep 2017 2:20 AM (7 years ago)
One of the trends I immediately fell in love with on Pinterest was the paper flower. I thought they were beautiful and were a great way to cut down on floral costs. So, after pouring over hundreds of pictures online, I decided that I wanted to use paper flowers to decorate the wedding arch and the sweetheart table backdrop. I am toying with the idea of using them to create a selfie-station as well, but I am still undecided.
To be sure that I wasn’t biting off more than I could chew with this project, I decided to have a trial run. I wanted to make sure that:
- I was skilled enough to make them, I didn’t want to commit myself to something that was beyond my skill level.
- The time and stress involved in making the flowers were worth the savings. If I’m going to be up all hours of the night stressed out, it might be worth it to buy them ready made.
So, this week I decided to embark upon my flower-making journey with a classic flower.
A rose, by any other name, would still smell as sweet.
Now, normally I am not a fan of roses. Don’t get me wrong, they are pretty; but I prefer calla lilies, orchids, and peonies. However, I think roses transform perfectly into paper and would look gorgeous on my arch and backdrop. So, once I’d chosen the rose, I searched online for a template and tutorials on how to make them. During my search, I came across Pearl’s Crafts on You Tube. The rose that I saw her make in her videos were exactly what I was looking for. She also had some other flowers that I thought would be perfect for what I was planning for my wedding.
After looking through the comments, I discovered that she sells the templates for the flowers that she makes. So, I emailed her with a few questions including how much the templates were, and how and when would I receive them. Judy got back to me right away and was very sweet and helpful. Her templates normally run $13, which I though was reasonable. However, fate was smiling down on me that day, and she told me she was running a sale. So, I got the rose template plus three other templates for $25. And, the rose template includes a small, medium, and large version, so that was a great bonus.
Once I had the files, I printed the templates on 65 lb cardstock and mentally prepared myself for an evening of tracing, cutting and gluing.
No tools, no problem. Well… maybe it’s a little problem.
I knew from watching the videos, and from speaking with her that Judy used a cameo silhouette to cut out her petals. My sister has a Cricut, a similar machine, and she offered to let me borrow it whenever I needed it. Work was hectic this week, and I knew I wouldn’t have time to learn how to use the Cricut, as well as work on the rose. So, I decided to trace and cut the petals out by hand with scissors. I didn’t think it would be a big deal to cut out some petals. WRONG! By the time I got done cutting everything, my hand was killing me. I took a little break to massage my sore hand and kept on pushing.
Another tool that I was missing was the bone folder, which Judy uses to curl the petals of the flower. Now, she provides alternative methods of curling the paper, but I decided that I wanted to buy the tool. It wasn’t expensive, and I had a 40% off coupon for Michaels. (I love Michaels and their 40% off coupons.) Once again, I was too busy and unable to purchase the tool in time to make the rose. Rest assured, that I will be visiting Michaels before the weekend is out and my coupon expires.
After some moaning and groaning, I traced and cut out the twenty-six petals that are needed to make the rose. Now I was finally ready to start gluing
Petal power and folding finesse.
Once the petals were cut and folded, I glued four of the small petals together into a t-shape. Once I had two t-shapes, I began to roll and glue the petals together to make a cone. This would become the center bud of the flower. My bud didn’t come out exactly how I wanted, so I was a little discouraged. But, I continued to fold away until I was finished in the hopes that the finished product wouldn’t look so bad. Needless to say I wasn’t a happy camper at this point.
You catch more bees with honey than vinegar.
Next, I began to glue the twelve medium petals to the underside of the bud, two at a time. Once each petal was attached, I would bring the edges toward the bud and glue them down. This was kind of tricky as I didn’t want to have any ugly folds or ripped paper. I discovered that if I tried to force the paper where I wanted it to go, it would not obey. However, if I let it fold naturally it would look much nicer and give me less trouble. If you are kind to your paper, your paper will be kind to you.
Would you look at that, this paper is starting to become identifiable.
Once I got about halfway through gluing the medium petals, I could see the rose start to take shape, and I began to get excited. For the first time, I felt like maybe this was doable. Maybe I could make the beautiful flowers that I had seen on Pearl’s Crafts or Pinterest. At one point I got up from the kitchen to show my fiance my work. I felt like a little kid showing their dad what they made in art class that day, but I didn’t care. I was proud of myself, damn it!
