pamphilia

Quote: Originally Posted by wedgirl2011 Hey Again, I emailed Sandra again after a couple of weeks, and got a reply back right away - we FINALLY have our date - April 26th, 2011 at the Gazebo for a civil ceremony! Now to figure out what to do for a reception!!! Happy Planning! And dont stress! =) congrats!!

Quote: Originally Posted by KRama Wow, I have a lot to catch up on! We just got back from our honeymoon last night so still have lots to do. I'll catch up soon! Promise! welcome back Kayley! can't wait to hear all about (and see pics of) your wedding!

Quote: Originally Posted by BeachBrideSoon Thanks for sharing!! I wonder if its all Michael's stores because I'm in Canada, but it can't hurt checking! Thanks! did you find any here in calgary??

Quote: Originally Posted by prettypigpig Ah..nice dress! I have been lurking this thread for a while...from what I saw...as long as your dream dress is simple, or..normal style...most of the chinese folks can replicate it without..any major problem. Of course..the fabric and some details may be off ..from time to time. Not to mention that Pronovias, LaSposa, and San Patrick dresses are all made in China, so I guess some folks may have the real patterns to replicate the dress at 90%+. However, if your dream dress is a bit complicated..like the Vera Wang Diana dress, then you may reconsider before you order it. i totally agree with this. the dress i am hoping to order from gianinar is very very simple and i think that will be my saving grace! the more details - the more chances that something won't look right! Quote: Originally Posted by Cassiepl I knew the moment I saw the dress at inweddingdress.com that I was in love. Admittedly, though, I was a bit hesitant to order a dress sight unseen (and without trying on ANY dresses), but I knew I could not afford the $1200 price tag from other stores. I took a leap of faith, and I wanna recommend this China seller to everyone ever since! Not only was my dress stunning, their customer service was superb! I received so many compliments on my dress, and even the ladies at the alterations shop kept going on about how gorgeous it was. Best regards to everyone! would you mind posting some photos of your dress for us? i would love to see it!

Quote: Originally Posted by roxmysockz Ahhhh excited!!! My dress shipped from gianinarbridal 3 days ago the status on the shipping says its now in London! Hopefully get it tomorrow!! x EEEEEK! so exciting!! i can't wait to see it! Quote: Originally Posted by Mimi83 Well, I've just ordered this Jim Hjelm 8800 knockoff from an eBay seller yesterday, and I'm already experiencing all kinds of anxiety! What if it won't fit? What if it'll turn out ugly? What if the fabric will look super shiny? This seller is Cloudshow on eBay, and has 100% positive feedback, so that helps alleviate my fear somewhat, but I'm still so worried. I'll keep you guys updated. I'm already looking into how to file a complaint with PayPal, for just in case. Lol. that dress is STUNNING!!! i hope it is perfect!

i am in the South East (McKenzie Towne)... and am not big on the driving after dark (i have bad eyes) but i would love to meet up somewhere and will try my best! Natalie - growing up in Mississauga, i spent a lot of time in Oakville - i love it there. Mayan - thanks for the Chair Flair info. i was going to purchase sashes for $1 each, but of course, with shipping, it ends up being much more. i think renting sashes at my resort is at least $2 each and i just cant justify paying twice as much as i have to. i can drag them there and back i think!

Quote: Originally Posted by MissNatalie18 Hi All, I am actually moving to Calgary on June 7th and in the midst of planning my wedding for April 2011. It would be great to meet some friends on here. I was actually in Calgary for my first time over the long weekend! It is very different than Toronto, but I am hoping I can meet some friends soon to make the transition easier. Natalie welcome natalie! i have only been in Calgary for 6 months, so you will not be the only newbie here! i am originally from Mississauga, and i absolutely love it here in Calgary - i am sure you will too.

