One-Stop Shop

J Crew is the reason that I cannot have credit cards.

Most of their clothes, at full price, are too expensive for me to buy on a regular basis. I regularly surf their final sale, and ebay them quite a bit, but buying anything from them full price is highly unusual and a treat.

In terms of wedding dresses, though, the prices are reasonable and fit nicely within my budget for my wedding dress (which is $1,000 or under. I wish it was lower, but I don't think I will be able to find what I want if I don't spend about that much). Here's what I am thinking:

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This is the Cotton Cady Erica gown and it is $850. I kind of love that it's cotton. Our wedding isn't going to be super formal, so I'm not worried about that. It has some really pretty detailing on the bust, too. It's just a bit on the plain side for me. I plan on wearing fabulous, colorful satin heels, so that would definitely add to it. I also wonder about adding a vintage rhinestone pin to the waist, or maybe some chiffon flowers in the same spot? I think it would be easy to add some trim to the bottom, maybe some pleating sticking out from underneath the dress. I would order a cute shrug from Etsy, too, because I'm always cold. No alterations would be needed, as I know what size I wear in J Crew and it comes in petites (yay!). But would this dress be a budget-buster by the time I added everything that I think it needs?

I'm also loving this:

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This is the J Crew metallic rose Madison gown. I like the texture of the fabric, but something is funny about the neckline to me. I almost think it needs to be a deeper v, but that would be easy to fix. This one runs at $1,000, right on budget.

Criteria for my wedding dress:
-Ivory

-Tight on the butt (I have pretty much nothing up top, so I've got to emphasize what I do have)

-Not a lot of fabric on the botton (no mermaids or ball gowns, I'm looking for a sheath or a trumpet). I'm petite, I own it, and I want to wear the dress, not the other way around.

-Something that falls within the happy medium between crap-all-over-the-dress and plain-and-boring

-I like strapless (so does my fiance) and that way I can get a cute shrug off of Etsy! The strapless is negotiable.

On to my handsome groom.

{We are not renting tuxs (this totally freaked the people at David's Bridal out). We are going to buy Ryan a nice black/gray/charcoal suit and have the groomsmen wear their own black suits. We'll also have the groomsmen wear their own white shirts, and we'll probably gift them coordinating ties and socks.}

J Crew, once again, offered a very attractive little number:

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It is so cute! Ryan would look fantastic in this, and that would give him a nice suit that would last a while. The jacket is $248, the pants are $118, and the vest is $98. Not too bad for an ensemble that Ryan would have for a long time. J Crew is such good quality, I think it's worth it. Ryan mentioned last night that his white shirts are on the raggedy side, and J Crew has a good selection under $70.

J Crew also offers some great bridesmaids options, as I'm sure you know. My sister, roommate, and maid-of-honor is hardcore J Crew. She wants a J Crew bridesmaid dress BAD. They just don't have a big color selection, and they are on the pricey side. I just can't ask the other bridesmaids to pay more than $100-$150 for a dress. I'm not dead set on the bridesmaids matching, so I might just give them some color guidelines and let them do what they'd like. That way, Allison can have her J Crew dress and I don't have any guilt over asking my lovely ladies to buy pricey dresses.

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Does it look familiar? It's the bridesmaid's version of the first dress in this post! I'm nothing if not consistent, right? This dress is pricey-$225, so I wouldn't ask anyone to buy it unless it makes it's way over to final sale.

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This one is pricey too, also at $225. I think the style would be flattering on lots of different shapes and sizes, though. This would also be contingent upon final sale status.

Can I add that J Crew's customer service is stellar? I e-mailed their wedding coordiator, Tanya Clement, who assured me that shipping is waived on exchanges. She also mentioned that you can try on some of their lovely wedding dresses at the following stores:

N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL (312.751.2739), Lenox Square, Atlanta, GA (404.237.2739), Rockefeller Center, New York, NY (212.765.4227), and The Grove, Los Angeles, CA (323.939.1070).

If you live near one of these stores, then I am jealous.

I think that J Crew might be my one-stop wedding shop.