Dresses, Rings, & Tuxes-Oh My! on March 26th

Sneak peak of my dress as it's being left for alterations to the bustle

 
Jeff and I tackled a lot on this Monday-- from picking out a tux, getting my wedding band fixed, returning the sweaters Aly bought at Macy's in exchange for gift cards to mail back to her, dropping my wedding dress off at David's to get the horrible NC bustle dismantled/recreated, picking up Jamie's bridesmaid dress, and having dinner with the Uhlinger fam at the Cheesecake factory. Whew!

First off, Jeff and I went to see Ralph the tailor in Gloversville.  Ralph is the father of one of Jeff's groomsmen, and we were happy to keep our business local.  Jeff had already gotten a tux catalog from him and I instantly fell in love with "Chocolate Parisan."  We went in to see what we had to do to order and to look at vest combinations etc.  Much to my chagrin, it turned out that tux style had been discontinued and would not be available to rent after April 15th.  The only other brown tux in the new catalog was not as nice or the right shade and I was really bummed.  Luckily, Ralph offered to buy the sizes of the tuxes we would need for the guys so that we could rent them from him for the wedding.  We got on the phone right away to get the guys down to the shop before the cut-off date so that we could get their measurements, which included getting my mom to measure my dad and tell me over the phone what sizes he would need until he can be fitted right before the wedding.

Next, we went to Glennpeter to have them fix my wedding band.  As you may recall from the previous post, I was rattled by the lack of mil grain on the band when we picked it up on Saturday, but couldn't put my finger on what was missing until we had left the store.  When we got there, we were immediately greeted by the salesman we had been working with before and he graciously took care of the issue right away.  In fact, instead of making us drop off the ring and come back, he insisted that the jeweler add what was missing while we waited.  Within minutes he presented me with the ring I had envisioned, and I was so relieved that tears of joy sprang to my eyes as I asked him to give me a hug!  Jeff laughed and was happy to see me happy.

After killing some time at Colonie Center returning Aly's sweaters at Macy's and getting Jeff's hair cut, we met Jamie, Corey and Meaghan at David's Bridal.  The guys went and did their thing, while us girls stayed behind to tackle the massive box of dress I trudged inside with bated breath.  It took two seamstresses and two supervisors to try to figure out the mess of a bustle that the North Carolina store had put on the dress so sloppily that the ribbons and loop points were falling off in our hands.   After determining that the North Carolina store would have to refund the alterations charges so that the Albany store would get credit for redoing the work, they fitted me for a new bustle and assured me that the old one would be taken out and that the dress would be perfect.  I stood on the pedestal holding up layers of fabric as it was being pinned and I felt overwhelmed and crestfallen looking into the mirror.  I wanted to cry--there was so much stress tied up in this stupid dress now that I just wanted to start over and try on new ones I'd seen on the mannequins on the way in.  Luckily, I had Meaghan, Jamie, and cheesecake to cheer me up.  Meaghan most adorably soothed me with coos of "It's going to be okay," and hugged her tiny arms around my waist.  I knew she was right, and it would be okay.  It's just going to be a bumpy road :o)

After a long day of fixing wedding issues, I enjoyed my first ever trip to the Cheese Cake Factory with a slice of pineapple upside down cake cheesecake--YUM!