Quote: Originally Posted by Jenn&Kraig Well ladies!! Sandra got back to me with her sincerest apologies as May is a very crazy time for them. I have worked out and now booked our wedding date!!! Feb 25, 2011 - Majestic Elegence 1:00 pm on the beach (symbolic ceremony)!!!!!! Yippeeeee!!!! We also just booked with La Barcaza for our reception, sent the wire transfer today to secure it!!! It's all coming together!!! I do feel for you guys though!! now that we have our date and time secured...i am not going sweat the rest, I am at ease!! it can all be worked out!! Hang in there ladies!!!! congratulations!! it really is much less stressful once you have your date and details booked. enjoy the rest of your planning!

Quote: Originally Posted by Lindslou Hi Pam Good to hear that you had a good camping trip!!! Do go check out Tops, they had tones of plus sizes!!! When I was a Menas there was a girl looking for plus sizes and all the dresses I saw her in were beautiful too!!!! Good luck, there is lots out there. I'm still planning on going to a couple more stores that I haven't visited yet and if I see any more I will pass it on. someone else mentioned that they had a great experience with Mena's too, so i will check them out as well, thanks again, linds! Quote: Originally Posted by MayanLily Pam you're so brave. I wouldn't last one night knowing there were bears and snow out there! Glad you had a great long weekend! i was pretty stressed about the bears - the conservation officers were out with their guns and some other campers got pics VERY close up (like 15 feet away)....i have a bit of a bear phobia, so it was pretty intense the snow hardly bothered us though! we are tough cookies!

Cara - welcome back and congrats! can't wait to hear all about it! Linds - that is great to know about the plus sizes, i will have to check out Tops for sure! ...and as for me, i am back from camping a day early than expected. one of our friends got sick, and forgot his air mattress, so he was feeling pretty rough - so we came back to our place before he and his girlfriend went back up to Fort Mac. i was bummed, but enjoyed my own bed lastnight. buuuttt, we had a great time in Kananaskis! the bears were out in full force and so was the snow!! but we had fun!

Quote: Originally Posted by Jennybell1 Hey Pam! Have a great time in K Country! We had booked at Boulton back in March for this weekend, but cxl'd on tuesday bc of the weather. I didnt want to be stuck in the trailer all weekend with three extra guests and two dogs....let me know how it went so I can live vicariously through you!!! HAve fun!! And remember, its still cold enough to make peeing outside not worth it....lol thanks jenny! the weather isn't ideal - but we live on the edge. and we are TENTING no less! the last two May Long weekends we have gone camping, it has snowed - so we expect no less this time. we are tough cookies and just drink mass amounts of wine and beer to keep warm let's hope the bears aren't too hungry!!

thanks for the heads up! i was actually disappointed that the sale was going on this weekend because i am out of town. now i feel like i am not missing anything!! we are going camping in Kananaskis this weekend and i am SO excited!! the first camp of the season! what are you all up to?

janine - very nice! looks so comfy! mimi - your dress looks nice! you are probably right about them holding off on the beading in case they needed to change anything...but always best to clarify!

janine - you look stunning in each and every one of those dresses! i love the first one (the belt is GORGEOUS) and the jorge manuel one is awesome too. can't wait to see the one you DID get (from your message on the knockoff thread)!

congrats Janine! i guess no more pondering whether or not to "Gianinar or Not to Gianinar"! looking forward to pics

oh my god. what a WICKED site!!! thanks jackie!

Quote: Originally Posted by jackie_c Omg have you girls seen the free monograms from the site that aishab posted today? they're BEAUTIFUL! I'm smitten. Here's an example: that is beautiful! what site is it?

Ballerina! your dress looks beautiful - i can't wait to see it on you!

thanks jenny - i will for sure try out Ethos. i am currently a size 20 but am hoping to be a 14 by the time in wedding rolls around. so it is hard trying dresses on a body that i probably wont have come january! echo - i would love to see the dress on those different body types, please post when you get a chance!