The final step was to glue the six large petals. The petals were glued down side-by-side, one over-lapping the other to give the rose a finished look. Once I’d done five of them, I looked at my rose and I felt that the last petal wasn’t needed. I placed it on the flower, but it made the rose look uneven, so I left it off.
I earned my paper rose wings today. Yay! Now, somebody get me a drink.
I started making the rose at 9:00 P.M. I finished just after midnight. Yes, that was three hours of my life tracing, cutting, folding and gluing a single paper rose. Now, during that time I was also watching the tutorial, massaging my aching hands, and showing off my masterpiece. I’m sure once I get comfortable with the process it won’t take me so long. Plus, I’ll have the Cricut, so hopefully that will save me some time. Having the bone folder will also save me some time as rolling the paper with a glue stick to curl the petals was awkward and time-consuming.
And the verdict is in…
Am I skilled enough to make the paper flowers on my own? YES. It was easier to make than it looked. Yes, I had some ugly fold lines, and I ripped the tip of a petal, but you can’t tell. The flower looks beautiful if I do say so myself. And I do.
Is making the flowers myself to save money worth the time, effort, and stress that goes into creating them? YES. I am confident that I can significantly cut down on the amount of time it takes to make the flowers. And, making the flower wasn’t particularly stressful. Even though it took me three hours from beginning to end, it didn’t feel that long. I can definitely see myself making paper flowers for other events. All in all, it was a good experience, and I am excited to continue learning and to start building up my paper flower stock pile. Full steam ahead!
Next up, the dahlia. Wish me luck!
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Real Bride Ciji: Photo Booths are the Past, Digital Time Capsules are the Future 30 Aug 2017 4:09 AM (7 years ago)
Have you ever wanted to travel to the future? Wondering what life will be like after you plan the most epic wedding ever? Tired of researching 101 photo and video booths and coming up with witty hashtags to make sure that you capture EVERYTHING at your big day?
Well I have a solution — a cost effective solution.
A friend approached me about a startup that was looking for people to try out their latest invention. Of course, I was interested, I just needed to make sure that Travis was open to the idea. So we met with the owner and 20 minutes later we were asking “where do we sign up?”
Here’s how it works and why you will quickly change your mind about that photo booth that you are considering.
- We created our profile, determined what memories we wanted people to capture, uploaded our guests email address and signed up for the service, it’s $299 for 25 years worth of memories!
- An email message went out to our guests 17 days before the wedding. I didn’t see the content of the email before it was sent, but strangely the tone sounded just like me! Our guests were convinced that it came from my email account and that I was pleading with them to download the app and participate. This was a bonus considering that I didn’t have time to customize an email with all of the other things that I had on my plate.
- After the first email was sent, Incubate sent several more leading up to the wedding and even gave our guests the option to “opt out” of receiving multiple emails. Funny moment, one of my cousins emailed me and told me not to worry about sending so many emails, I can do that because I am the bride. Again, she thought that the messages were coming from me and not from an automated service.
- Travis and I just sat back and watched as our family & friends downloaded the app in the days leading up to our wedding!
- Videos, picture, text and voice messages were created before, during and after our wedding and scheduled to “hatch” in the future!
- The messages started to hatch during the wedding and it was such a treat to see them the next morning! We celebrated our one month anniversary on August 28th and a few more hatched that day as well. So cool, to relive the moment!
While $299 for an add on experience may not be in your budget, it’s well worth it in comparison to the $500-$1500 photo booths that I researched that would not live on for many years to come!
In addition to Incubate My Wedding, the owners took the experience once step further and shared with me that they created a custom fully functional 55″ iPad that runs the mobile application — the world’s first Future Booth — rendering traditional photo booths obsolete. And have coined, it as “The Coolest F@%*IN’ Thing You Can Have At Your Wedding.”
Image Courtesy of Incubate My Wedding
How do you plan to capture the moment at your wedding?
The post Real Bride Ciji: Photo Booths are the Past, Digital Time Capsules are the Future appeared first on The Broke-Ass Bride: Bad-Ass Inspiration on a Broke-Ass Budget.
