this is a place to vent a little, right? so here i go...
i've had two upsets regarding my dress:
1) I had a very specific idea of what i wanted for my dress: tea length, ivory lace with the lining in teal blue (so the teal would peak through the lace). I told my Mom about my idea and asked if she could make it. (She has made me clothes since i was a baby) She said she was up for it. The pattern I had in mind was pretty simple (at least to my thought and all the reviews i read about it), but it would require a few tweeks to get to exactly what I wanted. I'm a size 16 so that's the pattern size i got. Mom made a sample dress, and the chest was too small 
She was pretty upset about that. I think it discouraged her & she doubted her ability. We found a new pattern in a larger size that wouldn't require the tweeks - but after looking at it she was still pretty nervous. My Mom is a perfectionist and I think the presure of making "the most important dress of a girls life" was pretty intimidating. After some though, I decided that I would let Mom off the hook and just find a dress to purchase. But now - because a lot of my other plans was based on the dress (such as my purple pettycoat & peacock shoes) - I knew I needed something with the same silhouette. Tea length, lace dresses in bigger sizes, that don't have to be ordered, are not that easy to find. Oh - and all this was decided about 9 weeks before the big day.
I was fortunate and found a dress - and it fits me beautifuly. It doesn't have the teal lining, but I am doing a teal sash - so at least that color is still incorporated. Its not the one of a kind I was hoping for - but Mom's peace of mine is worth this little sacrifice.
2) My guy has a heart for service & the less fortunate. As a first act in our marriage, we are going to hand out a sack lunch & new socks to the homless in our town in between the ceremony & reception. I was pretty excited about this, not only as it is a reflection of who we are & how we want our marriage to be (in service of others) but I would get to wear my dress out around town. I even got some sparkley tennies as I knew I wouldn't want to be in heels for this part of the day. Well just this week, my FH said to me he doesn't think it would be right for us to be all dressed up while we hand out the socks & sandwiches. It may look as though we are flaunting what we are doing. And the people we are trying to serve may be intimidated by our fancey clothes - like we are doing this for the wrong reasons (IE for the attention it would bring).
*SIGH* he's right... ultimately the reason for wanting to hand out socks & sandwiches is to serve others and not for the attention. If I am honest, the vain side of me wanted the attention being in my dress would bring. But I know, it would be better to change out of the dress for this servant project. I did ask if I could wear a "BRIDE" shirt and my sparkley shoes - and he said "Of course."
I know these are both little things in the grand scheme of things. The dress is still beautiful and I will still get to wear it for hours!