The story of a girl and her wedding dress

Once upon a time there was a girl searching for the most beautiful dress in all the land....

I wanted to write this entry when everything was fresh in my mind. When I was all excited and buzzed over finding THE DRESS. Yep, thats right, I bought my wedding dress this weekend. But it's good that I waited and I can put down all my thoughts coherently. I don't know if you would have even been able to understand my excited gibberish from this weekend. It would have gone something like OMG!!1!!!11!IFOUNDMYDRESS!THEDRESS!OMG!!!11!IMCRYING.BUTSOSOSOSOSOSHAPPYANDEXCITED!

Really, I was waiting to get some photos back from Robyn that she had taken. What good is a blog post without the photos? I also was a little bummed out about some blogging news I got last week and it kinda threw me off my game, but oh well. Time to move on. And I'm really happy with my blog and in the end, I'm just doing this for myself. I love if others are enjoying it and reading it, but I started it for me and Ned and that's what I need to remember.

So you wanna hear about my dress? Really? Because it's amazing. And perfect. And beautiful. And it makes me feel like a million dollars.


(Photo credit: Tina from Posh)

I should start at the beginning which was some time last week. Well, maybe even before that. If you remember, I was planning on having my wedding dress made for me. After one very horrible experience and searching the internet to find dresses I liked, I figured there was no way I would find something in a store that I liked. But even though I was planning to go shopping again a couple weekends ago, I was still putting it off. Thankfully, I have Rue constantly pushing me and reminding me to get things done.

After a dozen texts/emails/calls from Robyn telling me I needed to set up an appointment, I finally got around to making some calls. Unfortunately, or for my sake, fortunately, none of the first shops I called had appointments available for this weekend. I was able to set up an appointment for a couple weeks out for The Wedding Shoppe. No one was answering the phone at Grace and my voice mail wasn't immediately returned. And there was no way I was going back to Brides of France.

Then Robyn suggested I look up this place called Posh Bridal Couture that she happened to run across an ad for just by chance at a salon. It's a couture shop in the Semple Mansion and in the ad they had a dress in the exact style she knew I would love. Ok, so a couture shop in Mpls with awesome dresses....yeah, probably not going to have anything in my size. Or, that's what I was thinking. And again, I'm pretty average when it comes to clothes. I can wear a medium to large top from a normal department store and my dress size is usually a 10/12. I don't mind admitting that. I'm considered fairly average. But....wedding dresses run incredibly small. I was told at the shop that how they do the sizing is to take your normal dress size and add 4 sizes to that. That's your typical wedding dress size. Nice, huh? Lets make all the brides feel really fat in what's supposed to be the most important dress they will ever wear. Frustrating.


(Photo credit: Robyn)

To get on with the story, I looked up Posh online and after checking out some of their lovely designers, I thought what the hell and gave them a call. Marie answered the phone and I was immediately hooked. Not only did she reassure me that they would have dresses in my size to try on, she was so amazingly friendly and as luck would have it, had an appointment available for Saturday morning. I booked it.

Now here is where I start getting overly gushy and go on and on about just how amazing my dress shopping experience was. I am so lucky to say that I had that wonderful and beautiful dress experience that you see in the movies. The experience that little girls supposedly dream about, but I never thought would be me. Remember, I love dresses, but wedding dresses? It's not like I ever sat around and imagined what mine would be like. And wedding dresses scare me because, wow, they are expensive and beautiful and everyone is going to be looking at you on that day. But I am so happy to say that I had that magical experience that brought tears to my eyes. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Saturday morning Robyn picked me up at my house in Minneapolis and we headed over to the Semple Mansion. It turns out that Posh has only been open since November and that is why I had never heard of them before, but they are located conveniently inside the mansion along with some other businesses. We were lucky to be the only customers inside the shop at this time and we were greeted with comfy slippers, champagne and fancy cheese and crackers. (I have to add that they don't skimp on that champagne either!) I was also lucky to have not one amazing sales girl helping me, but two; Tina and Stacey. They were both dolls. I really need to mention here just how incredible they made my experience. They were sweet, considerate, non judgmental, not pushy, not fake and they really listened to what I was looking for and what I wanted. They got to know me as a person. It really felt like they wanted to find me the perfect dress that not only looked good on me, but showed off who I am.

So...caring sales girls, champagne, beautiful dresses, what else could make this even more wonderful? The shop itself. It was like out of a fairy tale or something that you would see in a movie. From the chandeliers to the textured wallpaper to the gorgeous couches to the plush rugs to the tin ceilings...everything was beautiful. I don't even think photos can do this place justice. It's just something you should experience for yourself.



