Hello!!! Haven't posted in a while.. actually, haven't done much planning in a while- things have been crazy since I moved to North Eastern Pa.
I planned a trip back to Pgh last weekend so my gals and I could check out bmaid dresses. After scouring the internet for hours upon hours I had my heart set on several different styles of Alfred Sung dresses. Being out of town, I wanted to get some price quotes before making the 5 hour trip, just to find out the dresses were too expensive. I was hoping to find something around $150. So I set out to find which bridal salons in the Pgh area carried Alfred Sung. Candalina Bridal was the first to respond, MB Brides prices for the same dresses were $40-50 dollars more, Babette's wouldn't give me a quote on the phone or via email and Michaels did not respond.
So, Candalina Bridal (in Swissvale) it was! I asked the girl ahead of time if I could bring champagne, she said yes. When we got there they had flutes for us, but being the classy broads that we are, opted to drink right out of the mini bottles, ha. They had 3 or 4 of the dresses I had in mind in stock. The necklines were even better in person! But the fabric, oh the fabric... was NOT. You could hear the peau di soie (or whatver it's called) whenever they moved and it was very wrinkly. And the dupioni looked very nice but was way too heavy for an outdoor summer wedding. WAH! Now what?! Our sales assistant Brandy scoured the store for dresses for us. I liked a lot of other styles but many of them were out of our price range. I did spot a dress that I rememebered liking online. So we tried that and success!
I really really wanted to give my girls the option of selecting their own style from a similar line, but there wasn't anything else like this dress. It has a lace overlay on top with a poly satin bottom. They all said they liked it, felt pretty in it, and felt comfortable in it. I sent a picture to my maid in SC and she liked it too. Originally $175 and with the 10% discount we'll get that will bring it down to $158!
It looks absolutely nothing like the dresses I first had in mind but it has all the qualities I want: kinda different, cute cut in the back, goes well w/my dress (lace), no cleavage and no tan line worries! Going with this dress in green (called celadon but looks more like a sage to me).
Also-- everyone at Candalina was super nice! Even made us coffee as we browsed the color swatches!
http://www.jasminebridal.com/ugC_Product_Detail.asp?hidP_kind=Bridesmaids&hidP_style=B2&hidP_style_ID=B143018