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo Yeah I am thinking of just telling the girls to get something pink/orange/yellow (might be fun if they get one of each) and just any close to knee length dress without bling. My MOH is Indian and is a tiny thing. Another really good friend is quite big and the third is a wife of a really good friend (she is actually driving me nuts now actually, what a diva!) anyhow and she is on the high side of average, so regardless one dress or style wouldnt work on them. Yeah I love Victoria Secret - I actually know the dress you mean! I would love to buy something online J-Crew, Macy's etc. all have such great dresses! But the girls are apprehensive with anything online so trying local stores first. On another note - dont psyche yourself out, when you go to find your perfect dress I am sure its going to be a great experience!! i think what we will end up doing is having them go and try Alfred Angelo dresses in a store near them (they are all back in ontario) and then we will order them online from a less expensive outlet (like houseofbrides.com or something)... i actually tried on some dresses when i was back home in ontario this weekend. i specifically picked this one place becuase they advertised having plus sized dresses - but alas, when we got there, they only had size 8-12 samples (which wouldn't quite cut it for me). i was able to get into some of them (not done up of course), but others i just had to hold up to msyelf. it really wasn't a good trip to determine what looked good and what didn't look good because they just werent even close to fitting. but i was glad to get out there and try a couple on at least. i also went to a shop that carries the Priscilla of Boston dress i love (knowing full well that i wouldn't be able to try it on) - but i just wanted to look at it and hold it up to myself. it is gorgeous. i love it. sooo...i think i want to find some shops here in calgary that actually DO carry plus size samples just to try some styles that actually fit on me, and then i can decide from there what i want to do.

we are really hoping just to get something in a regular mall store - but i have a plus sized MOH, one skinny, and one curvy BM....so it is hard to find something to fit everyone! i love the convertible dresses, but i don't know if it would suit everyone ...in other news, i dreamt about trying on wedding dresses all night...hehe. it DID NOT go well!

Quote: Originally Posted by WretchedDeviant christina: I love how much of a perfectionist you are it's great, most people don't look at those small things I'm sure it helps those of us thinking of Gianinar, but honestly no one's going to notice them like you do and also I'm sure a seamstress can help fix a lot of those minor issues, sure you'll be spending the extra money for a seamstress to do adjustments but it still makes it less than the original would have cost. The dress is GORGEOUS, I did notice the stitches but never would have noticed a lot of it until it was pointed out and even though we got close ups of the issues I really doubt anyone at your wedding will ever notice them even standing next to you. Now I'm completely confused about the different fabrics, you can order fabric samples for $5 I think from them, I'm not sure if that includes shipping or not though. Does anyone know what fabric they used on luciel's dress on page 52? Quote: Originally Posted by luciel2820 My dress is also taffeta. I think it feels great actually not stiff at all. taffeta!!

Quote: Originally Posted by JenB Pam, those are GREAT!!! How long did it take to get them? Rebecca had them to me just a couple of days after my order! we then tweaked them a little bit, and she was always VERY prompt and more than happy to make any changes we wanted! worth every penny (which wasn't much to begin with!)..

here are ours, which were done by Rebecca at Custom Wedding Monograms - Allurements by Rebecca Rebecca is awesome, and i highly reccomend her!

Quote: Originally Posted by christinak82 alright girls: I took some pics of my dress today... I could tie it up pretty tight and I hoped that all the crooked parts would disappear but it still looks weird on/to me... I will post some pics of the whole dress first and then show you some details that I think make the dress look really sh...y! I dont know if I can fix that all... my mother in law said its all just small things, but because there are so many small things I´ve noticed, it just gets a whole big unignorable thing... your dress is beautiful christina - but i would be upset with some of the issues as well. those stitch marks on the bust are unacceptable, in my opinion - but your mother in law is right, no one will be judging your dress like you are. you might able to steam out those stitch holes, and i am sure a seamstress can help you with the other details. i still do think it is stunning enough to be your official dress, it is gorgeous.