Real Bride Holly: My Non-Essential Bridal Shower 29 Aug 2017 2:30 AM (7 years ago)
A lot of pre-wedding activities like the bridal shower or bachelorette had to be organized remotely or during short trips home because, (as I’ve mentioned in previous posts), due to a recent move, Ev and I live pretty far away from most of our family and friends. Three out of four of my bridesmaids, as well as my bridesman, don’t live near me. I found myself stumped as to how I might manage a bridal shower, bachelorette party AND a wedding with everyone involved without us spending all of our money on place tickets.
So, I decided to drop one of them.
I was insistent on a bachelorette party.
I am a bit of a goofball and I knew a night of getting silly would be the perfect remedy for pre-wedding stress. Because everyone is planning on coming in to town a few days before the wedding, I planned it for the Wednesday before. I know this might seem like a bit of a bad idea, but I have a game plan.
I firmly indicated to my girls that while I do indulge in a few libations, I’m not trying to have a three-day hangover, and they respect that. I assigned my girl K to plan the it and know she’s good for keeping the party fun within reason. I asked her to surprise me, within a few parameters: I have requested that it involve playing Mario Kart, doing some king of team-building exercise such a laser tag (but not anything that will send me home covered in bruises, such as paintball), and that we go for drinks at a pub that has good beer.
Finally, I requested requested that we keep the activities affordable for everyone, naturally, because I’m broke-ass. She agreed and promised that I’m going to love it. Knowing her, that I will probably end up in one of those giant inflatable T-Rex costumes by the end of the night. I promise I’ll post pictures.
Inflatable T-Rex Costume, $51.99 from Amazon
After getting that set up, I realized that having a bridal shower probably wasn’t in the cards. Everyone had already used up vacation time and spent money to come to the wedding, I didn’t want to ask them to do it again for my shower. I also didn’t want to try to cram that in also during the week before the wedding. Doing that, plus the everything else, would just be way too much. In the end, I wasn’t nearly as excited about it as the other things.
So, I chose to opt out.
Nobody was terribly fussed about it. I didn’t expect it, but a few of my bridesmaids and female family members chose to give me small shower gifts at times when we got together. That, honestly, was a pretty nice alternative. I was able to accept the gift in a manner that wasn’t rushed, and then got to spend quality time with the person. So, for my individual situation, that was the best way it could have worked out. There’s perks to being broke-ass!
Next time I post, I will be a married woman! See you then!
Holly
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Real Bride Danielle: Diary of an Anxious Black Bride 28 Aug 2017 2:30 AM (7 years ago)
So we are exactly a week away from our wedding date and just like when I got engaged, everyone keeps asking me the same questions.
Are you getting excited?
Are you nervous?
I nearly dropped kicked my poor father in the throat yesterday for being the 634876506 person to ask me that.
Cutting out monograms for dad handkerchiefs
No, I am not excited. I am on the brink of having an anxiety melt down honestly. No I’m not worried about getting married or spending my life with Michael or anything that dramatic. I’m more just pacing back and forth anxiously with my clipboard backstage, triple-checking with my stage hands to make sure everything is in place before the curtain rises.
Completed Dad Handkerchiefs (and grandpa and best man)
My mother is not doing a single thing to assist in calming my anxiety explosions. She insisted that she wanted to get the officiant for the wedding as she did not like my first choice person. Fine, whatever, not worth a battle. Fast forward to now, a week before the wedding and she STILL DOES NOT HAVE A PERSON. Yep, did you just hear the record scratch and audience gasp of horror too? Mom and I both work in financial aid in colleges. I get that it is her busiest time of year, but it wasn’t a few months ago. She has had a very long time to do this and simply has not. *grinds teeth*
Gift boxes I made for all 12 of the handkerchiefs
Mom and I went to Sam’s Club yesterday to get a ton of supplies we’ll need for the wedding like coffee cups, bowls for the ice cream, soda, etc. As we are standing in the aisle that has the disposable chafing dishes and I’m getting ready to put more pans in the cart, she clears her throat and declares she has changed her mind and wants to rent them instead. *pinches bridge of nose*
This was a Saturday.
