Inspiration Series: The Entourage Gowns

After the initial euphoria the engagement brought, I went down to Earth to start the arduous task of wedding planning. I didn't know where to start at first. There was the matter of choosing a date, a church, and reception venue. But that's for another post. :) To move forward, I needed to choose a color motif. No agonizing over this. What color would best scream Chai? Blue of course! :) To placate the drama queen in me, I chose Tiffany blue and silver. Now that is chic, elegant, romantic, and very Chai!

I asked my sister, Gweng, what she wanted to wear on my wedding. She said she wants a bouffant skirt ala Isla Fisher's MOH gown in Confessions of a Shopaholic minus the hideous colors. And so I began looking for dresses over the net. I must've looked at thousands of dresses, none of which was right for my taste. I resigned to just go over to a designer and show the Isla dress for inspiration. My mom already warned me that it would be quite expensive to have dresses made for all of the entourage. Instead, she advised me to just rent the dresses as 'first users'. Now I don't have any idea about first use dresses. Well, the gist is we'll have the dresses made according to how we like it and then return it after using! How convenient! Now the dress wouldn't just gather dust in my bridesmaids' closets! Now, how to choose which bridal shop to go to. My mom said she saw a bridal shop along E. Qurino Ave. that had a sale sign outside. We went to check it out and found out it was Knots Forever (Quirino has lots of bridal shops!). I got to meet the designer, Maureen Siongco. She was very accommodating and she answered all of my questions (even the pointless ones). I know I need not look for another shop. This was it. :) I showed her pictures of my bridesmaids so she will have an idea as to what design fits each of my girls. We agreed that everyone will have the same skirt design. She said the Isla skirt would use up too much fabric and thus would cost me more. She offered a simple solution: to achieve the "bouffant look" she would just layer three kinds of fabric, hard tulle on the bottom part to hold puffiness of the skirt.

The Isla dress(left) and inspiration for bridesmaid skirt (right)

Of course this skirt design would look great a little bit above the knee. Worn with silver three-inch peeptoes, my girls will rock in this dress! =D The one thing I know they love about their dresses is that they can choose the type of bodice to go with the skirt. They can cover up what they don't want seen or flaunt whatever it is they want to flaunt. By letting them choose, everyone will be comfortable during the wedding. No awkwardness, no protest (but my cleavage is covered!), no complaints. Happy bridesmaids + happy bride = no stress.

For the male attendants, they will be wearing black suits with ties to match the bridesmaids. My Kuya Jousel insisted he wears a silver-gray suit. Knowing him, even if I said no, he would wear it anyway so I just said yes.

Kuya Jousel's pick

My little attendants would be wearing something like this:

worn with Tiffany vest

I saved the best for last. My Maid of Honor, Roces, is my best friend since time immemorial. We've known each other practically since we were in diapers. She's seen me through my worst. In fact, she was there to pull me up and dust me off and give me the push I need to keep going. Through thick and thin, through all the firsts in my life she was there. And I am so happy she agreed to be my MOH (even though she's based in Dubai now and have to fly in days before the wedding). A person this special gets to choose what to wear on my big day. She showed me tons of pictures of dresses, all of which she dismissed as "not the one". Then she came across this one dress which we both fell in love with. I know she will look stunning in this dress.

MOH dress

So there you go. I'm so excited to see Maureen's creations! And oh, I saved a lot from my original budget for my entourage's outfit. How much? I won't tell. Hahahaha!