(Photo credits: Robyn)

Now to get back to my dress. The girls asked me about myself and what I was looking for and Robyn mentioned the dress from the ad she saw. Tina knew exactly the one and brought that in along with a bunch of other gorgeous dresses. Of course though, it was the one that Robyn suggested that I tried on first and it was THE DRESS. I glowed. I teared up. I laughed. I didn't want to ever take it off. It was perfect. But, like a good girl, I tried on other dresses. There was another contender in the mix, but as lovely as it was, it wasn't the same. Marie was incredible and put together a good offer for me. Even knocked off the price of some alterations and since it was a trunk show, I was offered 10% off if I purchased that day. Wow. Tough decision. Luckily I had Robyn with me to keep me thinking straight. She encouraged me to go to some other stores to try on more dresses before buying the most perfect and beautiful dress in the world.

And off we went. I could not stop glowing. I could not stop talking about the dress. It was beautiful and perfect and...over budget. Ugh. Even with the discounts, it was more than I wanted to spend. Total heartache. So Rue and I went to another shop and there was nothing there I could bring myself to even try on. I remembered Hallie mentioning a couture shop to me that is located in St Paul so I quickly called them up and asked if they had any time available that afternoon. Incredibly enough, even with their Vera Wang trunk show going on, they could squeeze me in.

I need to mention that during all of this, I called Ned and told him about THE DRESS. I told him it was over budget, but just how amazing it was and how it made me feel. His response? If it made me happy and if I knew it was THE DRESS, then I should buy it. He even offered to pay the deposit for me. Seriously, best fiance ever.

Back to trying on dresses. Brilliant, lovely dresses. Vera Wang dresses. And yet, they didn't compare. Wow. I thought that if I ever fell for a dress of the rack, it would be a Vera. But nope. All I could think about was MY DRESS. Thats how I was thinking of it by then. Mine. Like it had been designed just for me. What were the chances that Rue would see it in a magazine while getting her eyebrows waxed? What were the chances that they would have an appointment open for that Saturday? What were the chances that they would have that dress there for me to try? Everything just fell into place and I fell in love.


(Photo credit: Robyn) (No idea what I'm looking at here.)

Is this getting too mushy for you yet? Because really, I could go on and on and on about this dress. But to make a very long story just a tiny bit shorter, I bought the dress. After trying on the Vera Wang dresses I knew that it was the one. Robyn and I rushed back to Posh to make the purchase. Again we were treated to more champagne and tons of hugs and I got to put my dress back on and Robyn took a million photos. Photos that I will not share. At least, not until after the wedding. Call me old fashioned, but my dress is going to remain a secret from Ned until the day of. Which really wasn't a big deal to me before, but then Robyn drilled it into my head that I should not ruin the surprise. Poor Ned.

The end.

- Gan

Not sure I'm ready for this

I decided that this coming weekend I'm going to try on wedding dresses again. I got my W2s last week and immediately filed my taxes. According to TurboTax, they have already been accepted and I should be getting my return direct deposited any day. That means it's definitely time to try this again. (Notice the lack of exclamation points here.)

The last time I attempted this it ended better than it started, but it was still pretty hard on me. You would think this would be my favorite part of the planning as much as I love dresses, but it's emotionally and physically draining for me. I wish I had a fairy godmother who could just wave her wand and stick me in a beautiful dress.



Unfortunately, I don't have a fairy godmother and I have to actually go to shops to try on dresses. I do plan on having my dress made for me, and in my head I have an idea of what I like, but I need to try on dresses with a similar style to see if I will actually look good in it.

If you had asked me 10 years ago what I imagined getting married in, it would have been something like this:



5 years ago it would have been this:



Now I have a completely different style in mind. Something fuller like the first dress, but different cut, different top, different material. I wish I had some pictures on this computer to share, but I'm at work and I also want to check with Ned before posting something like that. I guess I don't care if he sees my dress before the wedding, and I'm sure he would be fine with it, but I also don't want to ruin the surprise.

- Gan

Being a fit bride part 1

Something I dread blogging about is my fitness. Not just because I'm out of shape, though there is that too, but because once I start, Im going to have to keep it up. It's so embarrassing to blog about how you are going to stick to something and/or kick butt at it and then never blog about it again. I don't want to fail at getting in shape AND blogging about it. Double whammy.

I do need to get into shape though. I'm not incredibly out of shape. I can still easily jog a mile or three. I can roller skate my butt off. I can still climb quite a few sets of stairs since climbing a mountain in Austria this last summer. But I do need to be honest here. I could stand to lose quite a few pounds and tone my body up.

This was me in San Francisco a little over a year ago.


This was me, and Ned, this last summer for our engagement photo shoot at the MN State Fair:


I hate to say it, but I've put on 20 lbs or so since Ned and I met. That sucks. Like, really, really, really sucks. I wasn't thin to begin with. I'm someone who is normally considered curvy, but I was definitely healthier and in way better shape than I am now.

