Blubbering Mess

Yep, that's me.   A hormonal ball of nerves right now!   This morning, we went to the shop where Hubby and Xman needed to get fitted for tuxedos (oes?)  for S-I-L's wedding.    We also decided to go ahead and pick out the tuxes for our ceremony.   The one that we have had planned for several years now, happening the weekend before S-I-L planned hers.   Anyway, I was supposed to already be over that, so moving right along.  Besides having to pay over $500 just for the guys to wear tuxes 2 weekends in a row, we also needed to get my wedding dress altered. 

Now, let me clarify here - I never actually got to wear this dress to my wedding.   Hubby and I were stationed on an air craft carrier and went on port-of-call in Perth, Australia.   We were already engaged and planning a wedding for the next April.   We passed by a little bridal shop and I saw a silver dress in the window that I just fell in love with!   So, we went inside and asked if I could possibly try it on.  Two of our friends were with us and everyone agreed it was the perfect dress for me.   In Australian dollars, it came up to about $800, what would have been almost $1500 in the US!   We couldn't turn it down, so we bought it!  We shipped it home via "Sea Mail" from Australia and I had a wedding gown!   It would take about a month for the dress to make it back to California, and we had another month left on our tour, so it worked out great.

Fast forward to July, when we were back on base in CA and ready to get married.   Logistically, things weren't working out because all of Hubby's family was in TX and mine were all in NC.   Also, we were kind of tired of waiting around and wanted to go ahead and get married.   Finally, we decided to just go ahead and get it over with!  We picked a weekend (Hubby says he waited until payday), invited some friends and went to the County Recorder's office.   I wore a simple silk dress I had bought in Paris a few years earlier, which was still beautiful, but it wasn't the dress... 

Needless to say, I still wanted to have a "real" ceremony one day, complete with wearing the dress we bought in Australia.   For 10 years, this things has moved with us from house to house, state to state even!   The original box, still labelled "Sea Mail" is crushed and tattered, but the dress is in great shape.

But, I am not in great shape, lol!   After 4 babies, and with one more on the way, my waist is not the size it was in the military for sure!   I could diet my self to death, but even then, these hips aren't going back down ladies!   You probably know what I mean if you've given birth to a child!   Anyway, we heard that there was a seamstres who could do wedding gowns at the store.  Sure enough, a little Vietnamese lady came to meet with us and started making all kinds of scary faces.  She was biting her lips and rubbing her forehead, making me all kinds of nervous that the job was too monumental.  Finally, she said, "I can do it, but it's going to cost too much! You don't want to spend that much."     

I bit my lip while Hubby asked the price.  She reluctantly gave it.  "Oh," he replied, "that's not too bad."  Whoohoo!!

So, we're going to have the entire bodice redone, to not only make it more modest than I cared for back then, but to account for a prego belly and larger bra size.  She's also going to take off most of the train and add some little sleeves instead of the small straps it had originally.   She even said she would call in about a week!  That's a pretty fast turn around for such a big job, so I'm excited.   I'll post some pictures when it's done!