Most rental places are closed on the weekend. I am getting married in seven days. You decide now you want to try to rent something for Labor Day Weekend? *begins counting as high as I can in Japanese and then German*
Applying Vinyl to Bridesmaid Cups
It’s the tiny little bits of chaos like this that are causing me to eat TUMS like candy. I overcame one of my giant hurdles last night and tried on my dress again. It fits, mostly. I’ve been much more active in the past few months as the new job requires walking about three miles a day. I’ve lost 26lbs since April. My last dress fitting was in maybe May or June. The dress is a tiny bit loose on top in the boob area but my mom and sister insist that it doesn’t look bad and it’s all in my head how very loose it is. On some level I know they are just trying to have me calm down and get me to embrace something that I couldn’t change even if I wanted to. Hopefully they are right. As I look out at the barren field where I sow all my fucks, I realize I have had no more to give for quite some time.
Finished Bridesmaid Cup
I’ve been working like mad the past few days finishing up the last of the wedding projects. I finished making all the handkerchiefs for the dads, made gift boxes for all the boys pocket handkerchiefs, finished the cups for the girls, and several other projects. Getting things done and being able to check them off the list is incredibly calming. I know that by Wednesday, whatever is still not done is simply not getting done. It helps calm the inner freak out. These tiny moments of zen are what will get me to the wedding day. I’ve started making a point of telling people in the office to warn others off asking me if I’m excited. The next person to ask very well may find my foot lodged in their throat.
Have you reached this point in planning your wedding yet?
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Real Bride Megan: 10 Things We Are Most Looking Forward to on Our Wedding Day 24 Aug 2017 2:30 AM (7 years ago)
I decided to collaborate with my Groom for this post because why not?! He’s involved in this process too. So here are the top 10 things we’re most looking forward to on our wedding day:
Megan’s List:
-
Being married.
It kinda already feels like we ARE married. We live together, we plan finances together … but I’ve heard that there is a shift. Also, there will be a huge weight off my shoulders/brain because we won’t be planning a huge event. A little less #MEGANZILLA? Time will tell.
-
Hearing Timo’s vows and saying my own.
… those vows that I haven’t yet written …
-
Our first dance.
We’ve been going to dance lessons and everyone better be super impressed with us. I really love the song we’ve picked out and I’ve only told a few people what it is.
-
Having our families together.
Timo’s family is coming from Germany and my family is coming from North Carolina and despite potential language barriers, I think it will fun getting to hang out with everyone.
-
Wearing my dress.
My dress is the one surprise for most people, but most importantly, to Timo. I’ve shown a few people photos of my dress, but it looks most awesome in person.
Timo’s List:
-
Seeing my wife in her dress for the first time.
No explanation needed here.
-
Taking beautiful pictures to keep the memories on that day alive.
-
Having a good time with family and friends.
I haven’t seen many of them since our last visit to Germany in June 2016.
-
Not having to think about the wedding anymore and all the planning involved.
-
Finally, fully being the [MegMo] family, because I love our family. <3
(Timo actually wrote his last name, but internet security is a thing, so I took some editing liberties … #sorrynotsorry)
When I was drafting this post, I didn’t discuss my list with Timo and he didn’t discuss his list with me. He just emailed me his five things.
I’ll admit that I giggled several times reading his list because 1) we had very similar answers, 2) He called me the “w” word, 3) Timo had such good answers!
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Real Bride Kimberly: Time to Find the Funding for this Broke-Ass Wedding 23 Aug 2017 4:33 AM (7 years ago)
As soon as we started talking about getting married I knew funding the wedding was going to be an issue. We had no money saved up. None. What. So. Ever. Once we got engaged and I started crunching numbers and forecasting potential savings, it was confirmed. I was a Broke-Ass Bride. Immediately, I started thinking of creative alternatives to a traditional wedding that could help us keep costs down. I came up with various ideas, but my favorites were these two:
- Afternoon reception – I figured serving brunch instead of dinner had to cut down on food costs. However, I vetoed this idea after I realized that my day would start crazy super early. Plus, I would probably end up feeling rushed, which would be no fun.
- Cake and Punch reception – I really liked the idea of having a late-night wedding where only drinks and desserts were served. I imagined the most epic dessert tables on the planet, but my fiancé shot me down. It was important to him that we feed people, even if it meant he had to do all of the cooking.
Once we crossed off every idea, our only option was a traditional reception with dinner and dancing. Which was fine, it just meant we were going to have to cut costs in other ways.
I know what I want … Now, how do I get it?