I'm trying to set some realistic goals for myself. I know I can take off the weight I've put on, but I would also like to lose a few pounds on top of that since I want to feel amazing on my wedding day. And not just because of the wedding, but because I really want to be fit and healthy. I want to feel good about myself. There have been many times in the past where I have set very unrealistic goals and totally failed at them. I'm hoping that by keeping things simple and not over reaching, I should be able to accomplish the things I want.

This past Christmas, Ned and I picked up a Wii along with the Wii fit board and Fit Plus. We were hoping it would be a fun way to keep us motivated to work out over the long and cold Minnesota winter. At first it was awesome. We were using it every day. Then I dropped down to a couple times a week. Today when I logged on, it said it had been 13 days since my last weigh in. Shit. Total fail. The good thing was, it told me I was down 5.1 lbs since my last weigh in when I thought for sure I had put on weight.



Me in the summer of 2008.

Since I'm going to make myself accountable, as much as I hate it, I'm going to be blogging about my fitness/exercise/nutrition here at least once a week. Starting today.

My favorite workout on the Wii Fit Plus is the 30 minute run. And taking a cue from my niece, Maddi, when I use the running program, I don't just run in place. I've taken to jogging around my living room and dining room to make it a bit more interesting. I'm lucky to have quite a bit of open space to run around inside my house. Yeah, I might look a bit dorky. And yeah, the Wii might be a bit off in the distance it's telling me I'm running. But I can tell the workout I'm getting. And if I use my heart rate monitor, I can easily keep track of where I need to be with my intensity and how much more I need to push myself.

I got quite a nice workout in this morning. 10 minutes of yoga stretching, 4 minute warm up walk, 30 minute run, and about 20 minutes of boxing. I felt great afterwards and was quite a bit sweaty. I'm planning on doing the 30 minute run at least 3 times a week, but I want to get a Wii workout in at least 5 days a week. I'm not sure what my routine will be, I'm going through a schedule change at work currently, but once I get it planned out, I'll be posting about it here.


Me and Rue in the summer of 2009.

I also have a gym membership at the local YWCA. I have not been going as of late, but Ned has quit his gym so he can join mine and we can go together. I'm hoping that we will be more inclined to go if we are going together and not losing any of our valuable "together time". We both have incredibly busy schedules and between our jobs and our other ventures, it seems like we don't see each other as much as we like. Working out together seems like a win win situation.

- Gan

To cover or not to cover?

I wanted to make this post yesterday, but I got sidetracked by life. I also had to reschedule a tattoo appointment to finish up my newest piece till next month. By the end of the day I just forgot I promised this entry, but it's definitely something important to me so I want to write about it.

Something Ive been asked quite a few times is if Im going to cover my tattoos for my wedding, either with makeup or my dress. The answer for me is really simple; no.

I love my tattoos. If I didn't, why would I have them? They make me who I am. I chose to get them for a reason. I don't see the point in covering them for my wedding, or any day for that matter. Im actually incredibly confused by those that choose to cover. I guess I just don't understand why you would cover them. Maybe you don't think they are appropriate? Or they will upset relatives? Or they aren't classy enough for your wedding? Or....I just don't know. But I ask again, why have them if you want to hide them or you don't think they are classy or appropriate?


(Credit to Allebach Photography)

There are some tattoos you get in places that aren't seen on a daily basis for a reason. They aren't ones you want to show off to the general public. They are personal or private or whatever. Or maybe you have a career where you just can't pull off visible tattoos. I guess it makes sense that if you don't normally show them off that you would cover them on your wedding day. But mostly because they are in spots that are naturally covered.

My tattoos are pretty visible and I like it that way. Not because Im screaming to be looked at, but they are an expression of who I am. I consider them artwork. They are in places that are seen on an average day and will be visible when wearing my wedding dress. I wouldn't want it any other way.

I want to be myself on my wedding day. That means not hiding my tattoos or taking out my piercings or keeping my hair at whatever color I think is beautiful at the time. To me, the most beautiful woman is a woman not afraid to be herself. And on such an important day, you should be yourself. It's YOUR wedding. And this also goes for grooms, too! They should be able to express themselves and be who they are on their wedding day.


(Credit to Rebecca Peters Photography)

I guess it's easier for me because I think tattoos and piercings are attractive, especially on brides. I don't have to put much thought into the fact that I'm going to show my tattoos on my wedding day and that I'm going to have a dress that compliments them. I'm also fine with the fact that my bridesmaids have tattoos and theirs will also be visible at my wedding.

This is me and my MOH, Amanda, at GWG '09. My chest piece, that is still lacking color, along with my back piece, will be completely visible at my wedding and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Brides with tattoos?

One more quick post for the day since I just got a call from my tattoo shop reminding me of my upcoming appointment. Make sure to check back tomorrow as I discuss my thoughts on being a bride with visable tattoo work.


(Credit to Tasha Hundahl and Offbeatbride.com)