Dalynn and Tessha (whom I also chose as bridesmaids) were so great and trudged through many a bridal shop with me before I finally found the right dress.
Given our modest standards for wedding dresses within the LDS religion, finding a cute modest and trendy wedding dress was not an easy task.
I first decided to try on some of the modest dresses...and as you can see by the pictures and the expression on my face, I really did not like any of them. Here are just two examples:
Well, so then I decided to start trying on sleeveless dresses that might work (to add sleeves onto later)...And as you can see, still no luck.
I also tried on several strapless dresses just to see if I liked the style of the bodices. It is pretty sad when out of all the dresses I tried on, the ones that actually looked decent on me were ones that I wouldn't be able to buy in the end.
I actually ended up coming back to one of the shops a few days later and discovered a dress that I had not tried on before. I loved it. It was the one. I spoke with the owner about having sleeves designed to match the dress and material, and it was no problem.
Here is the dress before alterations were made later on...
And then here is the dress later after sleeves were added...
As you can see, the detail on the sleeves are an exact match to the dress :)
The sleeves were actually later shortened about 3 inches so that the "bell" of the sleeve started right at the elbow.
We performed some American orchestral standards, including Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Hoedown", as well as a few Classical favorites such as "Scheherazade" by Rimsky-Korsakov.
We had the opportunity to participate in a ward service project and help clean up a horse farm. It was a place for wayward teenagers -where they come and get assigned to take care of an animal, and in turn it is supposed to help them cope with their behavioral problems.
