the church you are getting married in's parlor? assuming you are getting married in raleigh

or yours or your fiance's mom's/grandother's/aunt's house that hopefully live in raleigh

2/15/2008 10:36:41 AM

Not getting married in a church but his mom does live in Chapel Hill so that's a possibility.

Here is the thing. We both live in Raleigh and most of our friends also live here. So the majority of people that would be invited to a bridal shower live in Raleigh. My family lives in Fayetteville and his parents live in Chapel Hill. We are getting married at Fearrington in Pittsboro.

2/15/2008 10:59:17 AM

The Page Walker in Cary has upper levels that you can rent for ~$35 an hour. They have several different rooms and a wet bar. I have a few pictures if you want to see them.

2/15/2008 1:14:41 PM

That would be great, I'd love to see any pics you have.

2/15/2008 4:10:44 PM

i'd post names/URLs for all our wedding stuff... but we live in san diego so no one on here would care.

interesting though: my fiancee is making her dress (and the 3 bride's maids, and 2 flower girls), she works in fashion design (works for TaylorMade-adidas Golf). i'll throw some pictures on here after the wedding in july.

2/16/2008 4:42:29 AM

That sounds awesome, do post them.

[Edited on February 16, 2008 at 10:57 AM. Reason : .]

2/16/2008 10:57:20 AM

50% of weddings end in divorce. The other 50% end with death.

2/17/2008 12:31:51 PM

Quote :

"50% of weddings end in divorce."

Not exactly accurate.

2/18/2008 9:08:08 AM

http://www.isnare.com/?aid=217950&ca=Marriage

i didn't bother fact checking it - just what a google search pulled up

Quote :

"Conclusion: The historical belief that 50% of all marriages end in divorce and that over 60% of all second marriages end in divorce appears to be grossly overstated myths. Not only is the general divorce rate most likely to have never exceeded 40% but the current rate is probably closer to 30%. A closer look at even these lower rates indicate that there are really two separate groups with very different rates: a woman who is over 25, has a college degree, and an independent income have only a 20% probability of her marriage ending in divorce; a woman who marries younger than 25, without a college degree and lacking an independent income has a 40% probability of her marriage ending in divorce. Thus, factors of age, education, and income appear to play a significant role in influencing the outcome of marriages and that for the older, more educated woman, getting married is not a crap shoot but, in fact, it is highly likely to produce a stable, lifelong relationship."

2/18/2008 9:12:55 AM

^ I don't think I trust something that writes "a woman have"

But one thing that makes me really sad is seeing people who are engaged who clearly really don't like each other too much and are obviously just settling for the best they think they can get.

2/18/2008 9:20:41 AM

^^ aka things are twice as likely to succeed if she is not a gold digger

i aint sayin she's a gold digger...

2/18/2008 9:31:53 AM

A note on rings, since there is some misinformation but some people are right.

Gold, platinum, and titanium all can be cut in the emergency room.

Tungsten and tungsten carbide are too hard to be cut, but in being so hard, they are also very brittle. This means that they will break with very little or no deformation, and they can be broken off quite safely and easily by squeezing them a few times with a pair of pliers if the need arises.

My fiance and I bought tungsten carbide rings at Sparrowood Jewelers, it's across from Rex on Edwards Mill Rd. in that shopping center. Decent price (worth it to me to be in-person, have them check tho size, all that compared to online), and great service. Lifetime size and breakage warranty, even if it has to be broken off in an emergency, and they're great looking and will hardly scratch at all.

2/21/2008 3:03:37 PM

just found out my brother proposed to his girlfriend on the cruise they are on.....he is 30, she has about 2 years left until she gets her PH D then who knows where she will go(most likely residency at some hospital) I think that is a good age to get married nowanddays. I wonder though if they are going to wait until she finishes her degree.

3/7/2008 8:38:09 PM

figured i'd throw in the names of the places we used:

reception site/catering: Sisters' Garden & Catering Company (Raleigh, NC)
rings: Helzberg Diamonds
gown: David's Bridal
flowers: A Flower Gathering (Cary, NC)

3/8/2008 12:05:35 AM

One of my clients was extremely unhappy with her gown from DB. The sequins were falling off in a lot of places - has anyone else had that kind of trouble from that store? Hopefully it was a one-time occurance.

3/8/2008 5:49:07 AM

I got mine from David's and ended up seriously hating that place. Their customer service is terrible!!! There were a ton of beads on my dress and I'm sure some fell off but I didn't notice. It did give me a nice rash though on my armpits.

3/8/2008 6:57:05 AM

Oh wow, that is aweful. And to my memory is was beads and not sequins that were falling off her gown. She had to take it back in and spend hours trying to get them to fix it. Are you going to the one off of US-1?