Since I already had my wedding vision, once we decided on a traditional format I was ready to make the budget. First, I started by calculating how much money we could realistically save between now and summer 2019. Because I love to make lists and spreadsheets (I use Microsoft Excel like it’s crack) this was an enjoyable task for me.
I know, I’m weird.
Then I added in income tax refunds (I underestimated this amount because you never know what can happen). Then I deducted money for other things we saved for in a year, for example, Christmas shopping. Once the vortex of paper, spreadsheets, and formulas stopped swirling, and the dust settled; I unearthed our magic number. That number is …
Drum roll, please …
$12,000
Not the tiniest budget, but certainly not anywhere near the average cost of a wedding in Connecticut, which is over $40,000.
I took my budget and turned it into a chart. See, told ya I was weird.
How do I turn that number into a budget, without wanting to pull out my hair?
Next, I sat down with my binder, which contained a budget breakdown spreadsheet (BAB has one here, too). It was very helpful. I used the percentages under each heading to calculate how much of my budget to allocate to each item. For example, it said that 50% of my budget should go towards the reception which includes the site rental, food, alcohol, etc.
Once I went through the entire sheet, I started tweaking the numbers to suit my preferences and needs. For example, according to the planner, I should allocate $500 towards stationery, but since I decided that I was creating all of the stationery, I cut that amount to $200. Next, I started filling in some of the sub-categories within the budget plan. For example, under the Decorations heading I budgeted:
- $500 for flowers
- $300 for miscellaneous decorations
- $200 for linens
I continued playing with the numbers until I was satisfied the money was allocated in the best way possible to make our wedding a reality.
This is a snippet of the budget that I put together.
Hallelujah! A budget has been born this day!
I suspect, that even though I have my budget plan, there will be plenty of changes to make as we continue to plan our wedding. Once I start figuring out all of the DIY projects I may find that I need less money for flowers and more money for general supplies. Or maybe I get a great deal on the catering, and I use the extra money to fatten up our photography package. One thing I know for sure is that we can’t go over our $12,000 bottom line, so whatever challenges come our way we’ll have to figure out how to overcome them without spending more money.
Not easy to do, but we’ll figure it out.
Y’all got to pray for me!
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Real Bride Holly: Its The Final Countdown! 22 Aug 2017 2:30 AM (7 years ago)
My wedding is two weeks away and I have never felt such a flurry of emotions! Despite some stresses, however, the excitement is definitely in the forefront as we near the final countdown.
In the spirit of lists, here are a couple related to my big day.
10 things I am most looking forward to:
10. My university friend group, which has been scattered across the country, finally reuniting in one place after a long time.
9. Introducing my old friends to my new friends and hopefully seeing them hit it off.
8. Looking like a freaking beauty queen in my dress.
7. Getting to seeing my family, and my fiance’s family, who live in another part of the country.
6. Getting dressed up with my bridesmaids.
5. Seeing my brother, who lives in dirty jeans and T-shirts, in a suit for the first time in my life.
4. Dancing the night away. I haven’t been to a club in years, as I’ve lost my patience for extremely crowded places with overly-friendly strangers. I can’t wait to shake it to my heart’s content with people who I actually want close to me! Also, I got to pick the music.
3. My bachelorette party with all of the amazing ladies that I call my friends.
2. Dancing with my husband to our first dance song. We sneakily even learned a touch of choreography for it and are going to surprise everyone when we bust out some sick moves. I’m otherwise known for having two left feet.
1. Marrying the love of my life.
4 of my favorite personal touches:
4. Since we get to supply our own alcohol, Ev and I are going to have an insane hand-picked collection of our favorite local craft beers for our guests to sample.
3. I made all of the signage myself: Seating charts, guestbook signs, etcetera. I created a simple watercolor paintings on canvas and then wrote over top in gold acrylic paint and gold sharpie.
2. My “first dance” with my dad isn’t actually a dance. He’s not a dancer, and one of my best memories with him is singing along to the radio in the car. So, instead we are going to do karaoke and so air guitar to Queen.
1. My homemade wedding cake!
What are you looking forward to? What are your favorite personal touches? Share in the comments!
