Dress Dilema

I promise I will recap MrGrizz's birthday weekend soon (tomorrow?). But first, I need some help. I have T&E's wedding this weekend and too many dress options.

The wedding is Black Tie Invited - I assume this is the new terminology for Black Tie Optional. MrGrizz is wearing the black Calvin Klein suit (yummy) we got him this past weekend. If any males in your life needs a suit, head over to Macy's! They are having a suit-sale, combine that with the 20% off pass from the paper, and the extra 15% off I get using my Macy's charge, we got his suit, a shirt, and tie all for ~$220!!! Less than my shoes cost, ha.

My initial thought on what to wear was this black Nicole Miller I had bought at the beginning of the summer. There is a boutique near me called Bedazzled and every summer the husband and wife owners go down the shore and close up shop. The week before this happens they try and get rid of all their inventory (including gowns) and have them up to 75% off. I had seen this dress a few months earlier when I had taken my little sister there to go Prom Dress shopping. Tried it on. LOVED IT. But could not justify spending $700 on a dress that I did not need. When I went back in June, sure enough, on sale! I ended up getting the dress for $200. Amazing. Here is a horribly blurry cell phone picture of me in the dress, next to the picture from their website.

I was all set to wear this, and then a slight conundrum. My good friend TeachG recently moved in with her boyfriend of 2 years. We know, they know, she knows they will be getting married sooner than later. She has already been putting some thought (and sharing) ideas for these soon-to-be upcoming nuptials. She stated that she envisions her bridesmaid (aka me also) in long black gowns of our choosing. Well, hm, my Nicole Miller fits right into that! Awesome, dress is already found - and its simple enough that it won't go out of style. Only problem, it is the same group of friends. And true, the weddings will be at least a year apart, while looking back at pictures I don't want to be in the same dress. Silly? Probably. But it's how I feel.

Enter dress #2. I got this dress when a boutique in the local mall closed a few years ago. I think I paid $120 for it, and the label says Versace! No joke. I mean its from like the 2005 line, but who cares. They actually had two of the same dress, one in gold and one in merlot. The sister took the gold, and I the other. She actually wore hers to my cousin's black tie Bar Mitzvah a few years ago. I still have never worn mine. A lot of work had to be done to it for it to fit correctly. After almost $300 to the tailor, it finally fit (shortened, got the bust redone, added in bra cups, etc etc). This is what I planned on wearing up until this past weekend. Do I love it? No. Do I like it? Sure. It's just not me. I don't know how else to explain it. I do not feel 100% comfortable in it. I just don't think I look as good as I could in it.

Dress #3 - this past weekend while getting MrGrizz's suit, I stopped by Neiman Marcus (Stupid move) just to look. Sure enough, I saw THE DRESS. It just spoke to me. I tried it on. Swoon. It;s an Aidan Mattox (yea, I had never heard of him either). I already had two dresses in my closet at home all ready to go and what do I do? Buy a brand new $400 dress. Hit head on table. The only problem? Its about 2 feet too long. They are doing a rush job on the hemming (everything else fit perfectly), but I won't get to see it or try it on until Saturday morning. Oh did I mention that the seamstress wasn't there so we had to pin it ourselves. Um, I'm sorry what?! I had no idea what I was doing. So it might be the wrong length. The wedding is in upstate NJ (can it be described that way?), a 2.5 hour drive and we need to check into the hotel at 3. Basically I am going to pick up the dress and just bring it with me. So it needs to be perfect. Which dress do you like best?

My plan, as of right now, is to bring the Versace dress as a back up in case the new one doesn't fit. And also bring 3 pairs of shoes - almost flats, normal shoes, and super high ones - I figure between all of these one of them will make the dress the correct length on me. And worse, comes to worse, wear the other one. Any other ideas?? I am at a loss of what else to do. My mum's advice: DO NOT BUY yet ANOTHER DRESS! Ha. I am agreeing with her on this one! Have you ever bought too many outfits for one occasion?

Oh, one last thing, for comparisons sake, here is my sister in the Versace gold gown. From L-R: Lil Sis, then my two cousins, then me in Spring 2008. You may ask why didn't I just wear the gown that I had on here. Well, its too big! YAY!!! I wore it to a wedding and then to this Bar Mitzvah. Actually now that I think about it, I bought it at Bedazzled! It will be making an appearance at T&E's wedding though - TeachS is borrowing it to wear! She went shopping in my closet a few weeks ago, along with VetChick. I am happy to report they will both be borrowing gowns of mine for the occasion. I'm glad someone is saving money, ha.