3/8/2008 7:45:22 AM

I got my wedding dress at the one at Southpoint and they kept trying to make me get my dress a size larger than I needed and then get it altered to fit. When I took my bridesmaids to get fitted they did the same thing to them, even when the smaller size fit perfectly. I also overheard them doing this to several other brides in there. Later, I took my flower girls to the one on Capital Blvd and even though the wedding was 3 weeks away, wanted me to also buy their dresses too big (They will grow into them...) and have them altered. They make you purchase the bag to put your dress in, a measly 10 bucks after you just spent 600, charge you 80 to bustle the dress (aka sew on a button, which I did myself instead) and get annoyed if it takes you more than 4 dresses to find the one you want.

3/8/2008 9:02:18 AM

Quote :

"get annoyed if it takes you more than 4 dresses to find the one you want."

Considering the price of the dress, I'd be offended if they were rushing me into a purchase. It ain't like you're buying a tank top!

3/8/2008 9:10:49 AM

My sister-in-law got hers from DB, and swears she'll do anything she can to convince people not to go there. The people working there were basically idiots, and she had a lot of problems stemming from that. These culminated on the day of the wedding when she opened her dress bag to find that her slip that she'd gotten altered wasn't in there like it was supposed to be, since getting that done was the whole reason she'd been there the last time she went. At least when her mom called them and told them they were going to bring her a new one, they did.

3/8/2008 10:17:45 AM

What a nightmare. So where is a good place to go, with DB's pricerange?

3/8/2008 11:54:09 AM

I'm getting married October 11 of this year in Las Vegas at the same chapel my parents got married in 35 years ago

^I hear theres this place in Burlington called Bridal Mart that has designer dresses @ David's Bridal prices.
Ann Taylor has a bridal selection on their website, as does Macy's.

3/8/2008 11:58:34 AM

I'm getting married Oct.11th too!

3/8/2008 12:19:08 PM

awesome!!!!


where are you getting married??

I have only been to DB to look at dresses and I made the mistake to go there on a Saturday morning...

I think I'll try White House Black Market when their spring collection comes out.

3/8/2008 12:21:08 PM

http://www.filenesbasement.com/bridal.jsp

This is where one of my friend's went. The next one is Mar. 21 in Atlanta.......

She got a gorgeous dress about a size too big for 499 and a tiara. The dress still had the original price tag of 7100.

She said it was total mayhem but would do it again in a heartbeat. I was thinking of going.......

[Edited on March 8, 2008 at 1:47 PM. Reason : ]

3/8/2008 1:47:39 PM

^^I'm getting married in Cary

I haven't started looking at dresses yet.

3/8/2008 3:06:25 PM

Quote :

"I hear theres this place in Burlington called Bridal Mart that has designer dresses @ David's Bridal prices"

I hate Bridal Mart too. It would have been convenient since my family lives in Burlington and thats where the wedding was. I went there once to look and nobody would even help me get dresses to the dressing room. My friend had her daughter with her and they told her they had to stand at the door (It was a weekday and there was 1 other person there and she was holding her, not letting her run around). As we decided to leave, then some skanky little teenager asked "was there like anything I could help you with?"

Oh and it is still expensive there and "Designer" dresses are stupid.

3/8/2008 3:21:12 PM

Quote :

"I'm getting married October 11 of this year in Las Vegas at the same chapel my parents got married in 35 years ago"

i wish i could do las vegas instead of paying what seems like $100,000 on a fucking wedding/reception

3/9/2008 8:05:29 AM

Got a phone call yesterday-

The art gallery that housed my reception closed last Tuesday.

Although I am not the bride the is getting married in 2 weeks, I have started to panic. I thought I took care of this last September.

I have called several places an they are booked.

Want:
Reception venue:

Guests: 120-135
Location: Wilmington
Available: 8/23/08
Location: Wilmington (or within 40 miles of Wilmington towards Raleigh)

Most of the old houses are booked, hotels taken, etc. Right now our only lead is the Watermark Marina of Wilmington and they are the price of $Texas.

For what I want there: 2500

What i was already budgeted to spend: 1300
I called the invitation people frantically yesterday and they hadn't been printed. They are going to work with me.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND: PASSION PAPER...They do custom invites. If you buy something they have and are the first person you get the response sets for free. They have been so understanding throughout this whole process to this point and my sample is beautiful!




http://www.passionpaper.com/

3/15/2008 12:17:43 PM

Just got back from a bridal shoot at the Castle MucCulloch ( http://www.castlemcculloch.com/ ), I think it's ideal.

3/15/2008 1:18:48 PM

for dresses (i'd say wedding dresses and perhaps mother/grandmother of the bride...they have bridesmaids to but that would probably be too $$$), look at enchanting moments in fuquay varina.
http://www.enchantingmoments.biz/

i got my debutante (yea yea, i know) dress there a few years ago---which will probably end up getting altered and reused for a wedding dress. i mean, it is essentially a wedding dess. it seems intimidating and expensive at first, but the woman i worked with (i think her name was elizabeth, could be wrong though) was really great about budget. its the type of place that you go in they look at you, maybe ask you what you want, go pull tons of dresses for you, and just start throwing them on you in the dessing room. they pick out stuff i NEVER would have picked, and then they will show you how it can be easily altered into what you want. my dress came off the sale rack and its something i wouldn't have picked out on my own. it wasn't my style at all, but once they cut off the weird sleeves and did some other adjustments, it turned out wonderful. and its timeless, so i'll prob be using it again. all the alterations are done in the store. they're great honestly. they totally tailor the dress to you. they even sewed my fav victoria's secret strapless bra inside the dress. i kept fidgeting with the top of mine (strapless) so they put a ribbon in the inside that ties around my back to keep the dress up so i wouldn't pull so much.

its def more expensive than like david's bridal (i'm guessing, i don't know how much dresses are there), but you CAN get a dress + alterations for 800-1000 (and i'm sure less depending on the dress/alterations) but i'm positive you could also get extremely expensive 6000 or 10000 dresses there as well (if someone wanted that for whatever reason!!)