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Rock Your Wedding with Reef 18 Aug 2017 2:30 AM (7 years ago)
Reef flip-flops are one of my very favorite things in life. I buy a new pair of Gingers every year. Every year for the last 7+ years. So, naturally, when Reef reached out to see if I’d be interested in working with them to include their products in a post, I jumped at the chance.
Because here’s the thing — it’s not a far stretch to connect Reefs and weddings. In fact, I had a pair of Reefs for my first wedding (I took them off before walking onto the beach). And I wore that year’s Gingers for the rest of the time we were in Hawaii, because if it’s not snowing or raining, that’s what I always wear.
Whether you’re dressing up, dressing down, going sightseeing or just lounging around, Reef has something perfect for every part of your wedding and beyond.
For the Bachelorette Party:
How cute would these be with a classy little swing dress and surround by all your besties?
For the Rehearsal Dinner:
Cute little sundress? Check. Pre-wedding jitters? Check. Your best friends and fam around to celebrate? Check. Super cute and comfy shoes perfect for mingling? Nailed it.
For the Beach Wedding:
These sandals are super comfortable, but look amazing with a gorgeous boho dress — perfect for your beach nuptials. No uncomfortable pinching or achy feet from heels for your laidback, badass self.
For the Honeymoon:
Whether you’re lazily strolling through European streets, stopping at the occasional cafe or bistro for a glass of bubbly or just lounging your honeymoon away on the beach, these flip-flops can’t be beat. They mold to your foot in a way that makes it feel like you’re wearing nothing at all.
For Date Night:
Keep the romance going — and your feet comfortable — with these super cute sandals. I’m totally digging the gold accent and the airy feel, which could perfectly accessorize a cute dress or a sleek pair of skinnies.
Which pair of Reef shoes would you rock for your wedding? Take a look at their site, and come back to share in the comments!
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Can’t Afford It? Get Over It! Galia Lahav’s Bella for under $3,000 17 Aug 2017 2:30 AM (7 years ago)
Hi again BABs! Today we bring you a bridge in love with a unique sparkly gown. Reader Natz Hay commented on this post looking for her dream gown:
Thank you for what you do! I just discovered your site and it’s helping me figure things out since my recent engagement. I have fallen in love with the Galia Lahav – Bella dress but the pocket hasn’t caught up with that price yet. It would be a big help if you could find similar alternatives for less than $3000 especially in that color. Thank you.
That’s gorgeous, no wonder you fell in love! This gown is particularly special in it’s materials. It is sewn clear beading on top of a nude colored fabric to give the impression of sparkling water. Other than the clear sparkly beads and the nude underlay, I don’t see any other color, so that is what I am going to work on for you. I’ll try to find some gowns for you that have a similar feel, of a nude underlay with beaded or lace on top to give a somewhat sheer and sexy look. Let’s see what I can scour the internet to find, Natz …
‘Bella’ by Galia Lahav; $10,000+
Ivory and Nude Lace Backless Long Sleeve Bridal Dress JB32987; $1,500+ by Jovani Bridal
Nadine; $2,000+ by Calla Blanche
Galina Signature style SWG719; $1,000 by David’s Bridal
Roberta; $1,500+ by Adrianna Papell
Jasmine gown; $2,500+ by Calla Blanche
Florinda; $1,500 by Sottero and Midgley
Long Sleeve Illusion Lace Wedding Dress; $1,400 by David’s Bridal
Couture Style CT165; $2,500+ by Eddy K
Ivory/Nude Floor Length Beaded Dress, style 37687; $1,500+ by Jovani Bridal
How’s it looking, Natz? Do any of these hit the mark for the sexy, shimmery, beaded lace look you liked in the Bella gown?
-Jennifer
Got a gown that you just can’t get off your mind? We’re happy to help you get over it! Just tell us in the comments below! Please remember to include the budget you’re working with so we can find you the best alternative for you. Please be aware, though, that because you guys love this column so much, we can often build up quite the queue and it may be a while before we can get to your dream dress. Rest assured, though, Team Broke-Ass is on the case!
*As always, please do your own research before buying a gown online. Team Broke-Ass is here to provide you with inspiration and resources, but it is up to the consumer to know what they’re purchasing.
The post Can’t Afford It? Get Over It! Galia Lahav’s Bella for under $3,000 appeared first on The Broke-Ass Bride: Bad-Ass Inspiration on a Broke-Ass Budget.