So knotties, I made the terrible mistake of going onto the Martha Stewart wedding website. I call this a mistake because, in my experience, reading up on Martha's admittedly creative and oh-so-perfectly chic ideas will only make you feel like an untalented, tactless boob when you try to fashion five hundred perfect silver rosettes out of used tissue, soda cans and duct tape and fail miserably. In this particular case, Martha (and Emily Post) have me feeling paranoid that my dress will be too formal for my outdoor, daytime ceremony. According to this, I should be wearing what looks like a Target bargain bin sundress rather than an actual wedding gown.
http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/photogallery/best-dressed-for-every-type-of-occasion#slide_7Here I always thought that getting married was the one time that a girl could look like (and be spoiled like) a princess without feeling silly about it. The other side of this, to be more serious about it, is that it seems to be implying that brides of lesser means should never be able to wear an actual bridal gown. (Both the semiformal and informal dresses pictured are light-colored standard issue department store dresses, not gowns-go back a couple of slides from the link if you want to see semiformal.) Honestly, if I went to a wedding and the bride was wearing what looked more like beachwear than bridalwear, I would feel like that was more...odd than wearing a formal gown. Not that I would think badly of it regardless, because it is the bride's day, but...isn't that the point? That it's the bride's day? I mean, I would love to host a formal event with a five course meal and an orchestra for entertainment, but I cannot afford it. I had planned on making the "look" of the wedding more semiformal/formal, but not insisting on any particular dress code, simply because of the somewhat difficult economic times that so many of us find ourselves in at the moment. I didn't want a potential guest to feel as though they had to choose between buying an expensive new outfit and a gift or not attending at all. I would rather everyone was comfortable and not feeling self-conscious about their attire, as I suspect many of my working class friends would be if I were to have a black tie event. And, we are having the wedding outdoors because I am pagan and the outdoors
is my sacred/ritual space. So, what do you think. Does my potential spurning of apparel etiquette make me a classless boob, or is it okay to bend the rules in favor of the
oh my gosh it's super pretty and I only get to do this once! wedding gown.
Bee tee dubs, this is my gown (which yes, I have already purchased at a sample sale, yay bargain shopping):
http://www.onewed.com/wedding-dresses/designer/casablanca-bridal/dress/strapless/a-line/floor-length/1990/ What has four thumbs and is totally stoked about getting married? These people!!