3/15/2008 1:25:30 PM

Quote :

" kept fidgeting with the top of mine (strapless) so they put a ribbon in the inside that ties around my back to keep the dress up so i wouldn't pull so much"

Well damn, that's a useful tip if I've ever heard one.

3/15/2008 4:07:59 PM

My bridesmaids and me! Even though I hated Davids Bridal, we did look good!

3/15/2008 4:20:03 PM

Quote :

"Got a phone call yesterday- The art gallery that housed my reception closed last Tuesday. Although I am not the bride the is getting married in 2 weeks, I have started to panic. I thought I took care of this last September. I have called several places an they are booked. Want: Reception venue: Guests: 120-135 Location: Wilmington Available: 8/23/08 Location: Wilmington (or within 40 miles of Wilmington towards Raleigh) Most of the old houses are booked, hotels taken, etc. Right now our only lead is the Watermark Marina of Wilmington and they are the price of $Texas. For what I want there: 2500"

hey maybe if you get a better place you will be able to actually let your brother bring his girlfriend now!

3/15/2008 4:32:40 PM

She broke up with him......not surprised.

3/15/2008 4:47:54 PM

yeah i might be wary of a chick if her family wouldn't allow me to be her date to a wedding.

3/15/2008 4:56:52 PM

HAHAHAHAHA.....she hadn't met anyone in our family. How serious can you get in 6 weeks

3/15/2008 5:08:25 PM

well really, it's not your place to decide for your brother what is considered "serious"

3/16/2008 6:41:59 PM

Tell Eddie to reply to his retirement thread.

3/16/2008 7:12:01 PM

^^ .

3/16/2008 7:26:38 PM

It IS my place to say who gets to come to my wedding. I do not want people I don't know. There is nothing wrong with that. Some people, like you, might think that is unreasonable. I did however at the time talk to my brother. Not only did he understand, he agreed in my particular situation. If I had unlimited resources to blow on ONE SINGLE day, I would have everyone come. The money we set a side is less than 1/3 of the national average for a wedding and even you said yours had maybe gotten out of hand.

Anywho.....I will let Eddie know David.

3/17/2008 12:03:11 AM

Eh, I liked Bridal Mart, but that was 7 years ago, so who knows. Willing to sell my gown if anyone is interested. Finally figured out that I'll never wear it again.

3/17/2008 12:19:02 AM

Alexia's Bridal Boutique
1051 Darrington Dr
Cary, NC 27513
Phone: (919) 481-6633

http://www.alexiasbridal.com/

Just trust me on this one.

3/17/2008 1:01:42 AM

Oh, a while back you said money was NOT the issue.

3/17/2008 5:44:20 AM

I hated the service I got at David's Bridal. I even set up an appointment time and had to wait another 20 minutes while they helped a walk-in.

Plus I already knew which dress I wanted and the girl still pulled 5 others (none of which were even close to the style i liked and told her so).

My bridesmaids are getting their dresses from J-Crew. Just as pricey as DB dresses, better quality, and realistically could be worn again.

3/17/2008 12:25:15 PM

I have had nothing but good experiences at David's Bridal. I bought my wedding gown at the one in Fayetteville, and the girl that helped me was WONDERFUL!! She suggested the dress and I wasn't sure about it on the rack but I ended up falling in love with it.

They even let me exchange the dress I had originally bought (just didnt "feel" right) even though it was past the date for returns. I'm sorry others have had a bad experience there, but mine was great!

It really makes a big difference to go on a Sunday (or weekday) instead of a Saturday. We went on Super Bowl Sunday and got so much attention.

[Edited on March 17, 2008 at 3:23 PM. Reason : Sunday]

3/17/2008 3:20:01 PM

My fiancee got her dress and the brides maids dresses from David's Bridal. I have not seen hers yet of course but I think she has been satisfied so far.

3/17/2008 3:25:19 PM

Yeah, I went to DB on a Saturday and didn't have an appointment but they still took us right away

Am planning to go back one night this week

3/17/2008 8:33:16 PM

David's Bridal just gave my fiancee a bridesmaid dress in the wrong color, and the wedding she is going to be in (not ours) is a month away!

3/17/2008 9:40:06 PM

^That's why, no matter where you order from, you should order your dresses like 6 or 7 months out.

3/18/2008 8:44:36 AM